How long would your your magazines being loaded.

[stdalire]

I keep thinking how many hours/days/week does gunners keeping their magazines loaded.

My practice is, if for my home defense gun, during the night I will load 3 to 4 magazines . Then the following morming before I go to work I will unload 3 mags and let 1 mag loaded. When I got home from work again, on the night I will load the empty 3 mags, and unload the 1 mag that I left loaded but I return the bullets after several minutes when I think that the magazine spring stress is gone.

How about your practices, how would you treat your mags.

Thanks

[This message has been edited by stdalire (edited May 16, 2000).]

 

[Laz]

I'm no expert but everything I have learned leads me to believe that constant loading and unloading is harder on the magazine spring than leaving it loaded. I have talked to at least a couple of gun manufacturers who told me their magazines are designed to be loaded fully indefinitely. There are good threads on this subject on rec.guns and shooters.com and no doubt here. Hope this helps. My .02 anyway.

------------------
Lazarus

 

[Coronach]

This is, like, the mother of all controversies. Everyone has a different scheme, or no scheme at all, and you know what? It doesn't seem to make a damn bit of difference.

Short answer: nobody knows.

I swap mine out every few weeks. Have yet to have one fail.

Mike

------------------
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein

 

[FUD]

Best advise (IMO) that I have heard, and which I follow is the following:<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI> Do not load your magazines to full capacity -- leave out one or two rounds. On a 10-round magazine, load only 8 or 9 rounds. While some may argue that that one extra round or two could mean the difference between life and death. It could also be argued that that one extra round or two could kill your spring and you have zero rounds to shoot. More is always better but I would rather have one or two less than have none.
<LI> Decide how many magazines you want to have on hand and buy three times as many. For example, from what I've read, you have 4 magazines loaded. Then, you should three sets of 4 for a total of 12 magazines. Keep one set (4 magazines) untouched so that the springs remain fresh as new for use in an emergency situation (this implies that you first test them out to ensure that they work properly). Of the remaining 8 magazines, keep 4 of them loaded (again, not to full capacity) during the winter and when spring comes, unload them and load up the other set. When summer comes, reload the first set.</UL>
Share what you know, learn what you don't -- FUD

 

[Tonyadrik]

I have four mags for my Glock 34 and I use 2 of them for a week. I load two rounds less than full capacity each morning, in the evening I take some rounds out and leave about 10 - 13 rounds in. After week has gone, I empty these two and do the same practice with two other mags. Previously I had G19 and alltogether I've practiced this for six years - never had any troubles with magazines or their springs. Works fine for me and I continue to do it this way.
P.S keeping mags loaded at almost full for several months (like during whole winter or spring)is something I wouldn't recommend to anybody - I've seen to many malfunctions resulted by this (like slide won't stay open after last shot on Sig P226).

 

[Jim V]

I keep 5 1911 magazines loaded constantly. If I think about it I swap them out for 5 of the spares (you can't have too many magazines). I have had no problems with failures to feed due to weak magazine springs.

My suggestion is: Do a search on springs, this is another question that has been been around the block several times. Like, "What is the best 1911 magazine?" or "ShockBuffs, any good?"

------------------
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"

 

[Laz]

I have not experienced a magazine failure but FUD and Tonyadrik touch on what I think is a good point: if a magazine spring is weakened it is probably not going to fail catastrophically but is much more likely to exhibit failure by either not feeding the last round or by not locking back when empty. Both of those conditions should become evident during practice and neither would likely be decisively disastrous should they occur during an armed encounter. At least if one believes the plentiful accounts and statistics available on numbers of rounds expended during the "average" shooting. To be honest, I generally keep revolvers as house guns. No spring tension to worry about but a guaranteed failure to feed after six rounds with no lock-back, making a reload necessary <G>.

------------------
Lazarus

 

[fubsy]

A couple of partners of mine actually loaded some m16 mags and left them loaded for bout a year...no problems that Im aware of....I dont believe they were maxed out ......there still using those mags, and last I talked to them every mag they have is loaded.....it still boils down to personal preference...I keep only revolvers loaded myself, but im from the old school....also possible magazine failure from weak springs is another reason to look at a garand for defense....those enbloc clips dont weaken from sitting and the rifle can be loaded quickly.....although there might be other considerations with a rifle cartridge for some....Put a short little 18" barrel on that little puppy and youve got a fast handling semi auto defensive rifle...might consider rechambering in 308 too....fubsy.

