Life expectancy of rifle magazines in a combat environment?

[jagdpanzer347]

Greetings all. By "life expectancy", I mean, how long does a soldier maintain possession of the mags he's been issued? Obviously, if a soldier is operating fairly "close to home", magazine availability may be of little concern. For a spec-ops or guerilla fighter operating behind enemy lines, magazines may be hard to replace.

I would appreciate any feed-back from current and veteran soldiers, the more varied the experience, the better. Thanks for your replies, and most importantly, your service to your country.

-jagd

 

[Chindo18Z]

Typically retained for the duration of your assignment to the unit (2-4 years and sometimes longer) or until they malfunction or are damaged.

In the US Army, mags are typically issued by your unit Supply Sergeant. You sign for them and turn them in when you eventually leave the unit. Sometimes you aren't required to turn them in.

Over the course of a career, one tends to "accumulate" personal "stock". I prefer to think of it as reallocating military assets to where they are best needed .

Occasional bad mags are simply flattened with a rock and I toss 'em. Don't want anyone else to get stuck with them.

Operationally, you carry enough mags for extended fights when away from home plate. Resupply can be effected through linkups with friendlies, cache recovery, aerial resupply, or scavenging.

Wherever there is ammo, there are usually magazines.

 

[Javelin]

We were still using magazines from the 1980s up until the big OIF issue. The fact is the mag runs out of life when all the parkerizing wears off of it that it is noticeably shiney... and even then it will just get sent to TRADOC like Ft Benning or wherever.

 

[Rifleman 173]

One guy I knew in Nam had been there for 4 years straight. He had many of his original issue magazines, from what he said, from when he first got there. For my police duty M-4 type Bushmaster, I've had most of my same magazines for over 7 years and they are all still functional. Every now and again one should take their magazines to the range and fire all the ammo in them to be sure that they magazines properly function. If you carry 7 magazines, like in a drag bag, you should occasionally switch them or rotate your magazines with other magazines so that the springs can stretch out. Outside of that, your magazines should be good for many, many years.

 

[ckay]

As long as your feed lips don't crack, I'd assume the bodies to last for decades. Simple rebuilding with new springs and followers if you want something like an anti-tilt Magpul and you have a fresh mag essentially. Of course if you are abusing the heck out of the bodies to develop kinks and dings, you will have failures as the followers may get caught.

My mags are all at least 14 years old and function smoothly with no FTFs.

 

[possum]

sgt 11b u.s. army. second tour in iraq, and over 4 years in the army, this is my experience with mags.

noramlly we get 7 mags when ever we get to a unit, and i aquire more as i go, which i now have about 17 that i have that i can replace/ swap out of need be. and then i also have a case of 100 in my room for my platoon. so getting mags is no big deal for us.

i used the same 14 mags my first deployment the whole deployment and cycled all tht way through many of them, and i had no issues, even the ones that were loaded as "extras" and never used, feed and still function fine.

this deployment u have 12 loaded mags with 28rds a piece and they have worked eveytime that i have called on them.

out of the more than 100 mags that i have used, been issued, aquired etc while in the army both in the states and on deploymetnt i have had maybe three that were or went bad. normally i test all my mags at the range in my personal ar out of pocket, i especially do so before i deploy to ensure that they are good to go.

 

[dmftoy1]

Interesting threads . . .

So when our guys in the military "reload" ,do they perform a tactical reload and stuff the magazine back into a pouch of some sort or do they drop them where they are and come back and police the area when they're done (if they can)?

I guess I had assumed that the magazine drop pouches were only used by the high-speed tactical mall ninja's and that our guys dropped them on the ground.

Thanks for any education you can give me and thanks for your service!

 

[GRIZ22]

So when our guys in the military "reload" ,do they perform a tactical reload and stuff the magazine back into a pouch of some sort or do they drop them where they are and come back and police the area when they're done (if they can)?


It all depends on the situation. Normally you want to keep your empties but if the situation warrants you might just drop your mag (whether or not you'll be able to come back for it is debatable).

A Navy SEAL gave me what I still consider to be the best place to stuff empty mags. Just throw them down inside you shirt. Your pistol belt keeps them from falling out and when things slow down you can transfer them to ammo pouch, bandolier, or claymore bag.

Your mags are your mags unless you pass some off to redistribute ammo after a fight. As far as accountabilty when I left Vietnam the Supply Sgt just took my rifle and told me to turn in whatever else I had. By the time I left I probably had about 30 magazines. As far a longevity I'm sure some of them mags I turned in were from my original issue.

 

[DuncanSA]

Only mag I have ever had fail was one that I dropped wrong and bent the lip.
Otherwise I have 10 year old mags still going strong, don't however leave them loaded for too long or the springs will weaken (or so I am told - hasn't happened to me yet).

Sorry guys! I was making a pistol comment on a soldiers question. My apologies.

 

[jagdpanzer347]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Keep'em coming!

-jagd

 

[rcmodel]

Eugene Stoner envisioned the AR 20 round aluminum mag to come pre-loaded, and thrown away after it was emptied the first time.

It was designed as much as a container for ammo shipment as a feeding device.

It's a wonder they last almost forever when you consider the design intent.


rcmodel

 

[Hoppy590]

AR mags dont last as long as AK mags. (Aluminum vs Steel) but they will last for decades as long as they arent abused.

i believer originaly the M16 mag was designed to be disposable, and just dropped when dry. but that change from magazine retention either wasnt trained to the soldiers or deemed too costly i forget which.

