Leaving Magazines Loaded - Page 6

jimustanguitar · 02-03-2009, 18:14

I would be more worried about the rounds than the spring in the mag also. My brother unloads his expensive wolf ammo to go shooting with cheap fiocchi every weekend and reloads the same 14 wolf rounds in his P99 mag every week. I would shoot them off and replace them personally, but he insists that they are fine.

I believe that rounds that stay in a mag are fine over a long period of time, but not if you are loading and unloading the same ones constantly.

I've got two mags of hornady that i'm keepin around, but I also have two other mags to take to the range. I'll probably cycle them through every couple months and replace them, but without carrying, I don't think any wear or damage will result of it.

Mag springs are cheap anyway. My followers show wear before my springs do.

***Glockdude1*** · 02-03-2009, 18:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimustanguitar

My brother unloads his expensive wolf ammo to go shooting with cheap fiocchi every weekend and reloads the same 14 wolf rounds in his P99 mag every week.

Expensive Wolf???

Wolf as carry ammo???

jimustanguitar · 02-03-2009, 18:57

I know... I'm a hornady fan, but he bought a box that was about $80 for 20 rounds or something ridiculous like that. don't ask me... I guess not being a respected brand is all the more reason to shoot 'em off and load something new in the mag.

I've only had one misfire out of over a thousand rounds in the last couple months. It happened to be the first and only fiocchi box I'd bought. Winchester is usually what I take to the range because it's been reliable for me so far. Not one missed round.

randyinaloha · 02-11-2009, 13:33

I thought Wolf was "Cheap" ammo...

Anyway, with all the talk here about spring wearing out with use I guess I need to make a spring pushing machine to weaken mine.
I just cannot get the 10th round in without a hammer and I am very hesitant to do that. I did see my boss hammering his expanded reloaded .45 Long Colts into his revolver and I stood back and out of the way. Kinda scared me, but what do I know...
Randy

erichodges · 03-05-2009, 22:23

you'l wear out b4 your glock mags do

erichodges · 03-05-2009, 22:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glockdude1

Expensive Wolf???

Wolf as carry ammo???

RANGER 9mm +p BONDED JHP 124gr.

Dogguy · 03-06-2009, 09:49

"Don't forget that the very act of loading/unloading that mag would have weakened it."

But that's what happens when you shoot up the magazine and reload it and shoot it again and....you get the idea.

"You'll wear out b4 your glock mags do."

Hopefully not. You can buy rebuild kits for Glock magazines. New springs in an old magazine makes it work like new. Unfortunately there's no rebuild kit for me.

***Glockdude1*** · 03-07-2009, 17:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by erichodges

RANGER 9mm +p BONDED JHP 124gr.

mossy500camo · 03-08-2009, 16:37

All of my mags stay loaded.

***Glockdude1*** · 03-08-2009, 18:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by mossy500camo

All of my mags stay loaded.

Only now, my magazines will stay loaded longer. With ammo prices the way they currently are, I won't buy any more ammo, until the prices come back down. (fingers crossed)

bluewhite · 03-08-2009, 21:39

Been lurking for a while so I thought I better register in case I wanted to post.

This mag issue probably has a thread on every gun forum out there. Who knows for sure which is the right way but I'll keep rotating my carry mags every month or two just in case.

rlc1426 · 06-01-2009, 23:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by glockin101

Loaded mine aver 3 years ago and they still feed fine.

Just a question...if you loaded them three years ago...how do you know if it still fires? wouldn't you still have the same three year old ammo in them?

***Glockdude1*** · 06-02-2009, 06:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by rlc1426

Just a question...if you loaded them three years ago...how do you know if it still fires? wouldn't you still have the same three year old ammo in them?

The mags will work perfectly. Ammo will last forever if kept cool and dry.

maraf · 07-10-2009, 05:12

Great info and I totally agree on the elastic limit theory!

kikeartur · 07-10-2009, 13:25

What a great thread!!!!

leaving mags loaded and weak springs are a very extended myth around the world.

(like a Mythbuster challenger)

loose-proton · 07-10-2009, 18:14

*edit by OP*

springs do get weaker, but is that a problem? check out a box of surplus glock mags and compare the spring tension to new mags. seems to be a big difference, a lot more than lot to lot manufacturing variation would account for. Even in the one box of surplus mags, one can find some springs much stronger and some much weaker. There's a reason vendors sell spare mag springs.

We should think about more than just springs. sure, we can cite WWI and WWII mags still shooting fine BUT we can cite multiple examples of mag failure. If someone can't, they haven't been shooting much.

