Magazine Storage/Usage

[Aurelius95]

Suppose you have a 9mm handgun, and part of the reason you have it is for self defense. Suppose also you have 2 magazines with hollow point ammo in it. This is not ammo you will fire regularly, so you don't use those magazines. Is it ok to fully load the magazine (16/16 rounds)? If so, how long should they stay fully loaded? Will it affect the spring feeding mechanism?

Thanks!

[kyratshooter]

If it is a good quality magazine it is designed to hold a full compliment of ammo for an unlimited period of time.

[Rick]

Aurelius - I agree with KYRat but finding out you didn't have a quality magazine when someone is storming your bedroom is a really bad time.

I have multiple magazines for my home defense gun and rotate them regularly leaving the spare ones empty and loading the two I will use. These are OEM mags but I still don't want to take a chance on weakening the spring. Just my little paranoia at work.

[Aurelius95]

KYRat and Rick,

I suspected as much (quality made should last indefinitely), but wasn't sure. I like the idea of rotating mags. If I go through 2 @ 16 each, plus 1 chambered, that's a lot of shooting.

Thanks for the input, guys.

[kyratshooter]

Aurelius - I agree with KYRat but finding out you didn't have a quality magazine when someone is storming your bedroom is a really bad time.

I have multiple magazines for my home defense gun and rotate them regularly leaving the spare ones empty and loading the two I will use. These are OEM mags but I still don't want to take a chance on weakening the spring. Just my little paranoia at work.

I used to do that. I am sort of a magazine hog. I have dozens of mags for my 1911. Some GI, some specialty. You pick them up at the gun show for $5 each and they all look alike.

"Back in the day" I bought a couple of Wilson mags for competition, liked them and started keeping them in the gun. I put the gun in the sock drawer and forgot about it for a year or so. Mag still works so I quit qworrying about it.


Then they came out with the 10 rounders. I had to have one for immidiate use.

Should I rotate? Heck no, I want my 10 rounds up and ready!

[canid]

indefinite service life is the goal a quality manufacturer should aspire to, but it is not actually possible.

a compressed spring will fatigue over time, as a simple matter of physics.

in a properly tempered spring from a suitable material, this should of course take a very long time. a spring which spends all it's time compressed should, in my understanding outlast one which is worked frequently.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

My reading on springs stated that what damages springs is taking them beyond thier limit so in theory leaving a leaving a magazine one or two rounds shy of full capacity should be good, that said, I have had problems even doing that with magazines. The reason I depend on revolvers.

[crashdive123]

My reading on springs stated that what damages springs is taking them beyond thier limit so in theory leaving a leaving a magazine one or two rounds shy of full capacity should be good, that said, I have had problems even doing that with magazines. The reason I depend on revolvers.

The Submarine Navy must have shared that reading with you. We stored all magazines two round shy of full.

[Pal334]

This is sort of like "what is the best knife". I agree that a good magazine should be good almost forever. HOWEVER, I rotate magazines because I have extras and it can't hurt. Like Crash says, our stored magazines where always loaded short,we also rotated them, but duty magazines were loaded full capacity.

[Justin Case]

When I was a kid, I stored my Magazines under the bed !

[rwc1969]

I don't like leaving them full, because in my experience they end up not feeding reliably. I like the idea of leaving them a couple rounds short, that may be a viable compromise, something I hadn't considered. Thanks AS!

[klickitat]

Quality mags should still be rotated. You should go out and shoot that gun on a regular basis.

[Beans]

Several reports of WWi 1911 mags filled with ammo and when fired 60 years later the mags work and the ammo fired.

I will fire my SD ammo about every 3 months.

I fire about 200-300 of training (reloaded) ammo a month, using the same mags. I just unload the SD mags and then load them with the reloads.

When I reload the SD mags with SD ammo I make sure that I rotate the top round in the mag so repeated chambering does not damage the round.

[2dumb2kwit]

I normally short load the mags off my carry piece, but mainly because those last few are such a pain to get in there. LOL

I figure 10 in each mag is enough. If I can't get my butt out of a jam with 20 rounds, it just wasn't meant to be.

[jgcoastie]

I load up two carry mags at a time with my SD ammo. About once every couple of months, I'll shoot my carry ammo at the range and put those magazines which were loaded into my range bag. I'll then load up two fresh mags with new carry ammo and forget about it until the next time.

Prudence suggests that you shoot your carry ammo every so often to make sure it still cycles reliably and is accurate, may as well swap your magazines while you're at it...

[doug1980]

While deployed the armory would keep all the Beretta 92 mags loaded. Not sure how long they were left loaded but we had tons of feed issues. The springs were worn badly. Not a very good thing in a life or death situation. I only have 2 mags for each of my pistols but I do what Rick does. Leave one loaded, one empty and rotate.

[Pal334]

doug,, we got around that by bringing having our guys bring their own mags from "home" station. After issue would they just swap the ammo into their "good"mags throwing the armory mags into their packs. When was time to turn in, would switch back. Takes time, but they had plenty of it . Now those that "cheated" and brought the 1911, we had our own mags etc, so rotatting was simplier

[kyratshooter]

OK, we got that figured out.

20 round mags are treally 18 round mags, 2 is 1, 3 is 2 and 1 is none so when I carry my p3at with only one mag I really have 5 shots instead of 7 or I am completely unarmed, I have not figured out which, and I am getting very confused!

Only don't tell that to a German magazine 'cause the Mauser HSc grandad brought back from the war stayed loaded in the trunk from '45 intil '84 when we found it and shot all his 1937 issue ammo up.

[Aurelius95]

Quality mags should still be rotated. You should go out and shoot that gun on a regular basis.

I do my best, but I have some magazines that hold hollow point ammo, and since it's pricey, I don't shoot it. But I do keep it 1-2 rounds short of its full capacity.

Question: How often do you guys shoot your SD rounds? Do you notice much difference in the way it handles compared to target rounds?

[crashdive123]

I don't distinguish all that much between rounds. Yeah, some are hp, some are fmj, some are cowboy loads. When I shoot, I usually grab a few boxes and go. The exception to that is when I shoot Glaser Safety Slugs - did it once to see how they'd perform - that was enough.