How long can mags be left loaded?

It is perfectly legal to replace any part of a pre-ban magazine.
Magazine springs are less than $5 each for my 92FS. I just replaced three springs which were probably 10 years old. That comes to about $1.50/year for springs. I think downloading is a silly way to save a dollar. Support Wolff Gunsprings and buy some springs.
 
There was an excellent article in G&A a long time ago and one of the write who actually has a Master degree in Mechnical Engineering from UCLA did a full study on magazine spring tension using scientific measurements. What he found was: loading the magazine just one less round from its full capacity cuts the spring tension in half. He did the sample lot with 1911 mags, SIG 9mm mags, 380 mags, ...etc. The results were the same, the last round compresses the spring the hardiest and almost doubles the spring tension. Just load it one round less than full capacity.
 
Cullen:

You are asking the right questions and it is truly a joy to see someone new coming into the world of firearms. You are learining through internet mentoring what I learned the hard way. Trust me, your method is a lot cheaper!

I have always avoided anything but factory mags. There is nothing etched in stone about OEM parts but I feel better and I have read more than one post dealing with the poor quality of some of the aftermarket manufacturers.

My policy is to buy several of the factory mags for good measure. I keep one or two of the mags fully loaded while loading the rest of the mags one round shy of their full capacity. This comes into play if you intend to get a Concealed Carry Permit. I desire to have the maximum firepower available----especially if I have only two mags on my person. I typically never keep the mags that came with the pistol fully loaded but again it's for sentimental reasons. I hope that if my descendants are wise enough to hang onto my collection, all of the original parts will be in good working order.
Reducing the mag round count one below full capacity should be sufficient. Meanwhile, seriously consider buying a couple with the express purpose of keeping them topped off for concealed carry. It would be a good idea to rotate them periodically as well. I would advise that you procure at least four more additional mags if you intend on keeping the P229 and while we are on the subject, keep that weapon forever if possible-----it's a dandy. One of my schoolmates is an Arkansas State Trooper and he is very pleased with the P229 -.40S&W. BTW, I know this is a long shot but I grew up with a guy named Cullen whose father was a Career Officer in the Air Force. I know it's a shot in the dark but what the heck.

Well, I am a salesman by trade and I am getting ready to take a key client to one of the local ranges for some "Team Building Exercises" so I'll catch you later." Before I leave, isn't it great to know that you now have the capability to defend your home in five seconds versus waiting fifteen minutes for someone else to do it for you? Nothing against the brave men and women that wear the blue but if you live in a rural area there are not always enough LEO's to go around for everyone to get an instant response.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."
 
I am a LEO, and you're right...response times vary wildly even for clear-cut emergency calls. If the cruiser isn't near your house, well...

It gets worse, btw, for automated alarms. If anyone out there in cyberspace thinks that having a burglar alarm on their house or even a 'panic alarm' that you can hit to summon police response makes you safer, sorry. Its not a case of cops not caring or not giving them the attention they deserve, its a case of too many people having them and just can't keep up. We put a higher priority on the 'panic alarms,' of course, but still...

If you get an alarm, get one with an audible signal. At least it will (probably) scare off the intruder. Because all an alarm does from a police response point of view is it gets us there faster to take the report. :(

Cheerio,
Mike

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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
 
Your point is certainly valid, all I have ever expected of my alarm is that it wakes me up when the perp is downstairs, when he comes through my bedroom door, I'll take care of the rest of the problem with my 870. :)
 
Guy_3: I know a guy who found a colt 1911 frozen for 60 years in a glacier in alaska and the magazine fed perfectly!

Good answer!
and they say gun owners have no sense of humor...
 
Hey, guys, remember the "Metallurgy" thread? We gotta guy in the membership who's in the metallury business. His comment was, on this question--this February, I think--that springs shouldn't care if they are compressed or not. This assumes decent steel.

Loading and unloading a pistol's magazine will undoubtedly "wear out" the spring; probably after no more than two or three million cycles.

In the FWIW department, yesterday I went out and burned off some 200 rounds of .45ACP reloads in my old 1911. I think the ammo is some eight or ten years old. My magazines are mostly GI; old before I got them in the 1970s-1980s. I often leave them loaded for years at a time--some of them sneak off and hide behind things, and I don't find them and use them...

Some are home-modified to 8-rounders by grinding off the lower back corner of the mag; cutting a "Z" out of the spring; grinding off the follower's slide lock activator and grinding a tad off the bottom rear of the follower. You need to glue a leather butt-pad to the bottom for all this to work. The spring is obviously much softer than original.

I have yet to have a failure to feed, in some 20 years and several thousand rounds.

:), Art
 
Hey, Cullen! Try this URL: http://204.235.96.21/NonCGI/Forum8/HTML/001091.html for some comments on springs.

I made some comments here in December, 1998, on this subject; do a search on "metallurgy".

FWIW, I've used mags which were left fully loaded for many years. No problems

I've made some 8-round mags for my 1911; part of the process involves cutting a "Z" off the spring. Happens to reduce the strength a good bit, obviously. A couple of days ago I ran some 200 rounds through them, with zero problems. To me, then, it doesn't matter if a spring weakens over time or not--which, if the spring is made out of decent steel, it won't.

Is Austintatious as crazy as ever? If you get by McBride's, tell Oliver I said "Hi". Also, Rob Key, out at "Just Guns"...

Regards, Art
 
I change my mags like I change my socks...

Monthly!

wink.gif
 
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