Mags: loaded or unloaded

[Glocktavius]

I made a topic along time ago on a different website, but I had a g26 mag loaded that I lost behind my dresser for almost 5 years. I found and was curious to see how it would shoot. Went outside and fired 10 rounds with no issues whatsoever and to this day its still in my g26 edc. I know thats 1 out of a million but worked for me.

 

[HelluvaEngineer]

I made a topic along time ago on a different website, but I had a g26 mag loaded that I lost behind my dresser for almost 5 years. I found and was curious to see how it would shoot. Went outside and fired 10 rounds with no issues whatsoever and to this day its still in my g26 edc. I know thats 1 out of a million but worked for me.

Keeping a mag loaded isn't a problem, its the loading and unloading that causes the spring to where out.

 

[Glocktavius]

agreed^^

 

[VanillaGuerrilla]

Every mag I own is full. When I get a new one for something, I make sure I have ammo to fill it with. it's like having cool-aid and no sugar, ham and no burger, etc.

 

[patracy]

Just loaded 140 rounds into my PPS mags, now that I have enough ammo for them.

I keep them loaded. Better hope if you come to my place to cause harm, I run out of bullets in all the open weapons before I reach the safe....

 

[zesty]

I've been thinking about this so I did some searching. I didn't find any definitive information. That leaves the door open for me to make my own unsubstantiated analysis... Here's what I can remember from college about what would affect a mag spring:

Creep - This is also called 'memory'. If you bend a piece of plastic and hold it for some time, the plastic will 'remember' the bent shape and be permanently deformed. The amount of deformation depends on how long the bent shape was held. Metal suffers very little creep so keeping your mags loaded for a couple decades should be fine.

Fatigue - Constant cyclical changes in shape or slight bends cause bonds to break. These breakages accumulate to weaken the metal. Fatigue is calculated using cycles on the order of thousands, if I recall correctly. Loading and unloading mags for a couple decades should be fine.

Yield Point - If you stretch or compress metal to the point that it can't handle the stresses, it will permanently deform. You can bend a wire coat hanger a little and it'll bounce right back to the original shape. Bend it a little further and it stays in the shape you bent it. Don't screw with your mag spring and it won't be a problem.

Chemical - If your mag spring is rusty, it's weakened by the loss of material. Keep your mags clean, dry, and very lightly oiled and this won't be a problem.


Conclusion: I expect that any "documented" mag spring issues found on the internet were caused by a combination of all of the above factors. I think you can keep them loaded and/or cycle (load, unload) them frequently. Either should be fine.

 

[mgonza]

great! I'm not alone. I keep all mags loaded as muc as I can. To many mags and not enough ammo!

 

[HelluvaEngineer]

I've been thinking about this so I did some searching. I didn't find any definitive information. That leaves the door open for me to make my own unsubstantiated analysis... Here's what I can remember from college about what would affect a mag spring:

Creep - This is also called 'memory'. If you bend a piece of plastic and hold it for some time, the plastic will 'remember' the bent shape and be permanently deformed. The amount of deformation depends on how long the bent shape was held. Metal suffers very little creep so keeping your mags loaded for a couple decades should be fine.

Fatigue - Constant cyclical changes in shape or slight bends cause bonds to break. These breakages accumulate to weaken the metal. Fatigue is calculated using cycles on the order of thousands, if I recall correctly. Loading and unloading mags for a couple decades should be fine.

Yield Point - If you stretch or compress metal to the point that it can't handle the stresses, it will permanently deform. You can bend a wire coat hanger a little and it'll bounce right back to the original shape. Bend it a little further and it stays in the shape you bent it. Don't screw with your mag spring and it won't be a problem.

Chemical - If your mag spring is rusty, it's weakened by the loss of material. Keep your mags clean, dry, and very lightly oiled and this won't be a problem.


Conclusion: I expect that any "documented" mag spring issues found on the internet were caused by a combination of all of the above factors. I think you can keep them loaded and/or cycle (load, unload) them frequently. Either should be fine.

Correct, though creep shouldn't be an issue if the spring was designed properly. When done right the magazine won't take a set because it will never be stressed outside of its elastic region of deformation. Only once a material is stressed outside its region of elastic deformation does it take set. Give me a second to draw something in paint to explain.

 

[HelluvaEngineer]

If stressed along the first part of the blue line(the linear part) the spring(or any other material for that matter) won't take permanent set, but if stressed past that part a new permanently stressed state is reached along with permanent set that has the same slope as the original linear part for that material(the red line) I hope that makes sense, it has been a while since I dealt with this stuff.

For the most part mag springs will break because of rust or fatigue(loaded and unloaded)

Just realized that I put the wrong thing in parentheses for Strain, oh well.

 

[zesty]

Correct, though creep shouldn't be an issue if the spring was designed properly. When done right the magazine won't take a set because it will never be stressed outside of its elastic region of deformation. Only once a material is stressed outside its region of elastic deformation does it take set. Give me a second to draw something in paint to explain.

ehhh... creep is time and temperature dependent. Went back an did some research... Steel creeps at about 450°C. LOL, you're right, creep shouldn't be an issue for mags.