Magazine Storage / Rotation

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Colt

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Curious what people chose to do storage-wise with loaded and unloaded magazines.

My current practice is one magazine in my .45 auto, plus one loaded spare on my person. I have 2 other spares which I store empty, and I rotate them about once a month. (rotate = spare mag becomes in-gun mag, in-gun mag goes empty into storage, and one storage mag comes out and becomes my loaded spare.)

Any thoughts on this? I rotate because I'm concerend that the springs will weaken over time if kept fully compressed. (i.e. loaded) Is this a legitimate concern?

Also - any thoughts on whether or not loading the same carry ammo over and over again, some of it being cycled through the gun, will cause problems over time?
 
I've shot old magazines that have been loaded for years. I've left pistol mags loaded for months between trips to the range without a problem. I just don't see how a spring will weaken that quickly.
 
It's loading and unloading your mags that wear the springs down. An
empty mag just sitting there is fine. I leave 2-3 rds out of just about
any hi cap mag --pistol or rifle. If it's a quality mag/springs then this
will be fine loaded for months on end. The problem you'll have with
rounds "sticking" and not sliding up inside of the mag is because of dirt,
etc getting inside. This is a problem if the mags are outside in the field
with you all the time. I wouldn't worry about it as much if they're
stored in a clean place inside a vehicle or house.
 
You don't have enough magazines -

I don't much sweat leaving a magazine loaded - although I do worry more about the extra round style - 8 for a 1911 in .45ACP or 10 for a 1911 in .38 Super. On the other hand I try to have a dozen or so magazines new good magazines so that I given a failure I'll have new ones handy.
 
It would have to be pretty sorry steel for a spring in a magazine to fail. I've never, ever had a problem.

Example: I've made 1911 GI mags into eight-rounders. One part of the deal is cutting a "Zee" out of the mag spring. Even with this lesser strength, I've yet to have a failure to feed.

And: My father gave me a 50-cal ammo box full of his WW II souvenir pistols. All eleven had the magazines full. Ancient .32s, .25, P38, 1911. All functioned. They'd been stored since the late 1940s.

Art
 
I don't worry about it. I've shot magazines that had been loaded for years with no problems. I do number all of my magazines and if one acts up at the range, I make note of it and it becomes a training only mag.

Jeff
 
I stored a few pistols with full magazines for about 25-26 years. All fired without problems. One was a 1911, another a PPK/S, and I forget the others. There also were a few extra 1911 magazines stored full and one or two extra PPK/S magazines. They all functioned properly too. So the best I can say from first-hand experience is that they're okay for at least a quarter century.

The 1911 magazines contained military surplus GI ammunition, probably of Korean War vintage although maybe earlier. It all went bang at the right time.
 
On a related topic, what the the stuff I have heard about Vietnam where lots of guys would only load 20 round mags with 16 rounds etc, etc. Was that a design issue?
 
MechAg94 downloading mags in Vietnam was more about paying attention then mechanics. The 20 rounders issued could be overloaded to 21 or 22 rounds by accident. The followers and springs would not function correctly, and this would often cause stopages. The US hadn't introduced stripper clips yet, so you loaded the rounds from loose storage. If someone didn't pay attention you could over load your mag. The practice of downloading arose from this problem, since take a couple off the top would pretty much ensure you didn't have this particular problem.

Stripper clips pretty much took care of this problem, since you could count the empty brass rails rather then try and remember how many rounds you'd used.

-Jenrick
 
My current practice is one magazine in my .45 auto, plus one loaded spare on my person. I have 2 other spares which I store empty, and I rotate them about once a month.
Click to expand...

4 magazines? You need more. If this is a 1911, magazines are cheap compared to other guns.
 
I leave loads of full RPK mags lying around. Ive heard stories of people picking up loaded sten and AK mags after 30 years of sitting around and they worked just fine.
 
I am not an engineer, but I used to work for a company that manufactured ATM machine components. Bill dispensers have lots of springs. I asked one of our engineers about spring wear, once and he told me that there is a curve that describes the wear of a spring.

If you compress a spring a little, it will lose almost none of its tension. If you press it further, it will lose a little bit more springiness. If you push it beyond its limit, it will lose its spring very quickly.

Spring wear is a function of how many times you compress it, and how far you compress it, not for how long. How far and how often you compress a spring is important, not for how long it is under tension.

If you overload a magazine, I would think that you may risk pushing the spring beyond its limit, causing it to lose its tension prematurely. How long it is under tension has no effect.
Mauserguy
 
trickasafox:

I believe it was actually the spring that could be put in wrong, rather then the followers. Hence the reason why the SMCT currently explicitly tells one not to seperate the two.

-Jenrick
 
I have 10 hi-cap magazines for my 2 1911 hi-cap pistol,I carry 2 spare mags everyday. I alternate my mags every week.
 
I alternate my mags every week.
Click to expand...

Do you unload the spares?

Seems to me it's coming down to a debate of which causes more spring wear:

Loading and unloading your magazines, which loads and unloads the tension on the spring

-OR-

Leaving your magazines loaded, which keeps constant compression pressure on the spring.


Followup question for those that leave their magazines loaded:

When you change magazines, do you empty the round out of the chamber? What affect, if any, do you think that has on the round that is constantly chambered, ejected, and re-chambered?
 
Magazine spring madness: 'creep' to your 'elastic limit' to un-earth the urban legend of 'spring-set'
Click to expand...
__________________

Good article, thanks. I guess I'll store them loaded.
 
Springs don't rest like a muscle but I do believe, especially in mags for guns like a 25acp, that they can take a set or weaken so I like to unload the mag and use another like every 6mo to a year to feel better.
 
good article. i have quite a few magazines stored full right now. they have been that way for about a year or so. i will test them in a couple weeks and if i note any magazine related malfunctions i will report them here. matter of fact, i think i'll post whether i have an issue or not. :neener: i am confident they will work just fine.
 
Metalurgists tell us springs don't don't take a set, nor do they weaken from staying compressed. Springs weaken from being used, and especially from being overcompressed. Load up a magazine, let it sit for 10 years, and it'll work. They do all the time. Load up a magazine and overcompress the spring in the process, let it sit for 10 years, and it won't work right. It wasn't the 10 years that did it, it was the overcompression when the magazine was loaded: It would have not worked 10 minutes after it was loaded.
 
Avoidance of overcompression is why AK mag followers have such long side extensions. The mag body is long enough for at least another 5 rounds, but the mag follower has long tabs on the sides to keep the mag from being loaded that full. Gives the spring plenty of room to avoid being overcompressed.
 
Thanks for the info. Sounds like if the mag is properly designed and assembled, you shouldn't have any problems aside from just plain extended use.

As far as clearing the round from the chamber, I prefer to do this anyway to insure the slide is still moving freely.
 
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