Range Toy 0 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 I was removing a rifle from my safe for a trip to the range and I noticed that my S12 had the bolt in the locked open position. I must have forgotten to release the bolt the last time I had the gun out of the safe and it was probably in that position for several months. My questions is does anybody know if storing a S12 with bolt locked open could potentially weaken the recoil spring? I guess I will find out if I have any cycling issues my next trip out with it, but I was just wondering if anybody else had inadvertently done this and experienced any issues. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joelrod47 373 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 Locking the bolt open on your S12 is not a problem. It will not weaken the spring. 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sim_Player 1,939 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) Time will tell. My guess is that you willl never notice any problems. I've done the same with my rifles. Cycling seems to weaken spring metal. Edited March 15, 2015 by Sim_Player Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BigChongus 765 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 It did nothing harmful. It's fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cobra 76 two 2,677 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 Springs don't wear from just compression. It's repeated cycles that put any wear on them. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Heartbreaker 1,085 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 Springs don't wear from just compression. It's repeated cycles that put any wear on them. Except for magazines. They will tend to weaken if you leave them fully loaded for long periods. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
horatio 515 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 IIRC this was discussed quite a bit in a few threads about preventing shell deformation. I remember the overall response being no damage done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
thebuns1 4,323 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 Springs don't wear from just compression. It's repeated cycles that put any wear on them. Except for magazines. They will tend to weaken if you leave them fully loaded for long periods. I disagree. They may break in, but not weaken. a spring is a spring. Compressed or not. I have several mags that have been loaded for almost 2 years +. I also unloaded 2 of them last month so I could rob the ammo. They didnt lose any of their tension to cause any problems with feeding. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aka_mythos 35 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) Springs don't wear from just compression. It's repeated cycles that put any wear on them. Except for magazines. They will tend to weaken if you leave them fully loaded for long periods. Springs don't work like that. If a spring weakens from being fully loaded its a defective spring that was either designed or produce incorrectly or been exposed to some environement that would induce embrittlement. A spring's functional limit is based on its elastic and compressive limit; those limits represent the point at which the spring permenantly deforms. As long as magizine is properly designed it shouldn't even be possible to stretch or crush a spring to those points. If a spring isn't designed properly in this regard it should become apparent after only a few uses. If people are finding unreliable magazines after storing them for long periods of times, it would imply to me that the magzines are either A) old and needing refurbishment or new and defective. The anticipated failure mode of proporly design spring is directly related to the number of loading cycles. A spring can effectively sustain thousands of full loadings before it fails. For a magazine that means you should be able to completely load and unload it a couple thousand times before it becomes problematic. Edited March 15, 2015 by Mythos 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JESS1344 508 Posted March 15, 2015 Report Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) RANGE TOY, ARE YOU THE ONLY ONE WITH ACCESS TO YOUR SAFE? HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY OTHER ANOMOLIES, SUCH AS RED DOTS BEING FOUND ON, OR WITH DEAD BATTERIES, THAT YOU WERE SURE YOU LEFT TURNED OFF? JESS1344 Edited March 15, 2015 by JESS1344 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sim_Player 1,939 Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 (edited) RANGE TOY, ARE YOU THE ONLY ONE WITH ACCESS TO YOUR SAFE? HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY OTHER ANOMOLIES, SUCH AS RED DOTS BEING FOUND ON, OR WITH DEAD BATTERIES, THAT YOU WERE SURE YOU LEFT TURNED OFF? JESS1344 I don't think he's chasing shadows. He just hasn't been here long enough to appreciate the friendly sarcasm. Edited March 17, 2015 by Sim_Player 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HB of CJ 1,263 Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) It will NOT hurt the recoil spring. Being a 12 bore, the air circulating through the bore, (if any) will not