Some time ago there was much discussion about not keeping high capacity magazines charged for extended periods of time. What is the current thinking? I must confess I keep them partially charged and just leave 'em. My carry guns (not high cap.) I pretty much leave untouched. Should I be unloading and reloading the mags? Cycling the guns?
Thanks, Peter.

The spring material to is a lot better then decades ago I leave mine loaded for months.

But I do take and empty them once in a while it is amazing how much junk gets into when you carry them every day.

A good way to do that is practice.

If you know they have been expose to bad stuff like water and sand I would clean them right away.

Other wise once every couple of months

Springs that fail are either defective, or worn out from extended/excessive use, or compressed/extended beyond their range/capacity.

Compression is what they are made for.

That said, p dog shooter offers great advice that should be heeded by CC users.

Good luck!!

In my high cap competition guns (uspsa stuff) I replace the springs when they start having hiccups, usually every other year. Those guns get a lot more and demanding use than most (when I gave a damn about my competitive performance I changed them annually.)

I’ve had factory 9mm and AR mags that sat for over 10 years with no issues. I have been told, and believe that they have a finite life span in number of compression cycles. For a long time I replaced springs on carry guns that got shot very little, but now I just check them by shooting the old ammo out of them when it’s time to replace it annually),and if I have trouble then or if the mag doesn’t load well, it gets replaced.

I brought a vets old .45 from his family last year. The mags were still loaded with 1940’s vintage ammo, and they said they didn’t think dad had touched the gun since discharge after Korea.

It ran those rounds well. About 64 years it sat there...

If you have any question, I would replace them- but I wouldn’t worry too much about it taking a set.

Thank you gentlemen! All good advice!
Peter.

I also came upon a few 1911 loaded mags from
War 2 + they functioned just fine.

I still have some clips for my High Power that have been loaded for at least 40 years is my best guess..I have several dozen clips loaded and up in the top of the closet someplace..The gun I carry has been loaded for at least 20 years and I took my daughter out to practice for a concealed carry test..We shot up a dozen or so of those clips without a singley misfire or jam...

Opinions on this subject, like all others, vary.

I came to learn early on, and live today, to understand that keeping your mags maintained, loaded, and ready to go is just as important as keeping your primary weapons good to go. And there is always the caveat to rotate your mags, flop 'em out, clean 'em out, unload, reload, randomly, routinely.

Never keep mags fully loaded for an extended period of time. ( Go ahead. Puff your chest, flex your arms, take me on. Whatever. Real world experience is on my side.)

Mags are as easy to clean as your primary weapon. Do so.

Find yourself where you've been issued a load-out of pre-loaded mags? Check 'em out. Your life may depend on it. Trust me.

Do not rely on manufacture guidelines. Do not rely on Internet drivel. Maintain your mags just as if they are your guns. Strip them, clean them, load them, unload them. Rotate them. Work them until they are just as familiar as the gun you are working .

Thoughts on this subject vary. Yours are as valuable as mine. No offer to debate here, just some thoughts that may be useful down the line.

Best to you all.

I keep two eight round mags loaded with my primary home defense gun a Springfield EMP. I change out to fresh mags at the beginning of each month. Maybe that's overkill but it gives me peace of mind.

TWL,
That's bording OCD IMO, what do you have to back up such an opinion? I have 14 or 15 9mm Browning HP clips, some that have super vel ammo in them, been loaded for 50 years..My daughter some time back asked me to teach her to shoot a pistol so she could qualiy for concealed carry...We shot them all up without a single problem..Those clips have been in the jungles of So. America, Mountains of Mexico and in snow storms in Idaho, never abused but never cleaned or reloaded with the exception of two of them, many 3 that I keep handy...I do keep the pistol clean most of the time..My 45 ACP is without much blue and I don't recall ever cleaning a clip itself more than once or twice that was severely mudded up..I keep them fully loaded also..All my clips are original and factory for both guns..

Not saying you can't clean yours every day, just that my experience has been quite the opposite..

quote:

I came to learn early on, and live today, to understand that keeping your mags maintained, loaded, and ready to go is just as important as keeping your primary weapons good to go. And there is always the caveat to rotate your mags, flop 'em out, clean 'em out, unload, reload, randomly, routinely.Never keep mags fully loaded for an extended period of time. ( Go ahead. Puff your chest, flex your arms, take me on. Whatever. Real world experience is on my side.)

+1

I have mags that have been not touched or cleaned in decades they sit in storage unused.

My every day carry mags routinely get emptied and clean.

Because they collect crap/rust riding in their carriers.

It is just being lazy not to doing so.

Why would one risk their life and well being not maintaining their equipment.

The same goes for my every day carry firearms.

As a armorer for a 500 man department I looked at and inspected thousands of firearms.

