Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles CAUTION: AR STONER MAGS

In March of 2006 I needed some AR mags in a hurry. I was going out of the US and needed them for the job.
During that period demand had outstripped all supply and manufacturing. There were few AR mags to be found.
I was pleased to see that Midway had AR Stoner mags in stock. I bought a dozen and the wolf spring kits for them. I also bought some Beretta M9 mags and overpower springs for them as well.
Once they arrived I shipped them off to be microslicked. The mags returned and the old springs went into storage.

Here it is17 months later. While moving around some boxes in storage I opened one and my hart just sank. There was a mass of rusted metal on the top. I am obsessed with rust prevention. I keep a dry storage area. Keep things in sealed plastic boxes and oil or grease anything that will be in storage a while. Seeing rusted metal my first thought was some how water had gotten into that box.
On examination the rusted mass was the AR Stoner springs





Still thinking I had a disaster on my hands I started emptying the box. The dozen unwrapped M14 mags were fine, the HK mags were fine, then I noticed that the Beretta springs were fine. The only thing rusted at all was the AR stoner springs.





All I can say at this point is that if you have purchased AR Stoner mags you should examine the springs right away, and do so often. Replacing them would probably be best from my view point. You can�t have mag springs rusting away while you cant see them. Spring steel isn�t supposed to rust like that. I am very disappointed in a product that needs an upgrade at purchase.

Just a heads up.

Seems like spring steel rusts easily from what I've seen..

But that's terrible! Bummer!

-jeff

Carbon steel rusts, stainless don't.

I guess I am just showing my age.
It appears form posts here and other places that is the "norm" for unplated chrome silicon springs. that the rust is a thin self limiting surface coat only.
So I suppose that this is the new technology and I am a dinosaur.

But I cant buy it, that surface cancer is no big deal. I have mags from the 70's and the springs don't just rust while in storage.
I have mags from WWII and the springs are not rusted.
Heck I bet I can dig around here and find some pre WWI luger mags and I am willing to bet that they are fine as well. They are all stored in the same area and conditions. 40 to 60 years old a lot of them and still going.
It was mentioned that The trade off vs. stainless is they are supposed to take less of a set initially, and last longer.
Could be but if they are better in 40 to 60 I wont be here to see it. But I cant believe they will. If it is surface rust normal use will continually scrape off the rust. the exposed metal will then rust again slightly deeper and on and on and on.

I have worked in places where hidden and buried weapons were the norm. Soviet weapons,Chinese imports, even old WWII German and American weapons. There wasn't a lot of stainless steel in any of those yet unless something was hidden in a well, a manure pile or just buried in the dirt without any protection you didn't see rust like this. And I examined everything pretty close. Seems to me that building a product to rust is planed obsolesce.

It's only light surface rust. (I know, to you it's ALL bad ). Some oil on a rag, and problem is fixed. It will wipe off, very light coat of oil will prevent it returning.

Part of my preventive maintenance is just that... disassembling mags now and then.

Don't sweat it.

Spring steel certainly will rust easily if stored in a totally dry state, but those springs are likely Chrome Silicon springs. A natural quality of CS springs is that they do tend to form light surface rust when dry, but they are actually much better springs than the Wolf springs.

Chrome silicon springs are far superior in function to chrome or stainless springs that are specified in GI specs. The only minor disadvantage is that they do have a tendency to oxidize slightly, which is probably why the gov specifies stainless. They are supposed to be lightly coated with a light oil in magazines that are in service, and a little oil or grease won't hurt for long term storage, just like any other firearm part.

The light rust that may form on springs in use that are not properly maintained is a very minor issue, whereas the longer service life and other benefits over carbon or stainless springs is a substantial.

An interesting quality is that CS springs exert a more uniform pressure throughout the range of movement...exactly the opposite of carbon and SS springs. In other words, they are, by comparison, easier to compress at full compression, and stronger at full extension, where carbon and stainless is the weakest...that is the very best of both worlds.

They also resist heat from rapid compressions, which is why CS is used in MG recoil springs and Indy race car valve springs. Under heavy use, a stainless spring may wear out in 1000 compressions, where a CS spring may last 6 hundred thousand compressions (600,000).

Basically, just clean those springs off really well with steel wool, and keep them lightly oiled in the future, and rust won't be an issue...and don't worry about surface rust, as it won't effect performance.

Either way, it is a $2 part.

I believe C Products makes those mags...btw.

TC

Top cat, that is the best explanation I have had.
Thanks.

I don't have any Stoner mags and wasn't planning on picking any up so I almost missed this thread. I HATE rust as well but after reading Top cat's post, it sounds like they may be worth the extra effort. Thanks to all for the post/info!!

I just finished visiting the C-Products site. In the evaluation document they post, the light coat of oxidation is visible through the catch hole - http://www.cproductsllc.com/eval.pdf
They also are quite up front about it in their FAQ's http://www.cproductsllc.com/faq.html
Q: Will a chrome silicon spring rust?
A: Yes, initially it will develop a slight film which will not affect the function of the spring.

I have both the AR Stoner and C-Products mags and they have performed flawlessly. The stainless steel mags are unbelievable, virtually indestructible. They see a lot of very wet use and long storage in humid conditions. I do a lot of shooting and varmint hunting in very sandy areas here near the lake. I have not seen any rust or had any failures from sand contamination. I do always very lightly lube my springs with Slick 50 or ATF thinned with mineral oil. I must note that the sand here in NW Ohio is much coarser that our boys in the sandbox are experiencing. Probably best to leave them completely dry in that environment.
My only complaint is the floor plates are extremely hard to remove for cleaning, but I can live with that. They have never popped when dropped on on the rocks.