Does keeping rounds in the magazine damage the spring? Or are the springs meant to be under stress for extended periods of time. I keep rounds in my 9mm all the time just in case someone breaks into my home while i am there. but my carry gun i unload and reload each day. Just wondering if it was harmful to keep rounds in a magazine 100% of the time? Thank you in advance for your input.
-
Be sure to read this post! Beware of scammers. https://www.indianagunowners.com/threads/classifieds-new-online-payment-guidelines-rules-paypal-venmo-zelle-etc.511734/
Keeping Rounds in the Magazine
- Thread starter sadclownwp
- Start date
The #1 community for Gun Owners in Indiana
Member Benefits:
Fewer Ads! Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership Discuss anti-gun legislation Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses Discover free outdoor shooting areas View up to date on firearm-related events Share photos & video with other members ...and so much more!
Member Benefits:
No harm keeping them loaded. Common myth.
Springs wear from cycling.
ETA: Magazine spring madness: 'creep' to your 'elastic limit' to un-earth the urban legend of 'spring-set' | American Handgunner | Find Articles at BNET
Springs wear from cycling.
ETA: Magazine spring madness: 'creep' to your 'elastic limit' to un-earth the urban legend of 'spring-set' | American Handgunner | Find Articles at BNET
What he said ^^^^, in another thread the verdict as I recall was the only harm you will do is by cycling rounds through it. So if you change out your ammo every week, then your spring will wear faster than leaving it full. And personally I wonder if spring wear is even a concern, the only mag I've seen wear out wont feed the last round and it's 20-30 years old.
E5RANGER375
Shooter
yep. ATM and Bendrx are exactly right. no harm at all. the bigest concern would be tension on the feed lips, but i would'nt worry about it. if you are, then buy PMAGs and use the cover they provide to relieve tension off them.
I have had over 40 loaded mags for several years, and I have been switching over to all PMAGs and i've been firing the old mags as i replace them, and have had ZERO problems, and they have been loaded for at least 5 years.
So your 9mm is not your carry gun? Do you unload the magazine of your carry gun everyday? Unloading and reloading the mags each day will be more ware and tear then just keeping them loaded. Cycle them out at the range.
Last edited:
Proper operations with a AR-15 mag is to underload by 1 or 2, to make sure you can slap it home with a bolt forward. That also reduces the load on the spring. I do this with any reload mag, unless there is sufficient "play" in the stock round loading.
DragonGunner
Grandmaster
Sorry but will have to disagree that springs won't get weaker...had a 30 rd. mag for the AR full for about 10 years....took ammo out an the spring had very little strength, when you loaded it up it took 20 rds before you felt any spring in the spring...also had a Mossberg pump 12ga. had the tube loaded full for several years....lost about 90% of its strength....problem solved by taking spring out an pulling an stretching it....also have done the same with Garand OP rod springs....I have heard that springs don't weakin because its the way they are made, they are suppose to be under pressure to stay strong...sorry, its wrong....nice theory, but actual practice shows otherwise....on the other hand, years of being loaded may not be that big of deal to many....I'm just saying, that springs will weakin.
^What he said^. Constant pressure does not wear springs. It's the actual flexing from loading, and unloading that wears the springs. Now some magazines for particular guns do have weak springs. However I have never ran into any.
Last edited:
ive mostly heard that its only cycling that weakens the spring. but then occasionally someone chimes in that they did have a weakened spring. frankly anythings possible, every spring is different and not made to the same quality, who knows if 1 in a hundred springs will fail from being kept under pressure for 10 years, or 1 in a thousand, or maybe all of them. IMO unloaded mags do nothing for self defense or the end of the world, probably great for springs though
dagibson1507
Sharpshooter
Wow i never knew this. Ive always kept most of my non carry pistols empty. Time to go load em up!
This has been my experience as well. The original ten round mags that I got with my Ruger 10/22 (I bought it used in 1988) won't feed the last round now, but I couldn't say how many rounds I ran through those two mags over the years.
Jay
Gotta watch us old guys.....cause if you don't....
Take any piece of .030" spring steel wire..... bend it once or twice.... no problem, it will spring back....... keep bending it back and forth, and after a while, it will break, or fail to "spring back".
The truth is that there is no one correct answer to this question. IF the spring is made from quality spring steel and IF it is properly tempered and IF loading a mag does not exceed the design limits for the spring then storing mags with rounds will not damage the spring. In the real world though many springs are made from poor quality steel that has been poorly tempered and stress relieved in combination with a magazine that requires the spring to be compressed past its design limits to get more rounds in it (think double stack). In this case the springs are going to fail after a short life whether they are constantly compressed and expanded or are left compressed. All you can do is buy quality springs such as Wolff, Wilson, ISMI, etc. to replace whatever the factory put in the mag. Downloading a mag by 1 or 2 rounds can also avoid overstressing it in hi cap mags and is not a bad idea if you really need that mag to work. Just remember there's a lot of junk imported springs out there being used in lots of products. A quality spring will last a very long time but you really have no idea what the mag manufacturer used or if someone replaced a spring with the cheapest one they could find. Watch carefully how your gun feeds the last couple of rounds, if it chokes on them your spring is probably dying. If one of my IPSC 1911s starts to have last round feed problems a new mag spring will always bring it back to 100% reliability.
Last edited:
