Magazine Compression?

L

Lightfighter

New member
I am an avid long gunner but just bought my first pistol. I would like to keep it ready to fire but I am curious about keeping the magazine filled to capacity for long periods of time.

I have a Steyr M40 Semi Automatic that came with two steel ten round civilian magazines. If I load both magazines to their rated catpacity, how long should I keep them loaded without damaging the springs or lowering their effectiveness? Is this something that I should be concerned about witht a pistol at all (I know this is a topic of concern for my ARs, but I am, like I said, new to handguns).

All the World's Finest
http://www.Lightfighter.com
 
From everything that I have read and heard downloading them on occasion is a good thing and if you don't need both loaded at the same time rotate them every so often. But heck mag springs are pretty easy to come by and they don't tend to be that expensive. Check out http://www.gunsprings.com
they have a very wide selection of springs for just about every make and model.
 
Your springs will wear out faster if you rotate them. The stress of being cycled (loaded, unloaded, loaded, unloaded...) is what wears out springs, not being compressed for a long time if its within the design of the spring (which it should be for your mag springs).

You should load them up full unless the gun or magazine won't function properly with a full mag, or you're concerned about seating a mag with the bolt or slide closed (which is hard with a full mag).
 
I was told that you shouldn't keep a mag loaded for more than 90 days. I rotate mine at least every 60. As for people that say that unloading them weakens them, should we not shoot them at least every two or three months? Doing so would unload them.
 
This whole issue has been around many times. Some people want to rotate magazines every couple of days. I think some would do it every ten seconds if they could. But I have seen magazines loaded during WWII that still functioned perfectly when fired empty a year or so ago. I wouldn't worry very much.

Jim
 
What I do

I go for sorta the middle ground: I have four mags; I marked them (1,2,3,4); and rotate them on a quarterly basis.
 
I have never rotated magazines, other than normal shooting, and I've also had no problems. I've left some AR-15 magazines loaded over 5 years before taking them to the range, they all functioned 100%, and there is no apparent difference in the springs of those and others purchased the same time and never used. I agree with the engineers that say that working the spring is the thing that wears it out, not keeping it under tension. Think of all the other springs in your life that are kept under tension. My favorite example is valve springs in a car, no matter where you stop the engine, some of them are compressed. How often do you worry about your valve springs wearing out?
 
I can only share this experience...

My father-in-law believes that ALL magazines should be loaded to full capacity for self defense. So for years, he left my wife's Taurus PT92 loaded with a full 15+1 rounds of ammo.

After we had been dating for a while, and the maintenance of her firearms became my responsibility, I took out 3 rounds. We went shooting a few weeks later, and the gun fired once, then went "click". I took out the mag, opened the slide, and WOW! EMPTY CHAMBER!!!!!

I bought 2 new mags, and the gun functions fine. I replaced the spring in question with a new one, and again, no problems.

Now, did the magazine that had been loaded for several years cause the problem? I don't know. Do I keep all my magazines loaded to about 80% capacity? ABSOLUTELY! As a kid, most of us learn that the harder you compress a spring, the less it comes back when you let go. On the same line, we also know that if you flex a paper clip enough, it will break. So it does make sense as johnwill says that the working of the springs shorten their life. But I too number my mags (with the little numbers from VHS tape labels) with 1,2,3..., but I rotate them with 2 loaded, 3 empty every 90 - 120 days. IMHO, downloading a round or two will do more to save mags than rotating.

But that's just my opinion, and probably not a very good one at that :)
 
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