hurt either. Enjoy. HB of CJ (old coot) My safes have air drying stuff and a muffin fan running but then I am paranoid and stuff. HB of CJ (old coot) I do not want any rust out to get me because I know it will if it can. Edited by HB. You can also consider the open bolts being a safety factor because then you know the guns are not loaded ... and chambered. Perhaps not a small thing if others have access to your gun safe. Think safety always. Edited March 18, 2015 by HB of CJ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JESS1344 508 Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 RANGE TOY, ARE YOU THE ONLY ONE WITH ACCESS TO YOUR SAFE? HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY OTHER ANOMOLIES, SUCH AS RED DOTS BEING FOUND ON, OR WITH DEAD BATTERIES, THAT YOU WERE SURE YOU LEFT TURNED OFF? JESS1344 I don't think he's chasing shadows. He just hasn't been here long enough to appreciate the friendly sarcasm. SIM, WASN'T FRIENDLY SARCASM, HAD THIS HAPPEN ONCE, MANY YEARS AGO. KEPT FINDING RED DOTTED STUFF, WITH THE RED DOT ON. HAD ME DOUBTING MY OWN MEMORY, AS TO TURNING THEM OFF, UNTIL I FIGURED IT OUT. JESS1344 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Capt Nemo 882 Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 I kept one of my Taurus mags fully loaded for 15 years. The only thing that happened was that the spring weakened enough to make getting 15 rounds in the mag a little easier. It used to be a bitch to get 15 into it. No cycling problems currently. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 Springs don't wear from just compression. It's repeated cycles that put any wear on them. Except for magazines. They will tend to weaken if you leave them fully loaded for long periods. The second part is sometimes right. Springs fail from: 1) cycles. 2) over compression or over extension. 3) things that destroy the metal, i.e. heat, corrosion... Some magazines are over compressed when full, and will be more rapidly killed by cycles, as well as storage completely full. i.e. my 15 and 16 round beretta type mags last ~forever. 18 round in the same space last a year or two of regular use before they need swapped. I am sure that if I were to keep them loaded to 16, I'd get identical performance. Most AR and AK mags are not over compressed when full. G3 mags and some older styles of GI AR mags apparently were. I am sure someone out there has more expertise on which models are OK and which get tired, but I don't believe either the S12 mainspring or any of the S12 magazine springs fall into the over compressed category. I've always kept most of my mags full, and used to keep my bolt open. No problems. The mainspring in my gun that has never been kept locked open for extended periods is due for replacement, and the other one with more miles on it and ~2 years of being stored locked is doing fine. The same is true for mainsprings. This is why Kahr pistols have really low replacement intervals for their mainsprings. They are designed to use a spring in it's over compressed state, and compensate by requiring frequent replacement. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vance665 225 Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 I always keep my S-12 loaded with a full mag, bolt locked open and safety off. That way if I have to use it quick I can just drop the bolt without worrying about shell deformation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tundra1 391 Posted March 18, 2015 Report Share Posted March 18, 2015 Mom found a Smith .40 magazine of my Dad's last year packed away that was loaded to capacity. My dad passed away in 1999. I've got the .40f pistol the mag belonged to and it fired all rounds flawlessly. Zero feeding issues with it to this day. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WhiskeyMinion 300 Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 I acquired my Great Grandfathers WWI Ruby pistol (copy of Browning 1903) a few years ago.When my uncle handed it to me I ejected the mag and it was still full of .32 Western cartridges. That mag may have been loaded for the last 50 years as nobody in the family knew about that gun until my Grandfather passed.That magazine cycles great!I wouldn't sweat it if I was you 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 Wow. That's hard to top. Anyone with a civil war Henry that's full of old .44 rimfires, from great great great.... grandpa? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DLT 1,646 Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 So I finally got the harquebus of my first ancestor to cross the pond with Cortez.... 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted March 20, 2015 Report Share Posted March 20, 2015 I was going to make that joke, but I couldn't find any example of a repeating harquebus with a magazine spring. Wait, the clockspring for the wheelock mechanism... Is it still wound? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DLT 1,646 Posted March 20, 2015 Report Share Posted March 20, 2015 Yes it was! So I pulled the trigger and wham! That thing must have been wound since at least 1521. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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