Mags....leave loaded or unloaded?

[Texan2]

The only four mags. I have that are not loaded, are for both new rifle I recently acquired and have not shot yet. Otherwise all my firearms And the magazines are loaded. As the man once said, "An unloaded firearm is just a very expensive paperweight."

I have plenty of loaded mags as well. The question is more to how many to keep loaded and its effect, if any, on the mags.

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[Byrd666]

There was a posting on another forum dealing with this same question. And from what the "experts" say, the act of using, or use of the magazines cause them to ultimately fail. The loading and unloading of the magazines cause the parts to weaken over time and cease working properly. And from what "they" say, keeping the magazines loaded will not harm them at all. Basically, keep loaded or empty, but, keep them one way or the other.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

There have been a few posts in this thread that already stated that, too....

 

[TX69]

Loaded in case I encounter a squirrel

 

[txbikerman]

Loaded in case I encounter a squirrel

Or a rat.


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[rsayloriii]

I have plenty of loaded mags as well. The question is more to how many to keep loaded and its effect, if any, on the mags.

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How many to keep loaded? All until you run out of ammo to put in them.

Effect it will have on the magazine? None, if it's a quality magazine. If it's a cheap magazine (IE knock-off pmags), then the magazine lips might tend to bow out over time due to the pressure put on them.

 

[rsayloriii]

Loaded in case I encounter a squirrel

Or a rat.


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Or a blue helmet ...

 

[HKaltwasser]

Pistol Home defense mags stay loaded with 1 or 2 from full capicity. If I dump through one mag on a rare home invasion , then the other 2 are ready to go. Leaving 1 or 2 out of the mag will prolong the life of the mag spring.

I keep my HK51 loaded with 4 mags next to it in the closet and the HK53 half loaded next to the bed. Of course all of this gets locked up at certain times.

Paranoid maybe....ready,certainly.

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

I've heard several people say only load the mag to two or three rounds of its capacity. How exactly does this help the spring? Do you still do this with your 7-8 rnd .45's?

 

[Gun Show Podcast]

Unless the spring is at full compression when fully loaded in the magazine, I cannot see how downloading would affect the spring. I suppose one could argue that it was less pressure on the magazine feed lips...

 

[navyguy]

I don't go out of my way to load them and then stuff them into the safe, but if I've gone through the trouble of loading a mag, I'll be damned if I'm going to unload it unless it's down range. I don't think in the short term (1-2 years) leaving a mag loaded is going to affect the spring. Maybe after 20 or so years I might be a bit cautious. There are a lot of other things to worry about.

 

[sonuvaTXgun]

I don't go out of my way to load them and then stuff them into the safe, but if I've gone through the trouble of loading a mag, I'll be damned if I'm going to unload it unless it's down range. I don't think in the short term (1-2 years) leaving a mag loaded is going to affect the spring. Maybe after 20 or so years I might be a bit cautious. There are a lot of other things to worry about.

As a gun owner, you shouldn't be leaving anything in the safe. You should be taking what you have out to the range and showing it the love it deserves.

 

[Mikeinhistory]

I've heard several people say only load the mag to two or three rounds of its capacity. How exactly does this help the spring? Do you still do this with your 7-8 rnd .45's?

I know that some magazines will malfunction if loaded to capacity. It has happened to me a few times. Usually with aftermarket pieces, and I'm fairly certain they were all curved or "banana" 30 round magazines. I guess sometimes the spring has difficulty with the curved shape. I know that once when I was living in NY in Times Square a guy tried to open fire on just random people. Whatever he had jammed on the first round. Didn't even get a shot off and immediately the cops were on him. I was there and I saw it happen, but at the time I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. I read about it later. My dad always told me to take things to the range and test them before I trust them.

 

[Mikeinhistory]

As a gun owner, you shouldn't be leaving anything in the safe. You should be taking what you have out to the range and showing it the love it deserves.

Also, this +1,000

 

[AMERICANTARGETS741776]

Mag half empty or half full... depends on your personality . lol

 

[sonuvaTXgun]

Mag half empty or half full... depends on your personality . lol

Getting philosophical on our asses, eh?

 

[M. Sage]

Loaded. I've got PMags that have been loaded pretty much constantly for a few years now, and they aren't warping. The bodies wear out from use eventually, but I never have used those stupid cover things, and always load to capacity.

I've heard several people say only load the mag to two or three rounds of its capacity. How exactly does this help the spring? Do you still do this with your 7-8 rnd .45's?

It doesn't. Loading down by 2 makes it easier to insert a GI 30 round magazine in an AR with the bolt closed. People might have picked that up and run with it in situations where there's not a good reason to load down...

 

[Shotgun Jeremy]

I've noticed that, and for that I can see leaving out one or two rounds-but 5 or 10? I can't figure that out. With the exception of you just now-I'm always told it's so the spring will last longer. My pistols, I load the mags completely and just give it a good bump. I've never had an issue from that. My rifle, I've gotten in the habit of locking the bolt back before I load the mag. Habit set-problem solved for me. lol

 

[TX69]

Or a blue helmet ...

Tactical Squirrel is raging but Jody has got my back

 

[Mross217]

Loaded and ready