[This message has been edited by fubsy (edited May 17, 2000).]

 

[Andrewh]

Lets see I have had my taurus for about 8 years now. I have 4 mags for it that stay fully loaded until I empty them at the range. Then I reload them before I leave. So on the average I guess they only get unloaded every 3 months or so and get cycled 5 to 10 times at the range. The only problem I have every had is failure to lock back on the empty. But it turns out it is the follower in the mag not the springs. Taurus replaced them for free.(the followers, not the mags. I didn't send them back afraid I would get the pc 10 rds.)

 

[M1911]

I've had four 30 round M16 mags loaded in the safe for several years. They are loaded with 29 rounds. I recently took them to a carbine class and had no malfunctions.

Jared

 

[BrokenArrow]

I load em and I forget em.

Have shot Beretta, SIG, 1911 GI contract pistol mags that had been fully loaded for months/yrs and they all worked.

OTOH, I hear some PDs have had probs they attributed to set mag springs in Glocks.

Izumi wrote an article in Handguns several yrs ago about this. Colt and SIG mags were fine after 6 months, the Glock mags were not. Know some people who have loaded Glock mags longer than that, and they were OK...

We'll never know for sure?

[This message has been edited by BrokenArrow (edited May 17, 2000).]

 

[M1911]

I've had 16 rounds in my Glock 17 mags for years. No problems. Jared

 

[ctc]

I have 3 spare that I keep loaded and then empty them at the range (every week or so). After reading some of the replys I'll probably get a couple extra to keep unloaded and rotate through at regular intervals.

 

[Coinneach]

Metal fatigue is the primary cause of spring failure, and fatigue is caused by working the metal. IOW, leave 'em loaded.

Now, how many mags should I carry for my Buckmark when I'm hunting bear, and should I use FMJ or HP?

 

[M1911]

Coiineach: Is that brown bear or black?

 

[fubsy]

PLEASE, NO more I wanna hunt bears with a handgun threads...please.....im in tears...please......I feel like I finally know how sensop feels bout them little green things..I saw on in my back yard the other day..............Id use the stingers...fubsy.

 

[riddleofsteel]

from the .22 handguns we had seen in bear scat i'd say they are not working very well.

mag question:

1. load mags for carry and backup (i load to max cap.)
2. you are shooting this carry gun a t least once every two weeks or so aren't you?
3. after shooting take down and clean mags.
4. rotate to backup set of mags
5. every year (depending on shooting volume)change mag springs.
6. stop worrying so much it will make you old


i had a friend that inherited an old Colt .32 ACP pistol that was a least 75 years old. according to his grandmother the pistol had been fully loaded for over 50 years and never fired (although it had been cleaned) pistol and original mag and springs fires like new. extended loading does not hurt them.
------------------
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.
Let he that hath no sword sell his garment and buy one. Luke 22-36
They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. Song of Solomon 3-8
The man that can keep his head and aims carefully when the situation has gone bad and lead is flying usually wins the fight.

[This message has been edited by riddleofsteel (edited May 17, 2000).]

 

[DorGunR]

I loaded 10 rounds in a 13 round magazine (Browning Hi Power) in 1972, left the States and did not return until 1979, did not fire my pistol using that magazine until 1987...the gun fired all ten rounds flawlessly. The same magazine still functions without any problems today. This may not work for all manufacturers, my Hi Power was manufactured in 1963 in Belgium.

------------------
"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."

 

[plinker2]

I can only go from my experience. I have left my mags loaded constantly for 2+ years now with no problems. I shoot regularly, but instantly reload the mags. This is how they are stored, fully loaded. No problems yet. --plinker2--

 

[Tecolote]

I concur with those who've left their mags loaded for years without any problems. I've done the same. I only download by one round if I plan on leaving the mags loaded for long periods of time.

------------------
So many pistols, so little money.