How do you maintain your magazines?

[sliponby]

I have 3 semi-autos and they each have at least 4 magazines each. I keep 2 magazines in use at a time (one in gun/one spare). The other magazines are "resting" and I change them out every 3 months without fail.

My questions are: even if I'm "resting" the magazine springs every 3 months should I replace the magazine springs and florrplates and how often, and, should I forget about rotating them and just replace all the springs and floorplates yearly??? Is it necessary to replace the floorplate?

I would be interested to hear how some of you handle your magazines; if and how often you change the springs and floorplates and if anyone else rotates and rests them like I do.

I'm relatively new to EDC, a little over a year now, and I appreciate those who share their knowledge and experience. I have learned much from this forum. Thanks!

[fastforty]

Keep them all fully loaded, never know when you might need them faster than you can load them up. All of the parts (including springs) will outlive your great grandchildren. Do not use oil on magazines, run them DRY.

[publius]

I keep 3 mags loaded in my primary pistol 1 in gun and 2 spares. I have had most of my mags, including springs birdsong Black-T'd so I don't have any rust. Mag springs wearing out is a non-issue. If it really worries you, replace them every 10 years and send me your old springs.

[Bill DeShivs]

Springs aren't alive-they don't need to rest.

[AZAK]

They send me this reminder, which I return with a check, and my subscription rolls on with out a hitch!

Seriously.

My original 20+ year old Colt Delta Elite mags worked just fine, even after being loaded much of the time. I just replaced them about a year ago with +5% Wolff springs, and they still work. Did I need to replace them? They were still working.

I just replaced all of the springs in the pistol, and did notice a difference with the recoil spring replacement. Do note: all of the springs were still "alive" and well after twenty plus years and many rounds of "original" 10mm auto down range.

I also have other pistols/mags that I have never replaced springs on and they all still work. Although I did go to an IMSI spring for my Colt Officers recoil spring; many sources (including Wilson Combat) indicate replacement after as little as 300 rounds.

This debate is still sort of open ended and on going, with staunch supporters on both sides of the fence. My spring take is generally, if you start having spring problems, replace them. If not, generally leave it alone. (The Delta Elite is an exception for me, I was playing with more than changing out the springs.)

[imthegrumpyone]

Keep them full and ready to go

[ClydeFrog]

In general, you can store pistol magazines fully loaded for long periods of time w/o any real issues or wear.
I normally keep a loaded magazine with a loaded chamber in semi auto pistols but I keep the spare magazines unloaded. 17/18 rounds of 9mm would be more than enough for a home/personal security pistol. If you are going to CC or use the pistol for LE/security/etc than you can load & carry more rounds. I also take apart and clean my mags with a small amount of CLP. I use Mpro7, Ballistol or the new Weaponshield, www.weaponshield.com . As other members have said you can run them dry but I live in a very humid, hot climate. I don't drench gun parts with gun oil or CLP like salad dressing. Dirt, sand, grit, or lint can get inside the tiny bits & cracks. To take apart & clean/inspect magazines is a good idea.

[Kreyzhorse]

You don't need to "rest" them. If it makes you feel better, by all means continue, but your mags shouldn't really require any thing more than a wipe down after a trip to the range.

[velocette]

The only maintenance my magazines get is occasional cleaning.
However, when they are new, I dissasemble them, deburr the feed lips, & remove all sharp edges on the mag body and follower. Then the mag is lubricated inside & out with a dry lubricant such as a thin coat of Eezox or a proprietary dry mag lube.
Mag springs are replaced when needed with Wolff springs, usually +5%.
When needed, means with factory springs, within a year. Wolff springs, a long long time. With factory mags, I will frequently replace the followers with CobraMag followers.
Mags are always kept loaded.
Mags that are not 100% reliable after the above work, are destroyed.

Roger

[ZeSpectre]

I operate a lot like velocette.

