Fully Loaded 1911 Magzine
Will the spring in a fully loaded Colt or McCormick weaken over time?
What if you rotate 12 Magzines (1 at a time) every 6 months?
What if you rotate 12 Magzines (1 at a time) every 6 months?
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All spring steel will weaken over time, it's just the way it is. Some are worse than others. I do a 3 month rotation, keeping 2 Glock 15 round magazines loaded full all the time.
It'll definately help if you rotate, some people do it twice a year, some more (I'm the latter), and replace the springs if they suddenly start jamming.0 -
THIS IS A RE-PRINT OF INFO TXS POSTED WHEN I HAD THE SAME QUESTION
The only thing I'll want to do with a new magazine or spring is to fire a couple of full loads through it to make sure it functions.
SkyWatcher has it right and the incident he relates is common. Quality mags left fully loaded for long periods will likely outlive the ammunition they contain. It's not keeping them loaded that causes your mag springs to soften, instead it's repeated compressing and releasing of tension that causes spring fatigue.
The often recommended practice of rotating loaded mags periodically is a fallacy and actually does more harm than good. To demonstrate this for yourself, purchase a factory new mag spring and keep it in your tool kit as a go/no-go gauge. Whenever you break your mags down for cleaning compare their springs length against this fresh spring. If you leave a mag fully loaded for a year or two and gauge it this way you'll see that it maintains it's uncompressed length better than the mags you've been loading and unloading frequently.
This is the same basic procedure I use when conducting periodic LEO firearms inspections. If I find a mag spring that's more then a couple of coils shorter than my gauge spring I replace it. There's no room for guesswork when dealing with firearms used for defensive purposes and springs are cheap.
This may or may not be from the same author. I can't find the original ppost, but boy, did I take some ribbinf for asking. But your question is exceptionally valid. Who would know except someone with years of experience!
If they are not needed for immediate use then obviously don't leave them loaded, it fatigues the spring. I've found that 1911 7-rd mags don't fatigue much due to how little the spring is compressed when the mag is fully loaded. Supposedly they will work fine after years or even decades of being left loaded. Hi-cap mags tend to highly compress the springs due to being designed to hold a maximum amount of ammo and hence require more frequent replacement. I would put 7 rds in the 1911 mag as to not overcompress the spring and not worry about it. My G21, on the other hand, gets new springs every year (or more frequently) because they fatigue substantially with a full load of 13rds in them. Get some good springs too, different springs fatigue differently. I prefer Wolffsprings when available for a particular application.
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I had a 1908 magazine that had been loaded in 1942 that I found in my grandmothers stuff in 198?. It worked perfectly when I went and used it. 0 -
There is some logic to checking mag springs based on the quality of lack of it in the spring. Your mag spring is much a victim of Quality Control. A spring made of proper material and properly heat treated will last almost indefinitely. Even the best makes can have QC problems. Few years back I bought a new Glock .40 with two mags. After a few months one mag spring weakened and quit holding the slide open when empty. Glock sent me a new spring for free. A car's valve springs easily last a hundred million operation cycles without failure (most of them). I have revolvers 150 years old with spring still excellent. Failure of mechanical things is subject to "infant mortality" which is to say that faults usually show up soon after the item is first put into use. If the unit survives its early useage, it will probably last for the long haul. When I first started making springs it was recommended that you exercise your new spring 250 cycles and if it survived, it would last for its intended life. I did have one that broke on cycle 255. So much for conventional wisdom. My practice would be to check my mag spring/s/ several times over time while new or near new. Those that change should be replaced. Those that don't change and keep their strut could be checked only infrequently. 0 -
Why did I get 3 Icons (DELETE,EDIT,REPLY) IN THE FAR RIGHT HAND COLUMN OF MY Topic? The DELETE Disappeared after someone replied. The other 2 are still there. All the other listings has just 1 Icon which is the REPLY. 0 -
It's because you started the thread and as soon as there are replies you can no longer delete it. You should always be able to edit your own posts as well. 0 -
What do you mean I started the thread. I posted another question and all 3 Icons appeared in the far right column again. How do I keep this
from happening?
Thanks
David0 -
I replied to your email... 0
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