Loaded mags

[Doug Ridley]

How long can I leave some 223 Magpul magazines loaded without damaging the springs? Or is there any danger at all of damaging them?

[Polinese]

None... it's the repeated unloading/loading that wears out a spring.

[shrewd]

I have no idea how long it takes but leaving ar mags loaded over time will still probably cause wear to the feed lips, which can lead to double feeds

(Or a volcano, if you happen to be that poor bastard at the carbine course who went to do a tap rack with the bolt locked back and got a crapload of brass in his receiver)

[Theohazard]

Your springs will be fine. Any decent mag should be able to stay loaded for decades without damaging the spring. Like Polinese said, it's constant loading and unloading that puts the most wear on a spring.

A lot of people will tell you that the P-Mag's plastic feed lips will stretch and deform if kept loaded for too long without the cover in place. But I've never seen any first-hand evidence of this happening.

[tahunua001]

forever and ever and ever and ever. I bought a magazine once which had been fully loaded for 15 years. the ammo had corroded in place, couldn't strip it from the mag. so I loaded up up, shot all 30rounds, no failures, nothing, it jsut worked, still works.

[Glockstar .40]

As others have stated it wont hurt your springs any. I keep all mine fully loaded.

[Captains1911]

This again.....

I don't usually respond like this, but this must be one of the most beaten to death firearm related topics on the interweb. Just google it an you will literally find thousands of related links.

Here is an active one just from this site alone..
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=549608

[Glockstar .40]

This again.....

I don't usually respond like this, but this must be one of the most beaten to death firearm related topics on the interweb. Just google it an you will literally find thousands of related links.

Here is an active one just from this site alone..
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=549608

if everyone used google then there would be no point of joining this forum

[Theohazard]

Originally Posted by Glockstar .40

if everyone used google then there would be no point of joining this forum

I understand what you're getting at, but many of the threads here contain nuanced discussions that you can't necessarily get easily from a Google search. Captains1911 is right, this is one of the most re-hashed subjects on TFL; I feel like I see at least one of these threads a week.

[Glockstar .40]

I understand what you're getting at, but many of the threads here contain nuanced discussions that you can't necessarily get easily from a Google search. Captains1911 is right, this is one of the most re-hashed subjects on TFL; I feel like I see at least one of these threads a week.

WHAT?? google doesnt know everything?? Blasphemy! lol I was just having a little fun. I agree with you but to the OP's credit and judging by the number of posts he's relatively new and seeking some knowledge from members of this forum. If people are tired of answering the same re-hashed thread than one can always move on to the next thread or simply answer yes or no.

[Glockstar .40]

Now if Theohazard asks the age old glock vs 1911 question I might tell him to use the search function

[Theohazard]

Ha, good point. Of all the commonly-asked questions on TFL, this is one of the least controversial and most easily answered. He could have asked why 1911s are so popular, whether a Glock is better than an M&P, whether a striker-fired pistol without a manual safety is dangerous, whether a .40 is better than a 9mm, or whether a piston AR is better than a DI AR. Any of those would have been way worse.

[Sharkbite]

Wait...1911's are POPULAR???

Just kidding. My granddad had one.....when he was a kid!!!

[Bill DeShivs]

...And it won't cause wear to the feed lips! Sheesh!

[Captains1911]

He asked specifically about springs, but good point, which is why all of my permanently loaded pmags have the dust cover installed to avoid over stressing the feed lips.

[Ridge_Runner_5]

The CEO of magpul took one of first Pmags off the line, loaded it, and left it on his desk. He says it hasn't warped yet.

[Theohazard]

Originally Posted by Ridge_Runner_5

The CEO of magpul took one of first Pmags off the line, loaded it, and left it on his desk. He says it hasn't warped yet.

The CEO of Magpul is hardly an objective observer. Do you think he'd ever admit it if the feed lips actually became warped? Probably not, otherwise he wouldn't be a very good CEO.

I also tend to think that it's OK to leave a P-Mag loaded and that the feed lips will be fine, but I'm not going to trust the CEO of a company to tell us if their product fails a test.

[Brotherbadger]

The springs will be fine. i wouldn't worry about it.

[Art Eatman]

Compression doesn't hurt springs. Think about valve springs on a museum car. Some stay fully compressed for many years, but they will still function.

My father gave me a 50-cal ammo can of bring-back pistols. Stored for some fifty years. All mags loaded. I test-fired all of them. All the ammo went bang; no problems in cycling.

I've no knowledge about mag-lip problems.

[loose_holster_dan]

i had heard that a study was done on this, and they were fine for 73 years, 4 months, 17 days, 2 hours, 14 minutes, and 7.4 seconds.