When I get new mags I disassemble them and give everything a good once over with Gunzilla <you can use the cleaner/lube of your choice>. This ensures that any packing grease or shipping coating has been cleaned up and allows me to spot any manufacturing defects and/or corrosion.

If I find any sharp edges or burrs I take care of them at this time as well.

Then I wipe everything down as dry as I can get it and re-assemble.

In real world use I usually have a pair of "special marked" magazines for each gun, these are the ones I practice reloads with so these are the ones that get dropped on the ground, kicked around, etc. These do NOT get used for carry.

The practice mags get disassembled and wiped down or blown out with compressed air pretty frequently because they are subject to a lot of grit/dirt/moisture/etc.

So far the only mag-springs I've ever had to replace were in a set of CZ-52 magazines from around 1959 and I've never had to replace a butt-plate.

[AirForceShooter]

Always stufed to the max.
Cleaned by a spray of brake cleaner if the malfunction.
If that doesn't do it, I replace the springs with Wolff.
Never lubed.

AFS

[booker_t]

Keep 'em stuffed, use 'em regularly. That's the best way to identify problems as they develop. The only mags I don't keep loaded are my .22LR, because I prefer to not drive to/from the range with loaded mags.

I haven't noticed any problems keeping my Glock mags filled either, some people like to chamber a round and then not fill the mag so the spring isn't fully compressed. I see no point to this practice. The spring is pushing the hardest when it is fully compressed, and the material isn't being compressed beyond elastic deformation even when fully-loaded.

A while ago I had the idea for a dual-spring magazine. One spring would take up the first half or 1/3rd of loading (where on the way out, it would compensate for less pressure in a traditional single-spring), and the second spring would take up the last portion (first 2/3rds of rounds to depart). Sorta like this (from the side):

[\/\/\/|/\/\/\/\|]

A transfer plate in the middle would engage to limit compression of the first spring. In the end, it's totally unnecessary and only adds complexity, something else to fail, and I abandoned the idea. Didn't apply for a patent but I did have it written up in detail with description and drawings, so don't try to market it!

Regarding the resting you do, I would think it has no effect. Can you do a test, and not rest one or two, and compare them to the ones you have rested? It might take a year or ten to actually see any difference if there is one, but I'd be interested if you don't mind trying it. Hopefully Microsoft, Google, the Illuminati, Taliban zombies, and the autonomous innerweb v3.0 haven't destroyed civilization by that time.

[cougar gt-e]

Modern stainless steel and plastic mags don't need oil based lubes to protect from rusting. However, spraying with 100% silicone is still a good thing. It makes the insides slippery yet won't attract or hold dirt.

[FreakGasolineFight]

run them DRY.

Crapola. I've been lubing my mags without knowing any better.

Doesn't seem to hurt them, though. Then again, they're never really anywhere where they would collect dirt.

[Bill DeShivs]

The springs in magazines are carbon steel. They should be lightly oiled.The spring wire is thin metal, and rust can destroy it quickly.

[areilly]

The caution against oiling your mags is mainly in regards to oil seeping into the primers, which usually makes them inert, and secondly to avoid dirt accumulation. I lube my mags and springs with CLP, then wipe them dry to the touch. As long as you dont leave anything inside of the mag wet, you're fine. I rarely clean most of my mags, but do this fairly regularly to my P7M8 mags, since they're so damn expensive to replace.

[BigJimP]

Most of my guns have at least 4 mags ( like Sigs ) - and up to 12 mags ( like 1911's ) that I run thru several guns ....

I don't use 5 of them / rest 5 of them ...

About once a month / I take the mags apart and clean them ....and very lightly spray a little Rig Oil on the springs.

At some point they will probably wear out / but I honestly haven't had one wear out ( but I use all Wilson mags in my 1911's / and Sig factory mags in my Sigs ). For the most part / I leave my mags loaded / sitting in a mag holder pouch on top of my safe - so they're easy to grab and go to the range.