Some came in for their annual inspection in a condition, that I would not trust to fire if needed.

Why because the officers where just to dam lazy to maintain them properly.

TWL,
Although I took an opposite view of this subject and stated my personal case, I have to apoligise, your approach has to be the best, its never wrong to maintain a firearm in every respect, especially if you intend to protect your life with it. Getting careless in my old age, and all the bad bandits I delt with have too..

Taking care of business by constantly keeping your piece in order. If that means removing shells overnight to release spring tension then by all means do so (I have never done this nor intend to).Remember that Wild Bill routinely fired his pistols every morning out the hotel room window before cleaning + reloading them." A man with a damp primer is a dead man".I'll bet he pissed off a lot of Sunday morning late sleepers,but I also doubt that anyone complained openly.

No apologies necessary, Ray. I enjoyed our visit.

With Respect.......

I was in the armory one day doing annual inspections on the issued firearms.

The troopers would bring there M-16, 870s and handguns in unload them.

Place them in there appropriate racks. Then we would inspection them.

While they attended their in-service classes.

They would have tags with name badge number on them and a list of problems if known.

My partner went to the racks and brought a 870 in.

He said look at this piece of SH!T.

He showed me a 870 that was severely rusted.

We took picture of it before we started to work on it.

Took both of use to get the action open and the barrel off.

We decided it was trashed and was not safe to place out in the field.

I went and found the trooper who turned it in.

I said what happened? he said well about 3 months ago he was out at a crash. During a down pour that he left his trunk open and his shotgun and case must of gotten wet then.

So instead of drying things out and cleaning things he just left it lay there.

I would normally try and work with people so I did not have to report them. But I would have to explain how a good 870 became unusable.

We had two people in trouble the trooper for not caring for his equipment. Then his Sargent for not conducting his normally inspections.

On the other end we would have some come in dripping oil.

The far majority of firearms came in cleaned and properly oil.

But every once in awhile a gem would show up.


During in-service the troopers would fire their issued ammo and it would be replaced with new.

So we knew their magazines were at least emptied and cycled at least once a year.

Normal SOP required monthly inspection and cleaning.

The 870 is one of the best pumps ever made.I keep one in a wall rack right beside my bench in my shop.When about 30-40 years ago there was a class action suit against Remington because of the 870,my 1st thought was that some ambulance chaser was after a quick buck because some idiot plugged his bore with mud + then fired it+ then blamed Remington.

I change my loaded magazine every few months or whenever I remember

Let not confuse proper care with magazine springs, a quality pistol spring seldom if ever fails, Ive never know of one to fail, gunk and stuff in the clip can be a severe problem, but letting a spring rest for 30 minutes or overnight, I think not!! If a spring fails its a faulty spring to start with. Maintenance is always a good thing..However if it makes one more confident then by all means so as you please, can't hurt a thing..

My personal experience has been that magazines were pretty much perfected 100 years ago, so long as the magazine is less than 100 years old you're good to go.

I once found in my old bedroom a loaded 1911 magazine that I had last used before I'd got married or had 3 children, so had been loaded 10-20 years. Curious about this controversy even way back then I I fired the entire magazine while disturbing it little as possible and they all fired & ejected.

I can’t back up a suspicion I have about some of the 10 round mags that existed for several years. You may remember that glorious period in our gun laws. I have a CZ75B in .40 S&W that came with two of these mags (I also have two 12 round mags). The mag springs are EXTREMELY compressed in a fully loaded 10 round mag, the 10th round being difficult to load. I don’t think leaving those mags fully loaded for extended periods would be a good idea. I can’t prove it would be a problem, but why risk it?

My instructor said he replaces all his mag springs on New Years day along with his smoke detector batteries. Just something he has gotten into the habit of. He also never loads the mags to full capacity holding one round out.
This is not to help save the spring but makes changing mags in a tense moment more sure of complete seating of the mag. Just what he does and it works for him.

My Browning HP clips hold 14 rounds, but I can cram one more for 15 and one up the tube is 16..I fired it loaded that way probably 20 or 30 times at practice, and it never failed, however I always loaded 13 in the clip and one up the tube for actual carry..Do the new Brownings still hold 14??

Im comfortable with my Browning HP and a good new hollow point bullet.There are some good expanding bullets these days for pistols..
especially for the 9mm and the .357.

My pet load for the 45 aCP is the Border Patrol Federal 230 gr. HP, Its a plus p plus and for LE only...I saw it work in Mexico by the Mexican police raiding Heroin labs, its there bullet of choice or was anyway...MOst 45 ACP ammo has been less than efficient, but this stuff works great. As far as IM concerned pistols stack up for self defence in order of 357 magnum, 9mm, and 45 ACP, and the much overlooked 38 Super, all else has faults.

i've gone back and forth on this as well but seems the majority go with leaving them loaded-they really only wear out w use and not just being compressed and loaded-that said, many will say not to load to full capacity as this may stress the springs so depending on capacity, may want to leave one or few out of it unless currently carrying on person

I just use some fully loaded AR15/M16 mags that were in my go bag for around 12 years.

