Magazine Spring Life

[Dolphin]

Approx how long could you leave a magazine fully loaded before the spring is affected? How do you know when it's time to replace the spring, do you have to wait for a malfunction?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[buckeye .45]

Well, as I understand it as long as the spring is maintained in one state, like loaded or empty, and not constantly changed between the two, they are fine. It is the constant changes in compression that wear them out. Some on here have had mag's loaded for decades that have worked.

If you run a search you can probably find more info.

[P95Carry]

Indeed - we have had this covered once or twice in quite some detail so - try a search and see if you can find more.

General concensus is that modern mag' springs are good - like reliable and long lived. Chances are you can regard your gun's mag springs as lasting the life of the gun - and then some maybe.

[Dolphin]

Thank you both! I'm new to this site, In the future I will do a search before asking questions.

[P95Carry]

No problem - do feel free to pose questions, that is very much why we are here True tho - it can be most handy to check out searches too as there is a wealth of info buried within these hallowed walls

If you have no luck finding other info on this do feel free to continue in this thread.

[cockedlocked01]

I think it also depends on the manufacturer. I have an old AMT .380 back-up & the mag springs don't hold up well, at all. OTOH, I just sold a Glock 21 that had all 3 mags full for it's 11 yr. life with me, other than shooting it a minimum of every other month, & they are still fine.

[ltc-usa]

Leave the mags loaded. It does not hurt them.

[Gary Brommeland]

For the sake of the new guys who probably have not seen me post this story before, I'll tell it again: About ten or so years ago I happened to be in a gunshop when they were unpacking a fresh shipment of CorBon. This got me to thinking that my carry ammo was old and needed to be replaced. I stepped out onto the range to burn off the old stuff, and my Glock went Bang!, then "click". I did a "tap, rack, bang" drill, but got a "tap, rack, click" instead.
To make a long story short - my mag spring had broken, leaving me unknowingly carrying a single shot pistol for some time.
This has also happend to two of my customers that I am aware of- one with another Glock, one with a 1911. The moral of the story is that while modern springs ARE very good, anything mechanical can fail. ALWAYS, ALWAYS carry a spare mag on your person - you may not need the rounds, but you may need to fix a mag related problem.

[Fragman]

For the sake of the new guys who probably have not seen me post this story before, I'll tell it again: About ten or so years ago I happened to be in a gunshop when they were unpacking a fresh shipment of CorBon. This got me to thinking that my carry ammo was old and needed to be replaced. I stepped out onto the range to burn off the old stuff, and my Glock went Bang!, then "click". I did a "tap, rack, bang" drill, but got a "tap, rack, click" instead.
To make a long story short - my mag spring had broken, leaving me unknowingly carrying a single shot pistol for some time.
This has also happend to two of my customers that I am aware of- one with another Glock, one with a 1911. The moral of the story is that while modern springs ARE very good, anything mechanical can fail. ALWAYS, ALWAYS carry a spare mag on your person - you may not need the rounds, but you may need to fix a mag related problem.

Oh my. I guess thats one of the situations where shot placement is of particular value!

[Bark'n]

Yes... reloads aren't always for the bullets! Always at least one reload, sometimes I have 3 reloads. And then there's the second gun too.

[maclean3]

I have mags dedicated for carry and others for range use. I'll cycle through the carry mags once at most when I'm at the range when carry ammo needs to be rotated but all other shooting is done with my "range" mags. It saves wear and tear on the "serious social work" equipment while still allowing for function checks.

For my 1911 I use Wilson #47D for carry and CMC Shooting Stars for the range. For other guns marking the baseplates works well to keep them all sorted out.

I prefer having two or three dedicated carry mags and at least four others for range fun. FWIW, I've had my 1911 CMCs for 7 or 8 years and they've recently started having FTF problems on the last round. Time for new Wolff springs in those.
Jack

[TechGuy]

Approx how long could you leave a magazine fully loaded before the spring is affected? How do you know when it's time to replace the spring, do you have to wait for a malfunction?

As I often state on my posts; "I am not a gunsmith nor do I play one on TV." But IMHO, do NOT wait until failure to replace a spring. It could be just when you need it the most does it fail. The cost of a spring is minimal in the over all gun ownership costs. So every couple of years or so swap them out, it never hurts. The range owner here puts new springs in all his guns every New Years but then he does get a little better price than me. . . . but he has more guns too.

[phaed]

had a glock model 22 with both it's stock mags loaded since 1992 and never had 1 problem.

[Gary Brommeland]

I had the mag spring of a Glock 17 break, leaving me carrying a single shot pistol (unknowingly).

I am now a big believer in Wolff springs and spare magazines.