[Grumbler]

Does keeping rounds stored in a magazine weaken the spring in the mag?

 

[BrokenVet]

Yes it does. I keep one magazine half loaded and I rotate it every 30 days.

 

[jdwboy]

springs

It is my understanding, and experience that what weakens springs are cycles. i.e. compression and decompression.

There have been experiences where someone had found a 1911 with fully loaded magazines over 30 years and function just fine..

Its the compression and decompression (i.e. loading and unloading) that wears out a spring.

I've had several M14 mags. loaded for years (10+) that functioned just fine when I used them.

 

[Rocket6R]

It is my understanding, and experience that what weakens springs are cycles. i.e. compression and decompression.

There have been experiences where someone had found a 1911 with fully loaded magazines over 30 years and function just fine..

Its the compression and decompression (i.e. loading and unloading) that wears out a spring.

I've had several M14 mags. loaded for years (10+) that functioned just fine when I used them.

+1
You're dead on the money! Cycles kill springs. I load up my mags and store them for a rainy day, no harm.

 

[High Hat]

I keep one loaded 20 round magazine, the rest sit empty. My shotgun and handgun back up the M1A.

 

[BLACKTAIL 8541]

Keeping them fully loaded does not harm the springs. Fireing and unloading them does more harm as has been stated.

 

[dragonfly]

+1
You're dead on the money! Cycles kill springs. I load up my mags and store them for a rainy day, no harm.

+1 and a great question Grumbler.

dragonfly

 

[nf1e]

I had to comment on the 1911 magazines. I was given a 1911 with 3 mags and all the associated hardware that had been hanging in an attic since 1918. All mags were loaded with ammo that was produced in 1914. They functioned great.
93 years , that's a pretty good test.

Art

 

[tmcfalls]

If I am not mistaken Different has some info from an Army test on the subject stating that springs wear out by being cycled just as several other gentlemen has posted.

 

[tommyknocker]

spring damage

physics type will tell you that what damages a spring is streatching it boyond it elastic limit. Compressing a spring, in a mag or in the rifle will not damage it. most of us protect our investment by taking off the force when not in use. However, I do keep one mag 3/4 full for home defense puropses but I also rotate mags.

 

[hammer 1]

I rotate mags also, when my great uncle passed, I had the depressing task of starting the cleanup of his home. He was a WW1 vet and his children and my aunt myrtle were gone. I found in a closet a holstered 1911, original holster and belt he had in the great war. The mags were loaded as was the pistol, I stopped by at least twice a week to check on the old gentleman and I didnt even know he had it. After alot of red tape, ( this is NY), the pistol was on my permit. The 21 original rounds in the mags all fired and the pistol cycled without a hiccup.

 

[conditionone]

Some follow the belief that you should keep a 20 rd mag with 19 rounds, but I don't know if there's any real advantage. Fully loaded mags make sense to me, and any i've kept that way have never failed, after a year+ of being that way.

 

[M1A's r BEST]

I have 4 or 5 magazines in the pouches on my M1A case that have been loaded almost continuously since the late 70's. I unloaded them at the Appleseed I attended in Sept. 2006 and the RWVA RBC I attended in Feb. 2007. Other than those times they hold 20 rounds a piece. They worked fine, too.

Some of my 1911 magazines have been loaded since the late 70's as well, only emptied now and then at the range and then loaded again to wait for the next time. Even my newest 1911 magazines have been loaded (except when emptied at the range) for about 8 years now.

 

[B 2/75]

32 years in the Army and never saw a mag that failed because it had been loaded for too long.

Deformed feed lips, bent mag bodies, bent / broken followers, YES to all. Never a bad spring, though.

I've got a 1911 mag that I've used for 30 years, without failure on it's part to feed. It has been through "alot" of load / unload cycles, and its follower is just as peppy as a new Wilson Combat mag.

 

[Rawnerves]

I don't know anything scientific about spring dynamics but I keep em loaded when I need to. I've got a few usgi from from the 60's that are all original and the springs still do what they are supposed to do.

 

[dblack]

My father always told me that it is cycling. Hence the mags were pos when came to qualifying for weapons since they were used so much.

Other then that keeping loaded mags never hurt the springs themselves.

 

[Sakima]

Loaded mags

At a gun show several years ago, I saw a single canvas mag pouch with a mag in it on one of the tables, when I picked it up, I discovered it was loaded. IIRC LC 68. When I asked the seller about the ammo, he was shocked the mag was loaded. Some of his old "Nam" items. If his story was true, that mag had been loaded for a while. Both the mag and ammo functioned fine.

 

[davidgcalderone]

It is not the spring you need worry about. The issue is the constant force on the feed lips. In time, they start to bend out of spec. With that said, I have 2 each 30 round AR magazines that are always fully loaded, they are 20+ years old, and just fine. I have had one Colt 45 ACP magazine have the feed lips bend out of spec.

Never any issues with my M14 magazines.

 

[rscalzo]

Some of the original S&W semi-auto magazines issued when we changed over in 83 are still in service. Loaded since 83 they still function perfectly.

 

[Wayne M]

This is a good reason to check out the group buy on CMI Mags! If you're like me and keep a bag loaded plus what's in your rifles, you can get enough to have plenty of spares and if you like to partial load or rotate mags you can get enough to really knock yourself out loading and unloading month after month. Take a look at the buy(actually a "Feeler for a group buy" in The Firing Line) and you won't need to worry about springs no matter what method you use! GI6

Actually, I'm not supersticious: eight loaded in the Grab N Go plus one loaded in each rifle. No rotation since I've got dedicated range mags.