Two and a half years ago, I lost a loaded Gen 5 Glock 19 magazine while doing some brush clearing on my property. A few weeks ago, I found it in some tall grass. I was expecting to see rust on the metal lining and spring but to my surprise, it cleaned up perfectly and looks like new. The 14 rounds of 124 Gr. Speer Gold Dots also looked good. I ran those rounds through my G47 yesterday and they functioned flawlessly and seemed as accurate as ever. After all the rain, heat, snow and cold, I must say I was impressed.

That's good to hear. You really have to try hard to destroy a Glock mag.

Good to know, seeing as how I own (n+1) G17/19 mags. Just picked up some more yesterday.

Only 14 rounds in the mag?

quote:

Originally posted by walker77:
Only 14 rounds in the mag?

One was in the gun before he lost the mag

quote:

Originally posted by walker77:
Only 14 rounds in the mag?

Only 14. I always download my magazines by one round unless I'm at the range.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

quote:

Originally posted by walker77:
Only 14 rounds in the mag?

One was in the gun before he lost the mag

It fell out of a g-code mag carrier.

quote:

Originally posted by walker77:
Only 14 rounds in the mag?

My Glock magazines are short-loaded by one round. The only exceptions are the G42 and G43.

It sounds to me like Jupiter knows what he's doing.

After 2 years I woudl have thought it would be almost unrecognizable. That's impressive

Excellent re-capture of the magazine and rounds. I am not surprised at all to hear that all was completely well with the mag (and the rounds, for that matter).

Thanks for the story , I always short load by one rd , that makes me sick if I lost one mag some place .

Ok I’ll bite. Why the download? I go the opposite way and top off my carry guns. Are Glocks known to have an issue with this?

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Ok I’ll bite. Why the download? I go the opposite way and top off my carry guns. Are Glocks known to have an issue with this?

For one, it makes it easier to insert a magazine if the slides closed. I always had 28 rounds in my 30 rd AR mags.

I've been shooting Glocks thirty years. My early magazines with the non-FML variety. These early magazine- the sides of the magazine swelled when fully loaded. If you stuffed a non-FML magazine full and had a round in the chamber, you could occasionally get a feeding failure with that first round out of the magazine if the spring wasn't factory-fresh. After that first round was out of the magazine, it was business as usual.

Because of the lack of a metal liner, spring pressure which would normally be directed towards the feed lips was sapped off a bit as the rounds swelled the sides of the magazine. All double column magazines- not just Glock mags- exert spring pressure not only upwards but also outward, towards the magazine walls, but a metal magazine will resist deformation. These early Glock mags didn't.

The newer FML Glock magazines are much better in this respect but old habits die hard. I don't know if they still recommend this practice, but I've had more than one Glock technician at the Smyrna facility back in the 1990s tell me to short load Glock magazines, but I knew it before being told.

In addition to the above, I find Glock magazine springs last longer if you avoid compressing them fully. Keep in mind that when you have a fully loaded magazine and you insert it into your pistol, the top round bears against the bottom of the slide and the column of rounds is pushed down a bit more. This makes the magazine harder to seat when the slide is in battery.

Lots of Glock shooters will tell you short loading is unnecessary. My experience tells me otherwise. To each his own.

Re downloading of mags for SD purposes. Not unusual for many serious shooters. Hackathorn recommends it on Glock 15 and 17 rd mags. I only load my P365XL 12 rd spare mags with 11 rather than 12 for the same reason. Why?

Some mags require considerably more force to fully seat in the pistol during a re-load. Dropping one round provides better, more reliable seating of the mag, especially under stress.

Really depends on the specifics of the mags, gun, shooter, etc. Very simple solution for a potentially deadly problem in a gunfight. Can dramatically reduce the chances of a click...aw shit moment at the worst possible time in your life.

BTW, anybody know if the Glock mag springs and liners are SS?

In addition to what others have mentioned, downloading by one round also helps eliminate the rounds rattling when a magazine is sometimes stuffed to the max. I hate that.

I download my G30 magazines even more than the G19. I carry it with a round in the chamber with an empty magazine. It makes the pistol faster handling and it doesn't pull my pants down.

In the past with my carry G23 I would download by one even with its customary lined Gen4 and Gen5 mags. Pre-Uplula those were a bear to top off fully, even with springs that had plenty of use and compression/release cycles. But admittedly in more current times I've carried it with a full 13+1 with no ill effect to date, at least judging from the gun's operation when I finally shoot off the carry ammo every 6-8 months. However it's hard to forget about my first carry Gen2 G19 and my early experiences with that one's non-lined magazines. Like Para described, the top round from a full non-reinforced mag was often a rather sketchy proposition when it came to properly chambering.

quote:

Lots of Glock shooters will tell you short loading is unnecessary. My experience tells me otherwise.

When Chuck Taylor was running up huge round counts in a G17 he said he found magazines lasted longer when loaded with 15.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Watson:
When Chuck Taylor was running up huge round counts in a G17 he said he found magazines lasted longer when loaded with 15.

To be fair though Chuck Taylor was running more rounds through that G17 then I am likely to do in my life…….across all my guns.

As far as downloading goes one thing I have stopped doing as I have gotten older is “plussing” up. If it’s a low round count single stack I will +1 it but I am far less likely these days to do so with anything 12 or more. If I am loading mags to sit for a long time I might download by one (I know cycles on a good spring are what matters but there are forces on the feed lips and base plates as well at play).

As for the OP’s found mag. I’ve found Glock mags, least FML ones, are hell for stout. I am more surprised at how well the ammo held up to the environment, at least the top couple rounds likely rob be most exposed to it.

Discussions like this are why I stay clear of +2 base plate adapters. Another variable which is probably ok, but.... what if it's not.....