Autoloader magazines

[El Pistolero]

I just wanna through out a question for you autoloaders types.
How long should you keep a magazine loaded? Does this eventually affect the spring? Should I rotate magazines?
I have a .45 auto and just started wondering if the spring in the magazine will eventually lose its power/elasticity if I keep it loaded too long?
Whadda do think guys?

[fourarmed]

If you're talking about 50 or 100 years, there might be a significant effect. A matter of a year or two shouldn't be deleterious to a properly heat treated spring.

[klausg]

El P-
Conventional wisdom states that you shouldn't leave them loaded. Yes the springs will eventually lose their 'power', when is the operative question. I think that "when" has a lot of variables to it; who made the magazine, was it a Friday afternoon/Monday morning job, etc. My personal take on the situation is that given a quality magazine you shouldn't have any trouble. However, if it worries you and you have enough magazines, go ahead and rotate them. I think most magazine-induced failures are due to either shoddy magazines or abuse to the good ones. I'm sure one of our LEO members, who would have MUCH more experience in this will chime in soon. FWIW, I keep all of my mags empty; I avoid the whole issue by keeping a wheelgun loaded. Of course, up here we have 4-legged vermin in addition to the 2-legged to worry about [smilie=1: . Take care.

-Klaus

[BD]

This is actually no mystery. Springs lose strength, and length, through work cycles far, far more than through constant compression. The exception would be if they are heated up or allowed to rust in place. The 1911 mags I use in competition get new springs every year. When I take out the old ones they are generally 1/2" to 1" shorter than the new ones when relaxed. My carry mag springs get replaced every 5 years or so. After 5 years they are still quite close to the length of the new spring when relaxed and that 1/4" or so they've lost seems to go in the first few weeks. My father has mags which have had the same springs in them for 20 years. They get shot once a year at most and they still feed fine. My grandfathers mags had the same springs in them from 1918 until 1985, and they fed ball ammo just fine. That pistol might have fired 20 rounds in those 67 years.
BD

[Char-Gar]

I loaded a Colt commercial 1911 mag and the misplaced it for 25 years. When I found it, I stuck it in a pistol and the entire mag ran through the pistol without a bobble. That was 15 years ago and I am still useing the mag and spring.

I don't worry about mag springs going wobbly because of being compressed.

[KCSO]

I have a magazine that my Great Uncle brought back from the war and I am still using it. When I got it it was loaded and had been in his dresser drawer for 30 years. It still works fine. I will say that for duty use i never leave a magazine loaded for more than 3 months and then it is rotated out of service. I only occasionally put in new springs when it seems like the mag loads too easy. I usually have 6 to 8 mags for each duty gun.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I think the relaxing the springs thingo started with the old flat blade springs. The modern metals are not so vulnerable I'm thinking. We used to leave our Mini14 Ruger mags charged all of the time at work, inspecting every change over (most guys were to slack to check) and they still worked ok after many years.

The Mini14s were withdrawn in favour of the Ruger 40S&W popgun and the jail I worked in still had the Mini because of the distances involved and the fact that the boss and I knew something about ballistics. The armourer sent me a few spare mags that had been taken out of a metro prison. He said they were the original batch that had been bought when the Mini 14s first came out and had been loaded and placed back in the cardboard boxes and stored in the safe never to be disturbed again. I don't know when the minis came out, but the carbines at the the metro complex were the absolute original model 180s I think it was. The armourer was about to put them into service and his offsider is an ex English military guy who started prattling on about 'reeelaxing the spreengs' and the fact that they wouldn't be any good. The armourer took out a couple hundred rounds and let rip, 100 rounds in each mag, no problemo! We put them into service and when we finally had to surrender the rifle (most of the new staff wern't trained in it) we took the rifles out the back and ran all of our ammo through them, about 600 rounds. Couldn't see any point in sending it back, Govt probably sell it for $2 and create $500 paperwork, we solved the problem for them, can't remember what happened to the brass for the life of me :-D Mick.

[El Pistolero]

Thanks for the feed back... I probably will rotate my magazines and keep a wheelgun handy.

[Joey]

I had about 5 magazines loaded with 7rds. I forgot about them, my wife found them after almost 20 yrs. I took them out to the range and no failure to feed. These were government issued magazines. When I was in the USMC we were only allowed to load them with 5 rds. Go figure.

[mike in co]

can't remember what happened to the brass for the life of me :-D Mick.

MICK!
YOU DID GOOD!

[Char-Gar]

Lots and lots of the myth and nonsense around the gun world, comes from gunwriters that need a subject for an article and come up with this crap. By and by, it get's picked up and repeated and one day it gets accepted as fact.

Once accepted as fact, it has it's choir of true belivers who will rush to rescue it from any attack of truth.

Massad Ayoub has invented more nonsense that has become accepted as fact than any other current writers around. Spring fatigue and civil liability for the use of handloads are two such inventions by Ayoub and others if his ilk.

Don't you dare load your pistols with handloads and any firearms with a spring should be downloaded a round or two, unloaded every few days and springs changed out several times a year. Well maybe Wolfe started that one!