Should you store your clips fully loaded?

[shaunpain]

What another poster stated, you should be fine with leaving them loaded as springs do not weaken from static loads, only with use. I don't personally keep my rifles loaded, but I would have no contention with doing so. I keep my SD handguns loaded to the hilt, as well as my 12 gauge. I don't see why my rifles, or for that matter, any and all of my magazines, should be babied. I have magazines that are probably 50 years old here that still run tops. I guess, load your guns how they were meant to be loaded. Completely.

[JR_Roosa]

The one caveat I know to that rule is some high capacity mags that basically, when fully loaded, compress the spring beyond its designed limits.

Yep. I have Check Mate 8rnd 1911 mags, and the springs died in a couple of months with 8 rnds in them. They use a different follower that will go a little lower, and the spring is shorter, narrower, and a little stiffer than a stock mag spring.

-J.

[bbqbob51]

I used to think it was implausible that laving a clip/magazine loaded would cause problems. Obviously a self defense gun would be useless if when you pulled it out you had to load the magazine, slap it in your gun and then use. My local gun dealer who also taught the CCL firearms safety course I took says that leaving a magazine full too long will induce failure. He tells of the numerous times he had to fix magazines that had been loaded too long.
His solution is to leave them loaded but go out and shoot at least once a month to empty the magazine and then reload. Personally, I think it probably is only a problem when someone loads a magazine and keeps it in the gun in storage for years and never use it but I'm no expert. Everything I know is what I have been told or I have read on the internet.

[Art Eatman]

My father gave me an ammo can "full" of WW II bringbacks. Probably had been in storage over forty years. A Lilliput .25; Luger, P-38, a couple of 1920s Mauser and Walther .32s, a GI .45 and a Radom.

All the mags were loaded. I went out on the back porch and test-fired all of them. No malfunctions of any sort.

The only thing I've ever noticed about full mags is that some mags in some rifles don't do well in feeding the first round. But that's a manufacturing dimensional problem in the magazine, not a spring problem.

[billyg56]

Well, I just bought 2 of the 30 round Magpul mags....so I'll be 'testing' the theory...lol.

Billy G

[BPowderkeg]

i too am very picky about nomenclature.

here is an M1 Garand clip

here is an M16 magazine .

keeping magazines loaded is not a problem, i have several different "guns" that require magazines, i have well over 100 fully loaded mags at ALL times, some 30 rounders have been fully loaded for close to 15 years.

[USMCGrunt]

Sure, I keep clips loaded all the time just like we do in .mil for 5.56mm. I keep 10 rounds per clip, 12 clips and a loading spoon per bandioleer, 7 bandioleers per ammo can, 2 ammo cans per crate.

[10-96]

I really don't know why, but I've always prefered the 20rnd AR clips over the 30's. I try to keep one or two around with 10-15rnds in them. Pistol clips- I usually only keep my HD and carry mags loaded. They're full up, no problems so far.

[buckhorn]

I have both 20 and 30 round clips for my Mini's, but I like the 20's best. It seems the rifle is easier to manuver around with the 20 shot. Plus, I admit, I bought some bad 30 round clips that refuse to feed the last 5 or 6 rounds. My 20's are Ruger made, my 30's, who knows?

[bulldawg1024]

I have 100 pmags loaded and stored for a rainy day. I have had no problems with them.

[jad0110]

Yep. I have Check Mate 8rnd 1911 mags, and the springs died in a couple of months with 8 rnds in them. They use a different follower that will go a little lower, and the spring is shorter, narrower, and a little stiffer than a stock mag spring.

Most flush fitting 8 round 1911 mags are a compromised design to start with, just as you indicate in your post. The springs are clipped, and in some cases they actually are not any stiffer than the 7 round mag springs. Also, there is one brand of 1911 mags (can't recall if it is checkmate or metalform) that are used by Springfield Armory as their factory mags that typically come with relatively weak springs. Great mag otherwise, so I swapped the stock springs for Wolf units and haven't had any issues, though granted I strictly run 7 rounders. When I carried my 1911, I frequently left those 7 rounders fully loaded with no issues.

Well, I just bought 2 of the 30 round Magpul mags....so I'll be 'testing' the theory...lol.

Just keep the little dustcover clipped on them to prevent warping or cracking of the feed lips and they should do just fine.

I have both 20 and 30 round clips for my Mini's, but I like the 20's best.

The neat thing about the 20 rounders for my AR is that they fit nicely in my pocket. When I plan on being around the house all day, I often stash my AR (unloaded) on a shelf hidden under a blanket. Got the mag in my pocket in case something really crappy happens, God forbid.

[9mm]

Clips? no problem, just a metal stripper clip, theres no tension on those.

[buckhorn]

SORRY, I meant magazines. But you have to admit, a lot of people call Magazines Clips. I did look on the box my last magazine came in and it did say '30 shot magazine'. They say it takes 2 weeks to start a new habit and make it stick, so 2 weeks from now I'll be yelling "who took my 20 shot magazine"

[10-96]

When I said clips, I meant clips. I personally think it's silly to nitpick common terms. Where is everyone that should be yelling "Refridgerator!" when I call that thing in my kitchen an "ice box"? Fellow Veterans- how many of you said "Top" for "First Shirt" instead of "First Sergeant"? "Prick77" instead of "PRC-77"? Our oath was to defend the Constitution, and I personally don't care to have my 1st Ammendment rights dinged for which words I choose to employ. Lets find something else to get all bent out of whack over already.

[Art Eatman]

Aw, probably oughta quit worrying about clip vs. magazine and go read up on the metallurgy of spring steel and what it's all about. Saves lots of anecdotal non-data.