Darn RC beat me to it

 

[chieftain]

possum:

out of the more than 100 mags that i have used, been issued, aquired etc while in the army both in the states and on deploymetnt i have had maybe three that were or went bad. normally i test all my mags at the range in my personal ar out of pocket, i especially do so before i deploy to ensure that they are good to go.

Sounds like you rotate your mags within your own personal supply.

Good luck and stay safe.

Your mags are your mags unless you pass some off to redistribute ammo after a fight. As far as accountabilty when I left Vietnam the Supply Sgt just took my rifle and told me to turn in whatever else I had. By the time I left I probably had about 30 magazines. As far a longevity I'm sure some of them mags I turned in were from my original issue.

I used an M14 for most of my two tours in Nam. BUT! when I was 'forced' to get an M16, they didn't issue me any magazines. I got all 32 M16 magazines that I carried, from the KIA barrels at What ever MED unit I was with when I got my M16.

Most of my magazines were not that great. I carried a pair of slip joint pliers so I could bend the magazines enough to fit in the mag well. I would acquire and liberate magazines on a as needed basis. After any firefight there would be plenty laying around, depending on the number of friendly casualties.

There were always plenty of magazines around. KIA, WIA, spent on the ground, and of course when near any aid station the KIA barrels. Used to get a lot of gear there.

Only mag I have ever had fail was one that I dropped wrong and bent the lip.
Otherwise I have 10 year old mags still going strong, don't however leave them loaded for too long or the springs will weaken (or so I am told - hasn't happened to me yet).

In combat you 'always' drop them wrong, you sit on them, you fall on them, other folks sit on them, and fall and jump on them. That is how the mags get so beat up.

Also the magazines that do work well, will always be in your first pull/line spot, and of course be used the most. Which of course leads to them "dropping out of the weapon wrong". Nature of combat. What ever works will be used up first and the most. Which leads to increase wear and tear, hence increase need for replacement.

good luck to all

Fred

 

[Jenrick]

The USMC actually states the preferred reloading method is to return the empty to the magazine pouch. The manual does note that in exigent circumstances it is okay to just drop the dang thing.

Weren't the Orlite plastic mags from Canada designed to be used once and tossed? I know the one I've got certainly isn't good for much other then holding 30 rounds in a pocketable container.

-Jenrick

 

[Nomad101bc]

I think our ROTC unit might be still using some of your old mags...Most of our mags look to be vietnam era and jam frequently.

 

[106rr]

Mag Life

During training at the Ft Polk, LA Jungle School we were taught that M16 mags were disposable in combat. When I arrived in Nam in May 67 we were told to save ALL mags. We were issued 20 mags as a required basic load. None of the mags would function with a full 20 rds. Most guys loaded up with 17 to 19 rds in each mag. The original mags were cheaply made. I did write a letter to Colt asking about the 30 rd mags they were making. They sent a letter back saying those mags were restricted to Israel and we weren't allowed to have them. Supply (S4) always had new M16 mags available in base camps. Field resupply would be from the dead and wounded. Ammo was shipped in striper clips or loose in ammo boxes.
1911 mags were hard to find. Most 1911s were carried by officers but were TOE to heavy weapons gunners as well. I had 7 mags for my 1911, 6 were arranged in descending order of quality from right to left on my belt. My last mag had 6 rds in it.

 

[chieftain]

Mag Life

During training at the Ft Polk, LA Jungle School we were taught that M16 mags were disposable in combat. When I arrived in Nam in May 67 we were told to save ALL mags. We were issued 20 mags as a required basic load. None of the mags would function with a full 20 rds. Most guys loaded up with 17 to 19 rds in each mag. The original mags were cheaply made. I did write a letter to Colt asking about the 30 rd mags they were making. They sent a letter back saying those mags were restricted to Israel and we weren't allowed to have them. Supply (S4) always had new M16 mags available in base camps. Field resupply would be from the dead and wounded. Ammo was shipped in striper clips or loose in ammo boxes.
1911 mags were hard to find. Most 1911s were carried by officers but were TOE to heavy weapons gunners as well. I had 7 mags for my 1911, 6 were arranged in descending order of quality from right to left on my belt. My last mag had 6 rds in it.

We were Marines, we weren't supposed to leave anything behind. We used everything again. Several times I was not able to swap out magazines. if you had one, you didn't need one, was often the speech. Keeping the new ones for FNG's. If you had a friend in supply or the armory, you 'might' liberate a couple.

Yea, we loaded 15/16 rounds per magazine for the M16. My M14 I usually loaded 19 rounds. In the defense, in the M14 I would load them to 20 rounds. In the Defense, I still kept the M16 mags to 15/16 rounds.

I don't remember getting any M16 ammo in anything but bandoleers and clips. I used to get ammo for my M14 in Bandoleers and strips, and Use machine gun belts and break them down. A few times, I couldn't get the gunners to separate with their belts. I would finagle some ammo, sometimes the Chopper, guys would separate with a belt or two, sometimes if the were heading home after us, I could get a can or two of ammo.

As to the 1911. Ours were pretty unreliable. I chose to get rid of mine and carried a Victory model S&W in 38spl of course, (same as my fathers). I could get fresh 38 ammo from the aircrew's when they were in the LZ or on occasion when in the rear. Our rear was Dong Ha and I would catch a ride down to Quang Tri and trade some airdales for more 38 ammo. I carried an extra box (50) of 38's and a handful of tracers for it.

I did not shoot the 38spl a lot myself. It was shot alot in 67 and early 68 when the M16's were jamming all the time. I often would give my revolver to a trooper with a non firing rifle. Because I carried a M14 exclusively during that period, I didn't need the revolver often.

When you need your side arm though, you really, really need it right now.

Go figure.

Fred