Is it ok to keep a magazine fully loaded?

[MR.G]

Recently picked up a Kel-Tec .380 for concealed carry. It has a six round MecGar magazine. I plan on keeping the gun loaded all the time, and firing it very little. Does it hurt the magazine spring to keep it fully loaded all the time? Would loading it with only five rounds help maintain spring tension over time?

 

[BHPshooter]

You're fine to keep it fully loaded. What wears a spring out is repeated loading and unloading, moving the spring a lot.

Don't worry a bit about keeping it loaded.

Wes

 

[JackDRipper]

If you are worried a spring tension buy an extra mag or two and alternate loaded mags. I think it takes a long time (years) to decrease spring tension in loaded mags.
JR

 

[McNutt]

I don't believe time plays a part in spring tension. If you stretch a spring out so far that it looses its shape, does it matter if you hold it there for five seconds or five hours? No. The damage has been done and time was not a factor. The spring is within its elastic limit when compressed, so loss of elasticity is not a problem. This is just a theory of mine, but I have yet to see or read anything that disproves it.

 

[SapperLeader]

McNutt, if you were overloading the magazine, what you say would be true, but loading a magazine to full capacity is not stressing it out, and can be left indefinitely. If you load a magazine to its normal capacity, then its the loading and unloading, or the compression and decompression of the spring that affects its life.

 

[Bill Hook]

I always download it by a couple rounds if it's going to sit for a while with fullcaps.

I don't always do that with single stack mags, and if I do I only download by one round.

 

[ChuckB]

Mr.G- if you own a pistol that you may ever need to use for defensive purposes, you must be proficient and comfortable with it. That means shooting it on a fairly regular basis. Run at least a box of 50 through it every month, improving your handling of the gun each time. The spring will be a non-issue.

Chuck

 

[Murphster]

Had a S&W 4046. Kept three magazines fully loaded (unless I was firing the gun) for ten years. Perfect functioning always.

 

[gbelleh]

I have several magazines that have been left fully loaded for months and even years and there has never been any spring weakening in any of them.

 

[Kingknives]

I've reead a few accounts of WWII 1911 magazines being found fully loaded after 40-50 years and working just fine. I've never waffled on fully loading my mags, and so far I've never had a problem attributed to magazines. (knock on wood)

Joe

 

[Walt Sherrill]

I'm with several others here, and have talked with engineers who should know this topic -- and they claim that "Working" the spring is what weakens it.

Wolff Gunsprings has a slightly different take on the subject, but you can wonder if they're just selling springs. From their FAQ area on the website.

5. Should I unload my magazines, rotate magazines, load with fewer than the maximum rounds? How often should I change magazine springs?

Magazine springs in semi-auto pistols are one of the most critical springs and the subject of much debate and concern. Magazines which are kept fully loaded for long periods of time, such as law enforcement applications, will generally be subject to more fatigue than the weekend shooter's magazine springs which are loaded up only when shooting. Magazine design and capacity also affect the longevity of the spring. Older designs where maximum capacity was not the goal such as the 7 round 1911 Colt magazines will last for years fully loaded. There was a lot of room for a lot of spring which reduced the overall stress on the spring. In recent hi-capacity magazines, the magazines were designed to hold more rounds with less spring material. This puts more stress on the spring and will cause fatigue at a faster rate. Unloading these magazines a round or two will help the life of the spring. Rotating fully loaded magazines will also help the problem somewhat but is not always practical. In applications where the magazine must be kept loaded, a high quality magazine spring such as Wolff extra power magazine springs, will provide maximum life. Regular shooting will verify reliability and regular replacement of magazine springs will provide the best defense against failure from weak magazine springs.

Regular shooting will also wear them out more quickly and rotating mags, it seems to me, just "spreads" the wear over a larger collection of mags. I don't see that it really does much except, perhaps, sell magazine springs.

I try to generally to keep my carry and practice mags separate, keep the carry mags loaded and stored with the gun, and do my practice with others. (I do, of course, test my carry mags when I first replace the springs; but then leave them essentially in that "new" state.)

The article above seems to indicate that hi-cap mags may have shorter spring lives than non-hi-cap, simply because the springs have to do more, or be fit into smaller spaces. (For most of my guns, the springs are the same, whether in a hi-cap or neutered mag, so the "neutered" mag's spring ought to last a bit longer.

So -- two slightly contradictory answers.. both from people who ought to know.

 

[sm]

Well I tend to listen to folks in the know, like Wolff , my gunsmith buddy and many others here on TFL/THR. My gunsmith buddy keeps his mags for guns he seldom shoots unloaded.

Me, every mag I own is loaded, single or double stack. I tend to believe the the unload and reload is what weakens the spring. I rotate carry mags mainly because I want to shoot the carry loads.

I show up , draw and fire from concealed as part of my practice. I shoot up any rounds that may have been - or have been subjected to chambering more than a few times.

Not had any problems. If I buy a used mag from somewhere, I replace the springs and follower as to make me feel better, I have a baseline for that mag.

Not had any problems. I have left mags loaded for quite a while. I thought I had lost a loaded Keltec P-11 mag. It shot fine even after being lost in the truck tool box through blistering heat and freezing temps. ( 18 months I figure) Both the mag and the ammo worked. Ammo was a hodgepodge of ammo that had been chambered a number of times. Just loaded up this way to shoot...I don't do mag cocktails, just loaded up in this mag to keep up with the rounds. 115 gr reloads of Montana Gold, Win STHP, Corbon, Proload, Federal FMJ, Win SXT...No rust on mag, this mag had been Carnuba waxed...so I learned a few things from this unplanned experiment it seems.

 

[La Pistoletta]

A metal mechanic should know. It should be fairly easy to find out whether or not a spring that is kept stressed causes metal fatigue or something else.

 

[MR.G]

I am going to order some extra magizine springs so that they can be changed once in a while. That way, one set will allways be out of the magazine and not compressed.

 

[Chuck Jennings]

Recently I acquired some guns from my grandmother that belonged to my late grandfather. One of them was his bedside table gun. (A USGI 1911 that he carried when he was an MP in WWII) In the box were three filled magazines. As an experiment, I ran the ammo through my SA mil-spec, and there were no problems whatsoever. Those magazines had been fully loaded for 18 years!