Leaving mags loaded???

[asphalt599]

I have just bought my first handgun (still waiting for it to arrive). It is a Baikal MP-446. If I load the magazine can I just leave it loaded or will this ruin the spring over time.

I keep hearing about loading tools. (Just seeing ads where that are included.) How hard is this going to be without one?

 

[Sasky_07]

I always unload my mags, better safe than sorry and really it only takes a second!! I have never had any mags fail because they were left loaded, maybe thats because they never are! My 2 cents anyways

Scott

 

[foxbat]

Both are natural and excellent questions.
Anyway, there is no proven downside to leaving mags loaded...for YEARS at a time...
If you think about it, springs 'fatigue' from being cycled, i.e. loaded and unloaded. Your car's springs are loaded for years at a time...
Maybe we should all start jacking our cars up and putting them on blocks everynight!
Magloaders are a great idea...some mag designs and types make getting in the last few rounds a 'thumbusting nightmare'...

 

[bluesclues]

There is no problem leaving them loaded for long periods of time. As already mentioned, it is the action of loading and unloading that eventually has an effect on spring tension. I have left 2 mags loaded for my 1911 in the safe for months at a time and when finally used there was no ill-effect.

Do a google search on this topic, there are quite a few good articles on this subject of people testing this question for YEARS at a time.

As far as the mag loader goes, never hurts to have one, especially if there are some days at the range where you plan to shoot hundreds of rounds. Plus, on some magazines, there is a little break in period where the springs are very stiff and the mag loader will ease the effort required to load'em up.

BTW congrats on the pistol purchase, welcome to the addiction!

 

[asphalt599]

What kind of price would I be looking for a mag loading tool?

 

[604shooter]

I think you should be more concerned about inadvertantly loading a loaded mag into your pistol. Safety first.

 

[asphalt599]

I can't see myself doing that. I am quite cautious about that kind of thing. I can appreciate your point though.

 

[BigUglyMan]

I work 6 on 5 off, 6 on 4 off. While I'm in the middle of my block of shifts I leave the mags loaded as I'm often on call. At the end of my last shift I unload all my mags. I have noticed that over a year the springs will lose a lot of their length. Usually a year old spring is about 3/4" to 1" shorter than a new spring when removed from teh mag and laid out next to each other. Consequently I replace mine at least every year, sometimes every six months if the opportunity presents itself. After all, it would be stupid to trust your life to faulty gear. Keep in mind I'm talking about a fully loaded, double stack magazine. If you're only loading 5 rounds in a 15 round mag I doubt that you'd see a noticeable difference leaving them loaded.

FWIW I leave my neutered 5/20 M14 mags loaded all the time.

 

[G37]

I leave my neutered 5/30 AR mags loaded all the time as well
With pinned pistol mags I also leave those loaded.
With 10rnd mags I usually keep them loaded with just 5 (best of both worlds heh)

 

[gushulak]

Leaving mags loaded with the springs compressed will cause no problems, there are plenty of threads on the gun forums to support this. Constant loading and unloading causes the spring to work and weaken over time, leaving mags loaded does not stress the springs.

 

[RobertMcC]

I keep All my mags loaded, But every week unload all my mags to strech out the springs. BTW No pinned mags for me, Military.

But for the Pistols we see some Spring Fatigue....

 

[Mystic Precision]

having problems with your mag springs has everything to do with materials used.

New gen US mags typically use a chrome silicon spring. These have the ability to not take a set after alot of use or long periods of compression.

Good ole spring steel can and will take a set quite quickly. This reduces spring pressure and you get last rds misfeeds. What material is your mag springs made from???? How well is it tempered? Can you replace them?

I have seen mags where a few coils had serious rust spots. This showed me that this mag had been stored loaded for a while and rust had formed between the compressed coils. Would that have caused problems if the mag was asked to work?

Better believe those springs went into the trash.

Personally, I never leave a mag loaded for safety and arguably 'legal' reasons.

For a working gun, I would consider swapping in new springs every 6 months to a year depending on the type of spring and what the manf recommended. The mag determines the reliability and function of your HG. Why take chances on causing a malfunction.?

Jerry

 

[Cocked&Locked]

I keep All my mags loaded, But every week unload all my mags to strech out the springs. BTW No pinned mags for me, Military.

But for the Pistols we see some Spring Fatigue....

Stretching the springs is harder on them then leaving them loaded! Any spring will take a certian amount of compression set, but trying to pull it out again just accerates failure. The old inglis mags didn't have the best springs going, if it was me I'd buy some wolf mag springs and put them in my mags if I had to carry them..

 

[RobertMcC]

Stretching the springs is harder on them then leaving them loaded! Any spring will take a certian amount of compression set, but trying to pull it out again just accerates failure. The old inglis mags didn't have the best springs going, if it was me I'd buy some wolf mag springs and put them in my mags if I had to carry them..

When I mean strech the springs, mean relieve the tention of having them loaded....

 

[Gunslinger]

I read a write up about this once. They found some .45 GI mags from the second world war, fully loaded, all of them functioned fine. Spring life cycle is determined by cycles of compression and decompression, not how long they are left compressed or decompressed. Loaded or unloaded it makes no difference unless you're using them.

 

[CanFire]

I'm inclined to believe that leaving a magazine loaded for a long period of time won't harm the magazine, but it may harm your ammo. Brass is a soft metal and over time the constant pressure of the follower pushing it into the feed lips of the magazine could deform the brass and possibly even create a weak spot. I believe I read about this theory on the CCW forum over at GlockTalk. The concern was with U.S. citizens that leave a loaded pistol in their bedside drawer month after month, year after year and never shoot the thing - probably not a big concern for most of us Canucks.

 

[pmt]

....Personally, I never leave a mag loaded for safety and arguably 'legal' reasons.

Jerry

What 'legal' reasons are you referring to? A good number of people on this board legally store loaded mags in their gunsafe next to their firearms.

 

[NAA]

I know a guy that has had a certain Glock 22 .40 cal since 1995. Not only does that Glock have over 25,000 rounds thru it without a hitch [not one fail to feed, fire, extract or eject] the three 15 shot [legal] mags that came with it have been fully loaded since it was new and only emptied when the gun was being fired and then reloaded again. The magazines have always been stored fully loaded with 15 cartridges. There has been no appreciable wear/fatigue to the magazine springs.

 

[mdbuckle]

I spoke with an engineer about this topic. He said springs do not degrade when compressed and left compressed over time. Springs degrade from repetitive motion of compression and decompression. He said that leaving a magazine loaded should not weaken the spring unless it was in a state of over-compression (compressed too much). To sum it all up, I believe that leaving mags loaded should have no affect on the life of the spring.

 

[Canuck223]

OK, so most people do realize there #### won't fall off by leaving the mags loaded. The second part of the lesson as mentioned by BUM is that magazine springs are best viewed as a consumable item. Just as you will over time need to replace the recoil spring in your pistol, so to will you need to replace the mag spring.

Springs generally take all the "set" they are ever going to during the very first compression cycle. If you get a set of new springs, do yourself a favour and check for yourself. Note the springs as new are of the same length. Load one into a mag and load the mag. After a few cycles, pull it out and compare it to the still new mag spring. Odds are it will be either exactly the same length, or just a small fraction shorter.

Depending on your use, I would tend to keep one fresh spring as a guide, and swap out the mag springs when they have fatigued enough to be one full coil shorter than fresh. Depending on the material used and the use it recieves, that might be in 6 months or 60 years.

Until then, feel free to leave them loaded.

As usual, my opinion and $1.36 will get you a Timmies.