I have seen a half dozen GLOCK mags loaded by LEO and carried in the spare mag pouch for years that swelled slightly, making them stiff in the mag well for insertion and ejection. They functioned fine but stiff.

I have seen hundreds of mags rusted into non-functional condition.

I have seen spiders taking up residence in mags.

Think about sand, dirt, mold, rat piss, etc.

If someone isn't checking the mag, then maybe they're not checking the bore, either.

Ken43 · 07-18-2009, 23:29

Glock recommends changing out your springs every so often. Maybe that is for their benifit, however, I have worked on Glock mag's. for about 15 years and I can tell you for a fact that magazines that have been used have a shorter spring than new magazines. So to some extent they do take a set. I don't know if that has caused any malfunctions but for that reason I keep my extra magazines unloaded when in the gunsafe. The mag. in the gun I am currently using has a fully loaded mag. in it.

***Glockdude1*** · 07-19-2009, 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by kikeartur

What a great thread!!!!

leaving mags loaded and weak springs are a very extended myth around the world.

(like a Mythbuster challenger)

As long as Kari is in the show, I'll watch!!

JERRYB · 08-06-2009, 19:33

Very informative. Now i'll always leave my mags fully loaded with no concern about "stressing" the springs. ... Thanks for the valuable info. Jerryb

***Glockdude1*** · 08-07-2009, 16:08

I WANT one of my loaded magazines to fail. So far no luck. I have many magazines loaded, AK, HK, Glock, Beretta, Wilson, Drums, etc......

gatorhugger · 09-10-2009, 05:36

Springs do weaken from being loaded.

It may still "function" like the reports of the 30 year old mags still working.
But it willl be be pushing up those rounds very slowly, and in a couple more trips to the range may fail.

For heavens sake, once every 5 years or so, spend $5 bucks and get a new spring.
You don't have to get an entire new mag or follower if you don't want, but
a cheap spring is easy to replace and good insurance.
People spend $20 for .01 ounce of the latest gun lube every 6 months,( which is probably not needed), $1000 a year on the best bullets, but won't replace a $5 spring every 5 years.
Amazing.

kikeartur · 09-10-2009, 07:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorhugger

Springs do weaken from being loaded.

It may still "function" like the reports of the 30 year old mags still working.
But it willl be be pushing up those rounds very slowly, and in a couple more trips to the range may fail.

For heavens sake, once every 5 years or so, spend $5 bucks and get a new spring.
You don't have to get an entire new mag or follower if you don't want, but
a cheap spring is easy to replace and good insurance.
People spend $20 for .01 ounce of the latest gun lube every 6 months,( which is probably not needed), $1000 a year on the best bullets, but won't replace a $5 spring every 5 years.
Amazing.

+1

Amazing

orton89 · 09-10-2009, 11:01

nice, I was wondering if i should download my 4 Glock mags but now ill just leave them in the ready.

raw6464 · 11-19-2009, 22:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorhugger

Springs do weaken from being loaded.

It may still "function" like the reports of the 30 year old mags still working.
But it willl be be pushing up those rounds very slowly, and in a couple more trips to the range may fail.

For heavens sake, once every 5 years or so, spend $5 bucks and get a new spring.
You don't have to get an entire new mag or follower if you don't want, but
a cheap spring is easy to replace and good insurance.
People spend $20 for .01 ounce of the latest gun lube every 6 months,( which is probably not needed), $1000 a year on the best bullets, but won't replace a $5 spring every 5 years.
Amazing.

It's really the amount of compression/rebound cycles over time that kills a spring not a constant compression. A constant compression on a spring is no different then being contantly uncompressed.

Using the same mag over and over is what kills springs not time. Springs engineered and manufactured to be springs DON'T weaken from being loaded within their design specifications as explained in the orginal post on this thread.

So the issue at hand is if you have a mag that you keep loaded for long periods of time, do you need to replace them... just because?

PBR Sailor · 11-20-2009, 04:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken43

Glock recommends changing out your springs every so often. Maybe that is for their benifit, however, I have worked on Glock mag's. for about 15 years and I can tell you for a fact that magazines that have been used have a shorter spring than new magazines. So to some extent they do take a set. I don't know if that has caused any malfunctions but for that reason I keep my extra magazines unloaded when in the gunsafe. The mag. in the gun I am currently using has a fully loaded mag. in it.

I have worked on a few Glocks in my time. Some of them failed to lock the slide open after the last shot. Some of them had nose down failure to feed problems leaving a few rounds jammed in the magazine below the feed lips. A new magazine or magazine spring cured the problem in every case.