They functioned just fine.

I've never had performance issues with long time loaded mags. At one point I even came across some loaded 1911 A1 mags from WW2 that still fired just fine.

Load full or load one round less...I would let the gun itself make that decision by testing each magazine I have...In my case I have a dozen or so magazines for both my 45 and my Hi-power but two each are the ones I used over the years and still do..the others have been in the glove compartments of truck and car and in the bedroom closet for ions until recently.

I have just purchased a 1911 and now am looking for perhaps a Glock 21. Very interesting thread as I am completely new to this type of handgun.

However...

Are not snap caps used in double rifles and shotguns to relieve main pring tension during periods of storage?

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
I have just purchased a 1911 and now am looking for perhaps a Glock 21. Very interesting thread as I am completely new to this type of handgun.

However...

Are not snap caps used in double rifles and shotguns to relieve main pring tension during periods of storage?

i found loaded 9mm glock mags in a safe left in non heated place that went up to -49c.

they were the 10 rounds version thanks to our lovely absurd rules here but they worked with no issue and many time since.

I think the small autos need more attention given to the mag springs than the larger frame guns.

Before there was a Ruger LCP, I bought a Kel-Tech 3AT. For the last 15+ years it's gone bang every time I have fired it and have pocket carried it for a long time.

I have found that loading one less than capacity in small frame auto magazines ensures better reliability. Squashing that little spring all the was to the max reduces it's 'push/leverage' IMHO.

I am more worried about a for sure shot #2 than I am #6 or #7.

My instructor does a couple of things each year on New Years day. He changes the batteries in his smoke detectors and changes all the springs in his mags.
Says he's been doing this for years. He does shoot probably 10 time more than the average guy though.

Glock is the first cousin to the Matel Toy, the most worthless pistol in the history of mankind! Pistols need to be made of steel!

Any auto should be shot 250 to 500 rounds before it can be trusted IMO..That break in period is crucial to your survival..Keep it clean is good..the clip business is up to you, its your ass on the line I guess..Maybe I will go clean my old clips for the hell of it... Yeah thats the ticket!

quote:

Any auto should be shot 250 to 500 rounds before it can be trusted IMO.

A properly built auto doesn't need a break in period.

If a manufacturer tells me their pistols need a break in period. I see that as a good reason not to buy from them.

As a departmental armorer and instructor. Who has seen thousands of brand new pistols right out of the box put into service.

99% of them run just fine during initial qualifications.

If they do not work right away something is wrong with them.

If one has to spend almost what a pistol cost in ammo to make sure it works.

Why would you buy it.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Glock is the first cousin to the Matel Toy, the most worthless pistol in the history of mankind! Pistols need to be made of steel!

Same has been said about he M16 but I believe that design has been in active service longer than any other design.

P dog, guess we are at logger heads..I break in all pistols, and don't trust any of them out of the box...The 1911 is way older than the m-16, but I wont comapare rifles to pistols..rifles are oh so much more effective, functional in most cases, short of point blank anyway...

quote:

.I break in all pistols, and don't trust any of them out of the box..

Whom said anything about trusting them.

Who said anything about taking a pistol out of the box putting it ones holster.

What I said was.

99% of them run just fine during initial qualifications

Shooting them to see if they work is different then shooting them to break them in.

Breaking them in implies that they need a certain number of rounds through them to make them work properly.

Again having seen thousands of handguns taken out of the box and shot 99 plus percent of them work just fine.

Like you I would not take any firearm handgun or long gun out of the box and use for serious work. With out making sure it works properly

Fortunately there is little that go wrong in a mag. besides spring tension or feeding ramp out of kilter. both can be remedied easily early on + I stress that part. Any weapon that you will be trusting your life on deserves a trial run at the least. Remember that in War 1 Eddie Rickenbacker nightly checked his own rounds to verify surety of fire. Well, he lived, didn't he?

quote:

Remember that in War 1 Eddie Rickenbacker nightly checked his own rounds to verify surety of fire. Well, he lived, didn't he?

The only sure way to make sure they would fire is to fire them.

Then he would not have had any.

Sure you could fire a portion of a lot and be some what assured.

But until the firing pin drops one can not know 100 percent if any one round will fire.

That is why one practices malfunction drills.

I'm talking about obvious flaws on the cases, bullet deformation + correct seating in the belt, etc.

P-dog,
One of us is confused, and neither of us is likly to change on such a subject..so Im off to see the Wizard Dorothy.