Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Loaded Mags?

Do you keep your 30round ar15 mags. fully loaded all the time...will it hurt them to keep this way even for years?

I do, but mine are MagPul and have a cap that takes the pressure off the feed lips.

If they are USGI or better load them up and leave them. Can't comment on the cheap ones.

And before someone brings it up: load 30 rounds in a 30 round mag, not 28, not 29...

I have a few that where loaded for about 8 months and I finally had a chance to shoot , with no problems at all

Yep, keep them loaded.

You will cause more harm to the spring by using it, than leaving it full, or empty.

It is the repeated compressing and decompressing that will eventually cause the spring to fatigue, not leaving them full.

Consider it brought-en: I load mine with 28. Sometime a fully loaded mag will be the cause of a FTF.. And I didn't learn that on the internet or read it in a magazine.

I would have to drop the mag, pop a couple of rounds out, and then put the weapon back into action. It happened enough times that I made it a rule to quit loading 30.

But, to each his own. A loaded mag, (no matter how loaded) is more useful than an unloaded mag.

That never happened to me in Afghanistan or Iraq. You sure it was the mags that caused it?

With some of my AR rifles, not all, a fully loaded mag won't seat with the bolt closed. I have taken to loading 28 for that magazine, and all the mags after that are loaded fully, as they seat into the well with an open bolt.

Never been to Afghanistan or Iraq but right here in Okalahoma, I've had trouble seating mags loaded with 30 rounds on a closed bolt. I subscribe to the push pull method while inserting a magazine, 30rds will keep it intersting on some guns. Some guns lock up just fine.

Never bought into the idea of downloading mags to keep the feedlips from deforming.

TWR-Should have bought a Smith and Wesson...Saw it right off!!!

No problems here loading a full 30 round clip with the bolt closed.That must be one of the "many" things a Colt can do, a Smith can't you mentioned....(Kidding)

Jayco

You mean like this one?

Just kidding right back.

Oh and they only do it with USGI mags, Pmags I have no problem but it's a habit...

No/No..I was not talking .22 rimfires.I was talking the big boys like the .223/5.56....

That is a very nice .22 and would love to have one except for one thing called a wife, and about 10 other .22's with my .22 levergun being my fave.

Naw,just the, my weapon is better than yours, sometimes gets to me.My Henry shoots just as good as my Marlin and that's all I am after in a rifle,is accuracy and reliability.

Jayco

I would have to disagree with this. In fact strongly. Quite often a factory magaizine with 30 rounds will fail to seat properly or will be exceedingly difficult at an inopportune moment. Downloading by two rounds completely eliminates this issue and ensures smooth, speedy reloads, regardless of if the bolt is locked to the rear or forward.

This holds true no matter which continent you are on...

Good post, I tend to give much stronger weight to advice given by those who "have seen the Elephant" or maybe in Mackay's case "Been kissed by a Camel" - yea I saw the pic :-) :-)

...................dj

WOW..Is the AR forum a war zone or is it sportsmen with AR's?Two very different situations and needs and especially,stress's on the weapon.

Being on topic,Smith and Wesson knows as we all do,semi-auto's can and do fail mostly due to the magazines, whether an M-16 or a 45 ACP, used and feeding and that is one reason Smith and Wesson send out Mag Pul mags with there weapons and have the reputation of flawless use.

Not to say others are not..Just saying on mags.

The new Colts in Nam failed and failed and there still failing in the new wars in sand or whatever.The AK always has been more reliable but less accurate...But that is my opinion only.

Jayco

28 for me. For the reasons discussed above.

It doesn't matter where you are, the bolt not closing on a full magazine sucks.

It would just REALLY suck if you're getting shot at!..................dj

Your right and that,I assume,was a Colt...If more combat vet's would chime in,it would make it easy to show,how they can and do fail as all weapons can.

I spent about 1.5 years at Fort Benning Georgia and that is where my military carrier ends,publicly,unlike the hero's of today.

Interestingly,In North Idaho I met two of the Navy's finest..One,Jim(DC) from ST-2 and the other,Rick,ST Sniper with 67 kills in Nam....Most don't even know the Seals have to(or did) take training in Benning or Bragg to finish off there training from the Army.

My point,we all agreed there were and are flaws in any weapon under different scenarios that us hunters/gun nuts will never see....

I just do not buy the Colt or your dead mentality here but again,that is just my opinion.

By the way...Israel is attacking Iran tomorrow...

Jayco

Many of my fellow marines are religious about loading 28 rounds into their magazine. I always ran with 30 and I never had a problem in training or in Afghanistan. Never had a problem storing loaded mags either.

I didn't know I was supposed to have a camel pic....