I was thinking about this last night as I came home from a delicious dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I was unloading my magazine out of my SR9C and thinking, how many carriers unload their mags every night before bed? I use my super x defender for home defense. Thinking, is it bad to leave them loaded, I mean I could see maybe weakening the spring or just simply not wanting their mag loaded at all times. Thoughts ?
Daily loading and unloading of a magazine will wear the spring more quickly than simply leaving the mag loaded.
The only time you'll find any of my mags unloaded are when I've emptied them at the range or when cleaning them.
I leave mine loaded. I have 10 mags and typically have 5 loaded. Then after a few months, I swap them out for the other 5. Although I have had mags loaded for a year and they were fine too.
By "those guys" do you mean the ones that ask the most basic of questions without first using the search function to see if it's already been covered?
No disrespect intended, but if are going to ask stuff like this, expect some folks to challenge you with a little bit of self sufficiency. Nobody on DC minds helping out and answering even the most basic of questions, but searching out other posts on the same topic is just courteous, and between 'keeping magazines loaded' and 'carrying with a bullet in the chamber', we could almost dedicate an entire forum to the rehashing of these two topics.
Like I said, you'll get advice from the "experts" here going both ways. How many loadings and unloadings would it actually take to wear out a mags spring? Probably a lot. I don't know; I've never had to replace a mag spring due to wear, only a couple that rusted. You can follow the advice of the people who specialize in making gun springs, or you can pick and choose the advice of everyone here until you find the one that you want.
Leaving them loaded all the time is fine, same goes for unloaded. Needlessly going back and forth is what kills the springs. Since it makes no sense to leave them UNloaded, just keep all your mags loaded.
By those guys I mean the ones that jump at the chance to leave an unneeded arrogant comment... Keep them to yourself. And to everyone else thank you for the input, I will keep my JHP loaded with my critical duty ammo and use my other mags for target practice!
No need to unload the mags. Mag springs are tough and they hold their tension for a long time. As already mentioned, frequent load and unloading will wear out a mag spring faster than just leaving them loaded.
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