AR PMags left fully loaded. Bad idea?

P

Pond James Pond

New member
I'm planning on buying perhaps another 4 mags for the AR.

I like PMags, but the guy I'd buy them from said that they are not as good as metal mags because the tabs at the top of the mag that you feed rounds between when loading tend to get fatigued if left loaded for a long time, to the point of flexing out and either meaning there are feed issues or problems getting the mag into the well.

He said he'd seen it happen a number times in his capacity as R.O., R.M. and club manager.
Also unloading mags every time would be a pain for me.

Have you had this problem?
 
I know someone that has a duffle bag full of GI Surplus mags loaded with green tips . He has had these stored for near 25 years and swears they will be just fine .
I keep my firearms with a loaded mag in them and some may sit a year or so befor they are shot and they always work as they should .
That includes a Ruger Mini 14 with PMags .


Mention of Pmags on last sentence .
 
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I have a bag of loaded Pmags I keep in my range bag. When I shoot I run through them and then when I get home I load them back up to 30 rounds. I have done this for three years. I have had no issues with any of the Pmags or any of my other mags for that matter. I would have no hesitation to keep doing this indefinitely.
 
your gun shop guy must know something that the 20 million of us over here don't. I haven't ever seen a worn out PMag, I have many, I also like CAA. but who knows, I wasn't thinking 50 years ahead when I bought them. I would honestly think that the scenario he is speaking of, if actually occurring, would happen with metal more than polymer

polymer usually turns brittle over extended periods of time, since it essentially never stops curing, so I think "flex" wouldn't be the long-term issue to worry about, the opposite in fact
 
Load them and snap the little cover in place.
The cover is designed to take the pressure off the feed lips. I store 3 loaded all the time, never had an issue in the years I have used them.

You'll be good to go.
 
I can understand your concern about the feed lips deforming enough to affect function, but I have used older Pmags that sat for over a year loaded without any apparent degrade in function. You may find otherwise.
 
That includes a Ruger Mini 14 with PMags.
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How are you able to use a PMag in a Mini-14 when the magazine design between the AR and Mini are totally different from one another?

OP, I'm another guy who keeps a pretty large quantity of PMAGs loaded up that I empty through the year, and I've never had any issues with feed lips. That is reportedly why Magpul originally included the dust cover, but I rarely use mine anymore and still haven't had any problems.
 
your gun shop guy must know something that the 20 million of us over here don't. I
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It's pretty well known by now that leaving Pmags loaded to full capacity can cause then to crack at the feed lips and spine, no different than aluminum USGI feed lips bending from being left loaded to full capacity. 9 times out of 10 it won't be an issue, but it has and can happen. The least likely to give you problems at the feed lips are stainless steel mags.
 
It's pretty well known by now that leaving Pmags loaded to full capacity can cause then to crack at the feed lips and spine, no different than aluminum USGI feed lips bending from being left loaded to full capacity. 9 times out of 10 it won't be an issue, but it has and can happen. The least likely to give you problems at the feed lips are stainless steel mags.
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Well known because it's written about on the internet and widely experienced are two different things, and this "problem" as far as I can tell is widely written about online but strangely never actually experienced by me or anyone I know. I watch PMAGs get left loaded and shot every six months at in-service training, some times every other in-service for that matter, and none of them ever fail. I have 30-35 PMAGs personally that are basically loaded all the time, they get emptied on the range periodically and then get loaded right back up and stored again, but I've never had any feed lips fail. I've had springs give up on me, had magazine bodies break when they've been dropped loaded on a concrete floor, even had followers seize up because they're all kinds of gunked up from excessive shooting and no cleaning - but I've never had feed lips give out because they've been stored loaded too long.

So I think you're right when you say 9 out of 10 times it won't be an issue - probably 99 out of a 100 times or 999 out of 1000 times it won't be an issue. IMO this is one of those problems created by guys who spend a lot more time behind the keyboard than behind the gun, because from what I actually see - and I shoot an awful lot these days - it's a "problem" written about a lot more than actually experienced.
 
Well known because it's written about on the internet and widely experienced are two different things, and this "problem" as far as I can tell is widely written about online but strangely never actually experienced by me or anyone I know.
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While I cant have Pmags in MA because they are not pre-ban, my buddy who is an LEO has dozens of them and had 2 split at the spine from being left loaded. These mags didn't see heavy use either, they mostly just sat in the safe loaded. With that said both of them still functioned after cracking, but that experience made him buy a bunch of USGI's to have laying around as well. Like I said the majority of Pmags will never experience cracked spines or feed lips from being left loaded, but it can and has happened.
 
While I cant have Pmags in MA because they are not pre-ban, my buddy who is an LEO has dozens of them and had 2 split at the spine from being left loaded. These mags didn't see heavy use either, they mostly just sat in the safe loaded. With that said both of them still functioned after cracking, but that experience made him buy a bunch of USGI's to have laying around as well. Like I said the majority of Pmags will never experience cracked spines or feed lips from being left loaded, but it can and has happened.
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I like PMags, but the guy I'd buy them from said that they are not as good as metal mags because the tabs at the top of the mag that you feed rounds between when loading tend to get fatigued if left loaded for a long time, to the point of flexing out and either meaning there are feed issues or problems getting the mag into the well.

He said he'd seen it happen a number times in his capacity as R.O., R.M. and club manager.
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If there's really a widespread issue with PMAGs then I'm hoping at some point we're going to hear something more than "Well I know this guy..." or "I was told at the local gun store." If it's really a "widely known" problem then I'm certain we're going to start seeing all those first hand accounts and lots of pictures come along at any time now, right?:rolleyes:
 
scsov509 said:
If there's really a widespread issue with PMAGs then I'm hoping at some point we're going to hear something more than "Well I know this guy..." or "I was told at the local gun store." If it's really a "widely known" problem then I'm certain we're going to start seeing all those first hand accounts and lots of pictures come along at any time now, right?
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By the way that guy I mentioned is one of my shooting buddies and I saw them first hand. Not sure if he still has them but I'll see if he can send me a few photos if he does. But since you asked, here are a few pics of Pmags cracking along the spine.

img_2114.jpg


brokenp-mags.jpg


Pmag-2.gif


Iraq-Range26May013.jpg
 
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