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How Many of You are Ruining Your Magazines?


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Cause if you're loading them to full capacity, you're damaging the springs.

 

I know you might think that if they're made to hold 30 then it must be OK to put 30 in there, but a "gun expert" told me today that I'm ruining my magazines.

 

He must be right.  After all he's an expert.  He told me so.

 

 

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Now I have heard tell of but not really seen that the pressure of rounds on the lips of some composite/plastic mags causes the material to "flow" over time and misform slightly. 

 

But the spring? I guess if it were marginal to begin with perhaps but those would show up in other ways.

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Leaving a spring compressed does no harm. Cycling it is what causes fatigue.

This...

 

I can measure the open pressure loss in the valve spring on a race motor from an open valve over a one month time.

All real race guys loosen all the valve springs to prevent this over months between seasons.

 

common steel music wire springs do fatigue from full compression over long periods of time .

Just ask any mechanical engineer.

Or call the engineering people at any custom spring manufacturer.

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Cause if you're loading them to full capacity, you're damaging the springs.

 

I know you might think that if they're made to hold 30 then it must be OK to put 30 in there, but a "gun expert" told me today that I'm ruining my magazines.

 

He must be right.  After all he's an expert.  He told me so.

"Gun Expert" is incorrect. :)

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I solve this conundrum by only loading the readily used mags up to capacity and pulling floorplates off the others in storage. Best of both worlds and good steel mags are cheap again! Well, till the next moron tries to ruin our fun...bastardos!

 

Eta: I assumed we were talking about ak mags and mostly of the steel variety. However I still follow the same principle,load what makes ya happy and store the rest.

Edited by LuPiN8oR
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Leaving a spring compressed does no harm. Cycling it is what causes fatigue.

This...

 

I can measure the open pressure loss in the valve spring on a race motor from an open valve over a one month time.

All real race guys loosen all the valve springs to prevent this over months between seasons.

 

common steel music wire springs do fatigue from full compression over long periods of time .

Just ask any mechanical engineer.

Or call the engineering people at any custom spring manufacturer.

 

 

This mechanical engineer has discussed this very thing on here before. :)

 

People believe what they want to believe.

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Has anyone here ever had a problem with a weak magazine spring?

 

I haven't, yet.

 

I generally leave my rifle mags empty, until expected use.

 

I read a personal account (here?) of a very old loaded pistol magazine being fired w/out FTF (after decades (20?)). His father had passed and left it loaded.

 

I won't lose any sleep over this issue. Springs are very easy to find and make.

Edited by Sim_Player
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I leave a few all-plastic mags fully loaded at all times and have never had any problems with them so far. These are the cheap Radom 7.62x39 mags that I thought were going to suck, but turned out to be my favorite all around AK mag.

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I have a S&W 4046 that I received new in 1993. I kept all 3 magazines loaded to full capacity for 11 years. I also have a Glock27 from the first year of production (1995 I think) with 2 magazines. Both magazines have been loaded to full capacity since December of 1995. I have never had any issues with either gun or their respective magazines.

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Leaving a spring compressed does no harm. Cycling it is what causes fatigue.

 Yup,

 

I recently acquired my Great Grandfathers Spanish Ruby pistol (1903 copy)

It still had Western Cartridge .32 auto's in it loaded to the brim. They must've been in there since 1960 and it still cycles like a champ

 

Edited by WhiskeyMinion
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Cause if you're loading them to full capacity, you're damaging the springs.

 

I know you might think that if they're made to hold 30 then it must be OK to put 30 in there, but a "gun expert" told me today that I'm ruining my magazines.

 

He must be right.  After all he's an expert.  He told me so.

"Gun Expert" is incorrect. smile.png

 

 

 

Everyone claims to be an expert.  I generally just start talking when someone has a problem with a firearm I am familiar with, it's up to them to decide if they want to listen/use that knowledge.

 

Motion wears out all mechanical objects over time.  Yes you may weaken the spring slightly with it being fully compressed but I've intentionally weakened springs faster by rapid motion (A hyper active cousin is more than adequate to break in a good spring on an XD pistol mag.  Calmed him down too, cuz he got to do something.).  In truth though, if it slightly weakens the spring in a set position on a magazine, I'd be more worried about the quality of the steel they used to make that spring and how much service life it will give me.

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Lets see.... the engineers that design and manufacture gun springs may possibly know a little about the subject.

Maybe not as much as a mall ninja,  but it is possible years of collage and more years of development , testing and manufacturing,  Could Possibly give enough cred to at least listen to them.....

 

 

Read the FAQ

http://www.gunsprings.com/

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Has anyone here ever had a problem with a weak magazine spring?

 

I haven't, yet.

 

I generally leave my rifle mags empty, until expected use.

 

I read a personal account (here?) of a very old loaded pistol magazine being fired w/out FTF (after decades (20?)). His father had passed and left it loaded.

 

I won't lose any sleep over this issue. Springs are very easy to find and make.

I have a box of hundreds of mag springs and recoil springs that were replaced due to age and fatigue.

 

But then, I maintain equipment that people put 30k rounds a year through.

 

 

People can think, say, or do what they like, It has no impact on me whatsoever 

I stated simple facts, no more no less.

 

Im involved in LE qualifications,  I have seen many pistol mag springs that were left loaded over extended periods of time, FAIL and induce repeated malfunctions in the officers guns during the qualification.

A spring change later the firearm is functioning properly.

Rotating fully loaded mags, or weekly downloading is common practice to reduce this problem.

This is especially true with double stack mags.

 

People who read this can decide for themselves to read FAQs, or get the facts from spring manufacturers and engineers.

Or listen to peoples opinions on the subject.

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I do respect the knowledge and experience of those who design springs for a living.  I also understand that spring manufacturers need to sell springs to stay in business.

 

So when a spring manufacturer tells me to replace springs I keep that in mind.

 

The word of an armorer or other professional who has worked on thousands of guns holds more water.

 

I have not experienced a spring failure in a quality magazine (that I can recall).  But to be honest I don't spend effort troubleshooting a faulty mag.  It just gets binned.

 

I have had recoil spring failures.  Which makes sense to me.

Edited by Darth Saigus
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I'm still running 2 mags that were loaded by a nazi in the last world war in a p38. They stayed loaded for almost 60 years. Its still running fine to this day .

 

Its not a big deal. They may eventually wear out, but will it be enough to cause a problem is the real question.

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