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Old December 22, 2008, 10:57 PM   #26
Greg Bell
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With high capacity guns like a Glock, SIG, etc I don't top off. With low capacity guns like my P7 I top off (and have for nearly 17 years). With 1911s I never top off.
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Old December 22, 2008, 10:57 PM   #27
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yes yes yes. My revolver is the only exception I can never find room for that +1
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Old December 22, 2008, 11:07 PM   #28
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How much do those pesky magazine springs cost?
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Old December 22, 2008, 11:20 PM   #29
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Yep, and I have yet to wear out a mag spring (as soon as I do, I'll buy replacements). I shoot at the range weekly, so as soon as a mag show signs of unreliablity, I'll know all about it.

I don't own any double-stacks (used to, but they're too fat to carry concealed) so my carry guns are all single stack, most of them 1911s.
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Old December 22, 2008, 11:30 PM   #30
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Seems like it would take a long time (years) for most modern mags to wear out. I have a glock 17 mag that is over 5 years old and it still does fine even though it has been kept loaded 90% of the time.
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Old December 23, 2008, 12:45 AM   #31
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Quote:
WHAT WEARS SPRINGS OUT IS THE CYCLING OF THE SPRING ( USING IT ) Mags have been found fully loaded from WWII and still functioned fine without problems
that is certainly one theory. Another theory is that strong compression will cause the springs to fail. As for those loaded mags, yes, some have been found to work jsut fine. Other have been found to not work at all. Way too much variation in spring design, metal quality, etc. to make broad blanket statements.
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Old December 23, 2008, 12:56 AM   #32
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10+1 Full mag and chambered.
7+1 Same condition.
6+1 Ditto
5 Full cylinder
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Old December 23, 2008, 01:32 AM   #33
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Mr. David Armstrong---

22-Mag is correct about the springs, so you may as well accept it. It's a fact of physics. On another note, no springs as bad as you are talking about would even be used in a gun or magazine. It seems to me that you are the one making absurd statements without any backup data.
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Old December 23, 2008, 02:00 AM   #34
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Nope

I do not top off; however, there is almost always a second magazine around.
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Old December 23, 2008, 03:00 AM   #35
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I top off all my auto's +1 their made to be full. Even M-16 mags you just have to get the right GI mag lot.
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Old December 23, 2008, 03:35 AM   #36
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I have never personally had any issues with mag springs from keeping loaded. I have had other problems with mags, just not springs (from keeping loaded).

I am sure that there are cases of failure, just never has happened to me - yet.
I do have a fair number of mags for each gun, this may make a difference.

I do have new springs sitting in the factory packaging for my hi-cap G20 mags. Relatively inexpensive, and if hi-cap mags are ever banned again (possibly with replacement parts for them being banned also?) I am good to go for quite a while.

Mags fully loaded +1 when carried or HD gun; when stored in the safe empty.

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Old December 23, 2008, 06:04 AM   #37
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In my mind the +1 is the most important round. So Yea.
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Old December 23, 2008, 08:53 AM   #38
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No

I never top off my mags after chambering. I often carry a 5-shot revolver, so when I carry my 6-shot automatic, I don't worry about 1 more round, especially when I already have 1 more than usual.

The biggest reason I don't top off is so I can find a home for the round when I clear the chamber.
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Old December 23, 2008, 08:59 AM   #39
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Quote:
The biggest reason I don't top off is so I can find a home for the round when I clear the chamber.
same here kinda, except once the pistol is loaded, the mag doesnt come out until its emptied at the range. dont want to upset the cosmic order or anything.

edit: started a few months back because of OAL issues.
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Last edited by alloy; December 23, 2008 at 09:04 AM.
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Old December 23, 2008, 09:02 AM   #40
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+1 here also thou I hope I never need to shoot 15 rounds in an engagement.
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Old December 23, 2008, 09:32 AM   #41
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YEP +1!
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Old December 23, 2008, 09:44 AM   #42
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Quote:
How do u come up with 7 is better than 11? Why not 6? Or 5? Nothings foolproof ya know....not even the gun itself. I mean it would really be ideal to just carry one in the chamber and no clip...after each round is fired lock back the slide and chamber another round. It will sure cut down all ftfs and ftes !
Wait a sec, I didn't say "it's better to carry less" and this is definitely not going into the "how many rounds do you carry?" war. I simply said when the spring is warped or stressed, it would feed the first few rounds easily, but may slack on the last few and cause a possible stove-pipe. I didn't say that fully loaded mags definitely cause this problem, I just said WARPED SPRINGS could cause problems, not that topped off mags would... I understand the constant flexing causes metal fatigue within the spring, I just simply said I carry less than the full capacity and I said I didn't know if it mattered much either way... I said it sounded good in theory - I didn't say fully compressed springs weaken the spring... I figured I might get some heat for the post though...

