just figured id ask what you guys think about keeping magazines loaded. I do this now in my safe within reach of the handgun.

A) What do you think this does to the spring in the long run? I know who cares cause its only 20 bucks to replace a mag but in terms of dependability.

B) keeping ammo exposed like that. My safe is humidity controlled if that matters.

C) keep it fully loaded or partially loaded?

Thanks.

when it wears out, you can just replace the spring

B) It's ok for it to be exposed, it's not hermetically sealed in its cardboard boxes either

you will wear out the mag spring faster from constantly loading and unloading than just keepng them loaded. (partial, or full it doesn't matter.)

The repeated compression and release is what wears the spring out. More troublesome is the creep you can get as the spring pushes the first round into the top of the mag. It's one reason that the P-mags are so nice as the lid or cap keeps the first round in place.

i've left them for more than a year with no signs of spring damage

for some reason I don't like how hard the first round is pushing up against the slide when at full capacity.

I keep 'em fully loaded, except AR mags which have aluminum lips. AK is my goto gun anyway.

It keeps max-tension off the spring and insures that the gun will go completely into battery when charged.

The spring in the magazine is already compressed to fit into the magazine, So just sitting empty its under compression.

Good thing about the chemistry of spring steel is that it has those pesky Carbon atom in there which prevent sliding of the iron molecules. Which means....

I also don't disassemble my gun when they're just sitting around to save the springs in the guns.

<ul><li><a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/firearms/msgs/21519.phtml">lol</a></li></ul>

The plastic shotshells deform into ovals and won't feed properly into the chamber.

I'd just leave the bolt open...

<ul><li><a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/firearms/msgs/21518.phtml">yeah, I guess we are just reading the subject line.</a></li></ul>

Do you jack your car up and put it on stands every night to take the load of the springs?

interesting lack of advice on here. Back in the early 90's several of the gun magazine did stories about this topic. The recommendation at that time from most of the gun/magazine manf. was to not keep a mag fully loaded. Unless your LEO or someone who might need all rnds everyday, keeping 5 rnds in an 8 rnd mag. keeps you ready.

Personally, the gun that is in the nighstand holds 15 rnds, there are 10 in it. There is also another 15 rnd mag. with 10 rnd in it. The other two are kept in a case, but there are 3 mags for each with 5 rnds in each. Same with my shotgun, there is one rnd in the mag, but 8 rnds sidesaddle that can loaded quick.

that has proven to be bad advice.

sorry... but a fully loaded mag is fine. for DECADES.

that has proven to be bad advice.

sorry... but a fully loaded mag is fine. for DECADES.


I agree that "use 50% to 66%" of the capacity of the mag advice is bunk! To bottom line my previous point “do you jack your car up and put it on stands every night?”, the spring of a magazine is only worth a couple of bucks in comparison the firearm, and the probability that spring steel will fatigue any time soon in a quality firearm is also bunk! So use the piss out of the springs and maybe spend a dollar or two to have a couple replacements on hand. And to that point, buy a couple of extra mags too YA CHEAP SKATE!!! : ) After all you’re an Audi owner nobody is going to buy that you don’t have the funds…

Now about spring steel and the affects of fatigue has on it, it barely affects it!!! For example your car, those springs almost always last a life time. Yeah sure, once in a blue moon you break a spring. It’s going to happen. If you’re really that annoyed by the possibility use your springs like crazy and document how often they fail and create for yourself a replacement plan based on usage and require maintenance. Then replace the springs regularly based upon your findings, or possibly seek out the manufacturers recommended preventative maintenance schedule so as to press your luck.

You want advice? Keep your mags loaded, keep them fully loaded, own more than one mag, be able to do a mag swap in less than 5 seconds, and never chamber a round you don’t fire in a pistol. Why? Because you WILL drive the bullet further into the casing and you may accidentally increase the pressure of the round and cause a catastrophic failure and put yourself in a really bad spot not to mention possibly ruining your firearm. Now that’s advice.

well folks, I'll stand by my comments.

Couple of points of reference, I was at Cabela's this past week. Armorer's rep. from Glock was there, he was passing through from Chicago to L.A. from some seminars. He was meeting with the Cabela's gun reps, talking to customers, etc. Had the chance to meet with him as well. This thread and some others from the past were in the back of my mind, I posed this to him. His advice, and he said advice that Glock has given in the past, firearms that are in storage or not used on a daily should not be stored with a full mag. They recommend 75% of cap. also to reduce stress on spring. Granted it's a spring, and designed to be used as such, but too much pressure can, over time, cause it to loose it's tension and not allow the mag. to feed properly if brought into use.

Also, ran this question by some friends and family in local LE, they all said there in-house armorers or firearms trainers recommend that for non-duty weapons, they should not be kept with fully loaded mags at all, time 75 to 80% is their recommended.

BTW, the comment about jacking your car up every night it not a valid argument. If I was parking my car to leave it stored for 3 or 4 months and not be used at all, I would put it on stands and leave the tires only lightly touching the ground.

I keep my .45 acp XD fully loaded with an extra fully loaded mag right next to me always. OOO and a round in the chamber tooo....always. Fuc* it! Rather be ready then try to save myself $20 on a retarted little spring. Protection is what most of us have guns for after all right?