[varoadking]

Several hundred of them are in these 2 Pelican cases...



Several hundred more are in individual range bags...

...and all are loaded full...

I have more than 100 1911 magazines alone...

[ripper327]

I can't find a reference but remember report a few years back, say at least 50 years post-war, of a bunch of MP40s being found in storage, magazines loaded. They all fired to empty beautifully.

[LOUcifer]

They send me this reminder, which I return with a check, and my subscription rolls on with out a hitch!

LOL!!

I was thinking that

[FEG]

One thing that the above posters have neglected to mention is that not all gunsprings are created equal. For some reason, Eastern European gunsprings tend to be relatively weak as a group. I have had this problem with CZ, FEG, Radom, and Bulgarian Makarovs. It's not hard at all to wear out the OEM magazine springs.

CZ switched to Wolff Gunsprings a few years back due to this problem.

[mes228]

FEG, you are on to something. I'll add that some Korean mags springs may be suspect. I purchased a high capacity (29 rounds??) .40 cal Glock mag made in Korea. It functioned perfectly on several outings when purchased. I then left it stored loaded for a few months and tried it last outing. Big problem with many "failure to feed" malfunctions. The first I've had with any Glock. Seems to me the mag spring lost a great deal of it's "spring" over several months loaded. I keep several Glock mags loaded all the time (15 round), some for years. I tried 5 or so and they all worked perfectly and the springs were as strong as ever. The only other very high capacity mag I have is a 9mm thirty round Glock 19 mag. It works perfectly, though stored for many, many months fully loaded. All this just reinforces my trust in Glock. Their pistols and mags simply work. For 1911 pistols I've always used Wilson 47's and the newer top of the line Wilson's (forgot the name) and they have always been flawless. The chip McCormick mags also work very well. I don't think I'll be buying anymore Korean mags for Glocks.

[ScottRiqui]

Cheaply-made high-capacity magazines can have their own special problems.

Many have a linear-rate spring, meaning that the force they exert on the stack of bullets is directly proportional to how far the spring is compressed. If the spring rate is too high, the slide may not be able to reliably strip the first round out of a fully-loaded magazine. Too low, and the last round may not be pushed up into the slide's path with enough authority. The difference between "too high" and "too low" can be a very narrow gap, especially if the magazine in question holds a lot more rounds than a factory magazine.

The better hi-cap magazines will use a progressive-rate spring that keeps a fairly constant force on the stack as the spring is compressed and extended, but these take time and skill to design and are more expensive to produce, which is why so many companies just cheap out and go with fixed-rate springs.

[sliponby]

Thanks for all the feedback. My life is complicated and busy enough as it is and it seems like I can eliminate the process of rotating my mags, according to most of the posts.

I do like ZeSpectre's idea of having dedicated carry mags not subject to abuse of practice mags. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[dcody40]

Most of you guys got it perfect,
think like this for a moment.
If it's your day to day range mags, then follow this advise !

" if it ain't broke don't fix it "
Or " if it works don't screw with it "
" if it gets dirty, clean it "
And my all time favorite " the KISS " principle.

For your carry mags, fully broken in and cleaned/inspected.

I have some guns with original mags that are over 30 plus years old and
they get shot often, and the Mag's are still working just fine, I just keep them clean. They get cleaned with a detail cleaning of each gun, a couple of times a year, I build 1911's from parts so have no problem tearing one almost all the way down, I leave the plunger tube, ejector and bushings unless they are damaged, then they come off also.
In the past I have had some failures (ipsc) wth some that ended up with bent feed lips, they get destroyed so they can't get mixed up with my good mags. And a first for me, just last month, the follower came out of the magazine while shooting it, normal target loads, and got stuck in the magwell, had to pull the slide and pry the monster out with needle nose pliers, this has never happened to me before. That mag is trash now.
And this happened in my most expensive comp gun, ouch ! not in a match this time. Just range time.

Keep it in the black !

Duane USN/ret