Quote:
that is certainly one theory. Another theory is that strong compression will cause the springs to fail. As for those loaded mags, yes, some have been found to work jsut fine. Other have been found to not work at all. Way too much variation in spring design, metal quality, etc. to make broad blanket statements.
This is what I was always told by my father and grandfather (My dad most likely picked it up from his dad). My grandfather was a Marine and my dad was a gun nut, so I've obliviously picked up a lot from these two. I believe the statement above to be correct; there's such a wide spread material list used in components, not only in firearms, that you cannot always use general statements that'll work across the bored... I've seen some mags fail, and I've seen a heck of a lot more mags perform.

I'm still 100% sure that warped springs can causes problems, but I’m still saying I don't know if fully loaded mags cause those problems, it's just what i've been brought up hearing. I do carry less than the max, but by choice. If I fully loaded all the time and the mags "somehow" stopped working correctly due to the spring, I'd just buy a new one... I'm not counting pennies over here...

Simply put, I carry less than maximum capacity...
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Old December 23, 2008, 10:17 AM   #43
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Always.

One may not have the presence of mind to chamber a round if they're suddenly startled with an attack and their response is running purely on instinct. Whoops! You've just introduced an unloaded gun into a gun fight. That could end tragically. It's much more sensible to have the gun charged and ready to go.
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Old December 23, 2008, 10:34 AM   #44
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+1...unless it's my revolver.
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Old December 23, 2008, 10:37 AM   #45
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For those of you who may have missed the point of this thread:

The issue here isn't whether or not to chamber, but whether its worthwhile to load the extra bullet back into the mag afterwards.
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Old December 23, 2008, 10:56 AM   #46
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Not only do I carry mine chambered AND topped off I stow them in the locker that way too!!! I keep my carry guns loaded, all the time. When I pick one up I want it ready to go.
Other guns that I seldom shoot are stored empty.
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Old December 23, 2008, 11:40 AM   #47
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I have mags that were loaded in the early fifties at West Point, I have tried 5 of those mags, and they all worked fine. The rounds went bang,the mags fed fine and the slides all locked back on cue.

Think about it, when was the last time you heard about car springs failing or sagging? and how many cycles do they go thru in a mile, never mind a car's life. Same with cheap wire springs in a ball point?
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Old December 23, 2008, 11:43 AM   #48
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I carry an XD45 and almost never top it off. 13 rounds with the full size mag are just fine, and 10 with the compact mags are probably still enough. I usually have spare magazines close by anyway, and they are actually usually downloaded by 1 for easier seating.

I like to be able to unload the gun if I need to and have a place to put the round from the chamber.
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Old December 23, 2008, 11:51 AM   #49
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Quote:
For those of you who may have missed the point of this thread:

The issue here isn't whether or not to chamber, but whether its worthwhile to load the extra bullet back into the mag afterwards.
Yup. I carry all the ammo that I can conveniently. Which means that the mags are topped off. It's cheap insurance that you have all the rounds that you may reasonably need at your disposal.

Then again, the only time I have to "load the extra bullet" back in is after cleaning. My firearms are always charged and fully loaded unless they're on the bench, including my HD shotgun.
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Old December 23, 2008, 11:56 AM   #50
David Armstrong
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22-Mag is correct about the springs, so you may as well accept it. It's a fact of physics.
More than physics is involved, as spring manufacturers themselves will tell you. The manufacturers cannot agree on what causes fatigue, it seems rather presumptious for others to declare the debate over and done with. In fact, machinists list numerous causes of possible spring failure including both repeated compression and extended compression.
Quote:
On another note, no springs as bad as you are talking about would even be used in a gun or magazine.
And yet we have seen it on more than one occasion. I've never had a Glock mag fail me, I've had a couple of 1911 mags go down without any extended cycling. I've seen shotgun mag springs lose their set without any large amount of cycling but a lot of sitting around loaded.

Last edited by David Armstrong; December 23, 2008 at 04:45 PM.
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