Storing fully loaded magazines good or bad?

[domagala]

I would like to know what are some opinions on keeping magazines loaded for and extended period of time. I work in the metal trades industries and am worried about the metal spring in the magazine loosing tension from being compressed for some time. Does anybody have any thoughts or 'guidelines' on storing fully loaded magazines? Thank you.

[bogey1]

dont worry about it, sometimes its good for new mags so they dont misfeed. my mags have been loaded for years and function flawlessly.

[cadence2arms]

This subject comes up time to time and I have to agree that its not a big deal to leave them loaded. Breaks them in.

[WishIWasFlying]

Load them and leave them. Metal springs fatigue from work. (i.e. loading & unloading) They will not fatigue due to long term static loads.

[Curmudgeon]

Think about it... if having a spring under constant load for extended periods of time would weaken them, every car and truck on the highway would be sitting on it's axles!

[Pector55]

Think about it... if having a spring under constant load for extended periods of time would weaken them, every car and truck on the highway would be sitting on it's axles!

Ever see Rosie O'Donnel's limo?

[riverpirate]

Ever see Rosie O'Donnel's limo?

OMG ! LOL !!!

[Willtallica]

Kinda of funny how some people are so over obsessed with the condition of their toys that they actually concern themselves with the spring tension from inside a mag.

Mags loaded = pants up

Unloaded mags = pants down

[.FourthFifth]

This IS something that does come up, ALOT. So hopefully this can clear it up once and for all.

Ok, a magazine is very simple; whether it be a stagger stack or straight stack. It relies on a spring. A simple yet complex device. The spring is attached to the the top of the magazine by a plastic piece where the shell/round rests pressing downward. Each round loaded compresses the spring further.

Springs operate under Hooke's Law Of Elasticity which states:

"Ut tensio, sic vis" which in English is "As the extension, so the force."

The compression or extension is DIRECTLY proportional to the load.

F = -KX

Where:

{X} is the distance that the spring has been stretched or compressed away from the equilibrium position, which is the position where the spring would naturally come to rest (meters),
{F} is the restoring force exerted by the material (Newtons), and
K is the force constant (or spring constant). The constant has units of force per unit length (newtons per meter).

This law actually holds only approximately, and only when the deformation (extension or contraction) is small compared to the rod's overall length. For deformations beyond the elastic limit, atomic bonds get broken or rearranged, and a spring may snap, buckle, or permanently deform. Many materials have no clearly defined elastic limit, and Hooke's law can not be meaningfully applied to these materials.

So what all this means in a nutshell is;

"Contrary to popular belief, springs do not appreciably 'creep' or get 'tired' with age alone. Spring steel has a very high resistance to creep under normal loads. For instance, in a car engine, valve springs typically undergo about a quarter billion cycles of compression-decompression over the engine's life time and exhibit no noticeable change in length or loss of strength.

But for good measure, springs can be replaced when doing a valve job. The sag observed in some older automobiles suspension is usually due to the springs being occasionally compressed beyond their yield point, causing plastic deformation.

This can happen when the vehicle hits a large bump or pothole, especially when heavily loaded. Most vehicles will accumulate a number of such impacts over their working life, leading to a lower ride height and eventual bottoming-out of the suspension.

In addition, frequent exposure to road salt accelerates corrosion, leading to premature failure of the springs in the car's suspension. Weakening of a spring is usually an indication that it is close to complete failure."

So basically if you only load a magazine with no more than what it is meant to be loaded with, EI, 10 rounds. Then that is what the spring was created for, the optimal load. You are not stretching/compressing it beyond it's intended purpose and therefore will not warp or deform it. Especially since there is no way to really over extend or compress a spring in a magazine without disassembling it...so.

Keeping it loaded within the established bounds is perfectly fine.


I just dropped some science on y'all!

I'm like the non-Jewish version of Bill Nye.

[MOUNTAINORACLE]

I have used magazines in my Union Switch Model 1911 that were loaded in the mid 60's with no failures to feed. I only use GI ball ammo in the Union Switch and that ammunition is of WWII manufacture.

oracle