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Joined: Apr 2003
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 6,840 |
I know, I could find the answer by digging a little, but I'm gonna take the lazy way out and as the cognoscenti on the forum. I'm a bolt action guy with rifles and a revolver guy with handguns so I have little experience with detachable magazines. Recently, I have inherited an AR and a 1911, both of which I am enjoying.
My question is this: What is the recommended practice regarding leaving cartridges in detachable magazines for extended periods. Obviously, it would be best for the spring to unload the magazine immediately following each use. But there are clearly times when one might want a gun handy with a loaded magazine..
Is there a recommended time frame, weekly, monthly, whatever? Or is it the consensus that they can remain loaded indefinately without fatiguing the spring? TIA
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 5,468
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 5,468 |
None that I know of. Some springs don't care, others are affected. Best of course to not leave them loaded for an extended time. Never have left a rifle mag loaded, have several pistols that it does not seem to matter.
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 5,802 Likes: 1
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: May 2011
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Maybe you could check with a supplier/manufacturer?
You're only going to get opinions here and general consensus may not be right - sounds like your life may depend on it. Any other reason to keep a mag loaded for long durations?
Whatever you said...everyone knows you are a lying jerk. That's a bold assertion. Point out where you think I lied. Well?
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,586
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,586 |
Obviously, it would be best for the spring to unload the magazine immediately following each use. Do you take the load off your car's suspension and valve springs each time you put it away for the night? A spring can sustain a static load within its elastic limit essentially forever. Steel structures all around the world bear witness to that. Corrosion, large numbers of load cycles, or overloading them are the sorts of factors that will put paid to a spring, not simply leaving it loaded. You might find this interesting: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/12760659/1
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,734
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2010
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I know on the newer pistols springs are designed to be under load indefinitely
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2003
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Thanks for the comments, and the link, gentlemen. Threads like this make this forum worthwhile!
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 6,840
Campfire Tracker
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OP
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2003
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Thanks for the comments, and the link, gentlemen. Threads like this make this forum worthwhile!
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 15,689 Likes: 4
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2005
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Chrome silicon springs don't have a problem with fatiguing under a constant load.
On another note, chrome silicon replacement springs and even new mags are cheap enough to replace from time to time.
Z
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Joined: Apr 2011
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Campfire Savant
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Campfire Savant
Joined: Apr 2011
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I’ve had Magpul magazines loaded for years, they work just fine
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 22,884
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 22,884 |
My understanding is that it is the number of cycles of compression, rather than the compression itself, that wears out a spring.
Given such, a magazine spring would actually last longer by loading it and leaving it alone until its next real use, rather than unloading it for storage.
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Joined: Jul 2012
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jul 2012
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Chrome silicon springs don't have a problem with fatiguing under a constant load.
No spring has a problem with fatigue under a constant load. Fatigue is not associated with being under a constant load.
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Joined: Dec 2014
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 9,138 Likes: 2 |
Engineers tell us a properly designed and loaded spring does not weaken. And that may be true...in the lab. A half century as a heavy equipment mechanic, I can comfortably say, nonsense. In defense of the engineers argument, I have often wondered if constant exposure to the fluctuating temperatures encountered seasonally and even daily affects the spring. Kind of like gentle annealling maybe? I didn't know that cycling affected springs, until I started working around crusher operations, but it certainly does. Mag springs, logic would dictate they last a long time.
Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
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Joined: Feb 2003
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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I was hoping that was a link to the discussion on rec.guns over 20 years ago. Some guy was really funny when he explained how different life would be if springs were affected by time.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.-- Edward John Phelps
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Joined: Feb 2018
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Campfire Regular
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In my opinion and others smarter then me magazines and their parts are expendable and occasionally need to be replaced for what ever reason, which is why many of us engrave a number on our mags. I leave my magazines loaded and shortly after a range session I top them off. Pays to have a couple of manly grandsons with in walking distance. Thank You Lord!
I usually have about thirty of the 30 round Magpul magazines loaded all the time, about fifteen 1911 mags, maybe twenty or so Glock mags, a dozen Browning Hi Power mags, several 6.5 Creed Tikka mags., a bunch of 10-22 mags. and the 870 Rem. stays loaded as does the Marlin 1895 45-70 and one bolt action 30-06. Alaskan weather is what it is and when I hit the range I want to shoot and not freeze and spend my time loading magazines. T-shirts and sun glasses are not the norm.
So far in over 50 years, I have never noticed an issue with leaving a magazine loaded. I also believe one should always buy the best magazines for their weapon, never skimp.
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Campfire Tracker
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Bob Bell, scope guy for Gun Digest for years, picked up a 1911 in WW2. In the 90s he tried a full magazine filled during the war. Worked fine. So......check every 50 years to be sure.
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