For all that carry pistols daily; Do you leave the magazine(s) loaded all the time or do you remove the bullets at the end of the day (or periodically) to give the spring a rest?
Springs don't need a "rest". If they're carry magazines, they get loaded and they stay loaded.
If they're just magazines for range guns, they're typically empty when I'm done shooting and ready to go home. They stay empty for two reasons: first, I generally clean them and second, I'm just not in the habit of reloading all those magazines afterwards. I'll load them all up again before heading to the range. But again, that's not because I'm concerned about the health of the magazine springs, I've just never gotten into the habit of reloading them all right after cleaning them. Nothing wrong with it, though.
A spring's life isn't shortened by compression, per se. OVER compressing, sure. Same for over stretching. But a spring is designed to operate with a designed amount of compression and a designed number of cycles WITHIN the limits of its designed compression range. If a spring will hypothetically last 10,000 cycles, then it will last 10,000 cycles. If you go to the range and load/reload a new magazine 50 times, then the spring has been through 50 cycles. If you reload it again and leave it loaded for 6 months before you go to the range and empty it downrange, then it will have been cycled 51 times total. Compressoin doesn't matter...CYCLES matter.
A magazine spring is designed to operate to the maximum compression obtainable for the magazine it's built for. So loading the magazine to the maximum number of rounds WILL NOT DAMAGE IT, no matter how long you leave it loaded.
THAT SAID...
It seems that in nearly every magazine thread I get involved in, SOMEBODY always wants to point out how so-and-so always underloads their magazines by one or two rounds or how fully loading a magazine causes problems with the gun when inserted, or some other blah-blah-blah. So let me get this straight now:
- If you have a problem inserting a fully loaded magazine or a problem with the functionality of the weapon with a fully loaded magazine, THEN YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT FIREARM AND OR THAT MAGAZINE. Downloading by one or two rounds DOES NOT FIX THAT PROBLEM. What this does is PATCH the problem and allow you to LIVE with the problem...not solve the problem.
- If you have a problem with spring damage by fully loading a magazine...then you have a bad spring. Change the spring. Change spring manufacturers. Change something to FIX the problem, not LIVE with it.
- Quit going by anecdotal stories and quit lending credence to people (even well known people) who recommend things like downloading magazines and such. "We did this in Vietnam" is a prime example of, at most, dealing with a design problem on a new weapon platform with a temporary field solution. Nearly 6 decades have passed since then. Engineering is real. Physics is real. Denying this does not affect reality at all.
- If the problem is a personnel problem, then FIX THE PERSON and don't accept poor habits as the solution. "It's difficult to seat a fully loaded magazine." Well, learn how to properly seat that fully loaded magazine then.
IF A PERSON HAS DECIDED THEY WANT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE DOWNLOAD A MAGAZINE to make life easier for themselves...so be it. I can respect that as a personal choice in the matter. Certainly, trying to get that 30th round in an AR-15 magazine can be a challenge, especially when loading several magazines by hand for a day at the range. But DON'T try justifying it as anything OTHER than a personal choice. There's a difference.
