Magazines-The Spring

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  • Ballstater98

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    Jan 18, 2015
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    "Keeping the mag loaded will wear out the spring." Recently there has been a bunch of talk on this subject. The recent school of thought is if you have a newer model firearm/magazine the spring will be fine (the main concern is the ammo). The main wear comes from loading and unloading.
    Then you have the other side saying make sure you unload to relax the spring and not wear it out. This is where someone chimes in saying that's why you should have a revolver.

    Anyone have any experiences or read these articles either way?
     

    Ballstater98

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    Jan 18, 2015
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    "Keeping the mag loaded will wear out the spring." Recently there has been a bunch of talk on this subject. The recent school of thought is if you have a newer model firearm/magazine the spring will be fine (the main concern is the ammo). The main wear comes from loading and unloading.
    Then you have the other side saying make sure you unload to relax the spring and not wear it out. This is where someone chimes in saying that's why you should have a revolver.

    Anyone have any experiences or read these articles either way?

    TheHossUSMC:

    http://youtu.be/QRw7yqz-3-s
     

    nakinate

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    May 1, 2013
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    Noblesville
    In the past, any time I had mag issues I disassembled the mag and let the spring stretch out for a couple days. It did the trick for me.
     

    Tactically Fat

    Grandmaster
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    Oct 8, 2014
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    Quality springs wear out via USE. Compression/decompression cycles.

    Sub-par springs, or mistreated springs can, will, and do see accelerated wear to the point of unusability and/or breakage.

    Issues with long-term storage of loaded mags aren't always associated with the spring. Depending on the quality of the mag, the construction material, and the capacity all come together to determine long-term loaded viability.

    A third-party polymer construction Glock mag may swell under the pressures of being loaded faster/more than a Glock factory mag with the metal sleeve insert.

    "Hi capacity" double-stack pistol mags exert a lot of pressures, in more than one direction, upon a mag body.

    Mag bodies can swell under this pressure. Feed lips can deform.

    If I knew I was going to be storing loaded M&P mags for a long term, I'd personally download by 1 or 2 cartridges to help alleviate the stresses on the mag body and the feed lips. And if I were to, say, perhaps have a stockpile of loaded PMAGS for an AR, I'd probably also keep them downloaded by 2-3 for the same reason.
     

    ATM

    will argue for sammiches.
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    This is why I jack my car up off the wheels and just let them hang for a few days several times per year, tired springs need the opportunity to rest.

    I need to find a way to provide a little vacation for my muffler springs as well, they're probably exhausted.
     
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    Jan 28, 2009
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    This is why I jack my car up off the wheels and just let them hang for a few days several times per year, tired springs need the opportunity to rest.

    I need to find a way to provide a little vacation for my muffler springs as well, they're probably exhausted.
    :+1:
     

    U.S. Patriot

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    Jan 30, 2009
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    Columbus
    Steel has something called tensile strength. If it exceeds it's ultimate tensile strength, it will weaken the steel. Take a magazine spring for example. Think of the magazine body as a keeper of sorts. It does not allow the spring to be over stressed. If you were to take the spring and compress or lengthen it beyond its ultimate tensile strength, it will never regain it's original length, and will be weakend. It also comes down to the quality of the steel, and if it was heat treated properly. Springs weaken over time do to work hardening. Think of a metal hanger, you can bend it, but if you keep doing so. Eventually it will break. Yet, you can hang something heavy on it, and it will not break. Will it weaken over time, yes. Just like a spring will weaken from being compressed and decompressed over and over. Much more quickly then having a constant load.
     

    HoughMade

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    Oct 24, 2012
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    Valparaiso
    This is why I jack my car up off the wheels and just let them hang for a few days several times per year, tired springs need the opportunity to rest.

    I need to find a way to provide a little vacation for my muffler springs as well, they're probably exhausted.

    Doesn't everyone?
     

    halfmileharry

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    Dec 2, 2010
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    South of Indy
    This is why I jack my car up off the wheels and just let them hang for a few days several times per year, tired springs need the opportunity to rest.

    I need to find a way to provide a little vacation for my muffler springs as well, they're probably exhausted.
    Check into the polymer buffers for your muffler springs. Some say they're snake oil but I swear by them...
     

    RustyHornet

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    Jun 29, 2012
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    Fort Wayne, IN
    This is why I jack my car up off the wheels and just let them hang for a few days several times per year, tired springs need the opportunity to rest.

    I need to find a way to provide a little vacation for my muffler springs as well, they're probably exhausted.

    While you're down there grease up those muffler bearings. That should be done once a month or every 1,000,000 miles, whichever comes first.
     

    LarryC

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    Jun 18, 2012
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    Frankfort
    As a retired Engineer that worked with coil springs a LOT in my 40 working years, I can state that leaving a spring "loaded" to it's normal working design will NOT in any way cause it to lose tension or fail. The only determinate failure mode is how many cycles the spring is subjected to as this does cause failure. Of course a properly designed spring will function for a million or more cycles.

    One of the products we made was the brake switch used in almost all GM cars and trucks. It has a coil spring that is compressed until the brake pedal is pushed. We had never heard of or seen ANY failures in many years of testing, and my 2 vehicles, one a 96 and the other a 2000 both have perfect brake switch function. A metallurgist will confirm these facts. I have read where WW2 1911 magazines were found fully loaded since the 1940's, these were placed in a gun and functioned perfectly.

    As others have stated, the only failure mode to be concerned with is the deformation of the plastic mags. With temperature changes, if they have little safety margin in the design, the feed lips can distort and or the mag body deform under the tension. I do not and would not unload any metal magazine to relieve tension on the mag spring.
     

    Gluemanz28

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    Mar 4, 2013
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    Elkhart County
    Fenway is having a little trouble with the springs on his car. It is sitting a little to low to the ground.


    ATM has his springs adjusted to the correct tension though.
     

    printcraft

    INGO Clown
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    Feb 14, 2008
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    Uranus
    As a retired Engineer that worked with coil springs a LOT in my 40 working years, I can state that leaving a spring "loaded" to it's normal working design will NOT in any way cause it to lose tension or fail. The only determinate failure mode is how many cycles the spring is subjected to as this does cause failure. Of course a properly designed spring will function for a million or more cycles.

    One of the products we made was the brake switch used in almost all GM cars and trucks. It has a coil spring that is compressed until the brake pedal is pushed. We had never heard of or seen ANY failures in many years of testing, and my 2 vehicles, one a 96 and the other a 2000 both have perfect brake switch function. A metallurgist will confirm these facts. I have read where WW2 1911 magazines were found fully loaded since the 1940's, these were placed in a gun and functioned perfectly.

    As others have stated, the only failure mode to be concerned with is the deformation of the plastic mags. With temperature changes, if they have little safety margin in the design, the feed lips can distort and or the mag body deform under the tension. I do not and would not unload any metal magazine to relieve tension on the mag spring.

    QFT
     
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