I read years ago in a magazine that the author knew a W-W II vet who died and he went to help the widow out. He found a loaded 1911 from that era in a bedside end table that he thought was left loaded for several decades. He took that 1911 without any maintenance and shot till empty without any problems. So with the mag springs that we have today is it a problem to leave them loaded for pro-longed periods?

I've never had any issues leaving magazines loaded for long periods of time.

I am no expert, but I have not experienced any problems.

There are people smarter than me who understand springs. I have been told it is compressing and decompressing them that causes fatigue.

Leaving them loaded or unloaded will not affect the integrity of the spring.

YMMV.

It's a case by case basis. Generally speaking it's the cycling of the spring that wears them but springs can still take a set. Much of it comes down to the quality and design of the mag/spring.

Generally speaking leaving mags loaded for long periods of time is not an issue with modern high quality mags. If the do start having problems it usually exhibits as slide not locking back.

I still have three Glock 19 mags (two 15 rounders and one 33 rounder) loaded from 1998. I expect no issues when I shoot the 15 rounder next year and the last two in 2023 when I retire.
I loaded a bunch of mags when I got hired and shoot one every five years. The 33 rounder is loaded with ancient black talons which is what we had in the armory back in 1998.

quote:

Originally posted by P-220:
I am no expert, but I have not experienced any problems.

There are people smarter than me who understand springs. I have been told it is compressing and decompressing them that causes fatigue.

Leaving them loaded or unloaded will not affect the integrity of the spring.

YMMV.

Just seems backwards, but I also have heard loading /unloading works on springs vs leaving springs compressed.

Cycling springs is what wears them out. Magazines can and have been loaded for decades and they still work.

quote:

Originally posted by Art in Colorado:
I read years ago in a magazine that the author knew a W-W II vet who died and he went to help the widow out. He found a loaded 1911 from that era in a bedside end table that he thought was left loaded for several decades. He took that 1911 without any maintenance and shot till empty without any problems. So with the mag springs that we have today is it a problem to leave them loaded for pro-longed periods?

Answer: No.

There is a patrol officer I came on with back in the mid 70's. He was issued a S&W 659 back in 84. those magazines remained loaded until this week and still function.

Older style single stack magazines seem to be very tolerant to being left loaded for very long periods of time. Double stack magazines maybe not so much and depends on how much compression and quality/design/rating of the spring. I personally would change springs on a double stack magazine left fully loaded maybe every 5 years or so which is what an HK designer recommended on a posting on an HK website. Might be overkill but cheap and easy to do.

Wolff springs has an FAQ about it:

https://www.gunsprings.com/ind...p?page=FAQ#question5

"Magazine springs in semi-auto pistols are one of the most critical springs and are the subject of much debate and concern. Magazines which are kept fully loaded for long periods of time, such as in law enforcement and personal/home defense applications, will generally be subject to more fatigue than the weekend shooter's magazine springs in which the magazines are loaded up only when shooting.

Magazine design and capacity also affect the longevity of the spring. In many older pistol designs, maximum capacity was not the always the goal such as with the 7 round 1911 Colt magazines will last for years fully loaded. There was room for more spring material in these guns which reduces overall stress and increases the usable life of the spring.

More recently higher capacity magazine have become popular. These are designed to hold more rounds with less spring material often in the same space. This puts more stress on the spring and will cause it to fatigue at a faster rate. Unloading these magazines a round or two will help the life of the spring. Rotating fully loaded magazines will also help the problem somewhat but it is not always practical.

In applications where the magazine must be kept loaded at all times, a high quality magazine spring such as Wolff extra power magazine springs, will provide maximum life. Regular replacement of magazine springs will provide the best defense against failure from weak magazine springs. Regular shooting of the pistol is the best way to be sure the springs are still functioning reliably."

Gotta love old school Black Talons and HydraShok.

This is simple physics.

So long as the spring is not stressed beyond its yield strength, it will not permanently deform. Meaning, your spring will not wear out in such a state.

One thing that can change this is what is referred to as creep. But creep requires heat...like a lot of heat, like fire.

So mags can be loaded indefinitely, so long as the mag is properly engineered and the spring is not loaded to or beyond its yield strength.

While there may be exceptions to the rule, you can leave mags loaded to full capacity from now till dooms day. Magazines and magazine springs are designed so that you can not compress the spring so far as to malforme it. From what I believe magazine springs can wear out from use or load/unload cycles but not from being loaded and left that way, it's no different then a magazine being unloaded and left that way.

I've heard the same thing before about leaving mags full, but years ago I was talking to a very knowledgeable physics professor I had and he said it was the compression/decrompression cycle that would wear on the spring and leaving a magazine compressed for long periods of time shouldn't effect anything.

I'm sure there's more that goes into it as far as quality of spring or design, but I've never had any issues with magazines I've left loaded for longer periods of time.

Why the commonly given advice for brand new mags that are difficult to load fully....? I was told to load the mags fully and leave them that way for a couple of weeks. They are easier to load after that......

Isn't that an example of some small degree of fatigue ? If not , what else would you call it ?

Just always wondered....mike

While I tend to agree that magazines loaded long-term will still function, I also think it doesn't hurt to spend a few bucks every couple of years to get new mag springs to make sure they'll work when you need them to.

quote:

Originally posted by mike28w:
Why the commonly given advice for brand new mags that are difficult to load fully....? I was told to load the mags fully and leave them that way for a couple of weeks. They are easier to load after that......

Isn't that an example of some small degree of fatigue ? If not , what else would you call it ?

Just always wondered....mike

I was going to ask the same thing.

The first few times a new spring is compressed and/or cycled, it shortens a little bit at first, AKA "taking a 'set.'" This initial shortening reduces the effort to load or seat the mag, or, in the case of a recoil spring, to cycle the slide. This is self limiting; it maintains this length until such time, however long it may be, as the repeated cycling fatigues it.

While not a pistol mag, I left an AK47 30 round mag fully loaded since 1988 or 1989. After about 15+ years, the spring was just as stiff as the day the ammo was put in.

I have had some 1911 7 rounder, Sig p228 mags loaded for years. 7 years, 4 months to be exact. Took a few of them to the range in March, not a single issue (Chip McCormack and Wilson for the 1911s, Sig factory and MecGar for the p228).

As others have noted, its frequent compression/decompression that is the issue. I'm more concerned with the springs on my range mags that are constantly reloaded, several times a day.

On the other hand, the quality of the mag is also a factor. Four of my loaded 1911 mags were Chinese counterfeit knockoffs (got scammed on those long, long ago, but never chucked them out - just kept them for range plinking). Over time they deformed - feed lips deformed, one had a seam breaking, and needless to say I didn't trust and the springs on those worth a dang.

And an old junk Promag for a CZ-75 - the spring on that went bad just from long term loaded storage (got that free in trade, loaded it and forgot about it. Just a total piece of garbage).

The counterfeit 1911 mags got squashed and tossed in the trash. I used the Promag as a target on a fencepost - that felt gratifying.

I'd also note the AK-47 magazines I had loaded for just over 2 decades. 20 years later, and it was still all good at the range.

quote:

Originally posted by wojownik:
And an old junk Pmag for a CZ-75

ProMag. ProMag = junk.

Pmag = not junk. (Magpul doesn't offer CZ-75 Pmags anyway.)