Keeping ammo in magazines: Bad idea? How long is too long?

[fickman]

Just curious.

I have a decent number of AR magazines. When I first got a set of them, I went ahead and loaded them all up. . . I guess I was in a zombie-paranoia mode. . . or was just thinking that they don't do a lot of good sitting on the shelf empty when I need them.

This led me to wonder:
- Is there a problem with keeping ammo in magazines? (For the ammo? For the mag?)

- What's the longest you'd keep rounds in a mag without shooting through them?

- How do you view your spare magazines? (Are they there so that you can have more ammo at the ready, or there merely to keep you in magazine supply when the ones in rotation eventually wear out?)

. . . it might be a while before I feel like using those rounds in the current climate because I don't exactly have a stockpile of ammo; I've considered unloading all but two mags (the one in the rifle and one extra to keep ready to go) and saving the springs on the others. Maybe I'm over-thinking it.

[Heartland Patriot]

Springs don't wear out from sitting compressed. They wear out from repeated compression/decompression cycles. Like taking a piece of metal and bending it back and forth until it snaps. Only springs are specially treated, so it takes a LOT longer.

[Ericstac]

yeah. just keep them loaded. Like HP said wear and tear is from use not from storage.. load them and leave them along and they will be good for a long time. You might want to cycle through the rounds every 6 months or so though.

[WildBill]

Here is a previous thread that tells you all you need to know about the care and feeding of magazine springs.

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=56050&hilit=spring+engineer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AEA]

Load 'em all up and buy more! Don't want any empty mags sitting around "relaxing" when the time comes........

[fickman]

Load 'em all up and buy more! Don't want any empty mags sitting around "relaxing" when the time comes........

Thanks, everybody! I'll just leave well enough alone and stick some rounds in the new P-Mags I might or might not have picked up before Christmas.

[Weg]

I keep my 30 rd. AR mags loaded with 25 rounds to keep the feed lips from spreading over time. That may be bull, but I had a relative who was in the Marines, and said they instructed to do so, which convinced me. My AK mags have always been fully loaded, never had a magazine of either type go bad in anyway, and this is with many constantly loaded over 20 years time.

[WildBill]

I keep my 30 rd. AR mags loaded with 25 rounds to keep the feed lips from spreading over time. That may be bull, but I had a relative who was in the Marines, and said they instructed to do so, which convinced me. My AK mags have always been fully loaded, never had a magazine of either type go bad in anyway, and this is with many constantly loaded over 20 years time.

Interesting point. This thread is mostly about springs, but it is quite possible that the sheet metal used for the construction of the rest of the magazine isn't up to par. I hadn't really thought about the rest of the construction, but it is definately something to consider.

Maybe Jumping Frog has some thoughts about this.

[Jumping Frog]

Maybe Jumping Frog has some thoughts about this.

Not really.

I've heard of cheaper plastic mags spreading at the lips. I've also heard of quality steel mags that sat loaded for 60 years since WWI and fired just fine. I think it is entirely mag-specific.

[WildBill]

one of my regular carry mags is a gi marked colt (1911) It came out of my great grandads remington rand 1911 that, as the story goes ...

Have you ever heard the saying that "they don't make them like they used to?"

[Jumping Frog]

- How do you view your spare magazines? (Are they there so that you can have more ammo at the ready, or there merely to keep you in magazine supply when the ones in rotation eventually wear out?)

I use all my mags regularly. That way I know they are functioning correctly.

The most common reason for semi-automatic function failures is a malfunctioning magazine.

I'd hate to be in a firefight and find that my first two mags worked fine but magazines 3 through 10 were non-functional.

[WildBill]

Maybe Jumping Frog has some thoughts about this.

Not really.

I've heard of cheaper plastic mags spreading at the lips. I've also heard of quality steel mags that sat loaded for 60 years since WWI and fired just fine. I think it is entirely mag-specific.

I don't know if Weg was talking about plastic or metal magazines, but I am thinking that a very thin sheet metal mag case that is not heat-treated could spread over time.

[Jumping Frog]

one of my regular carry mags is a gi marked colt (1911) It came out of my great grandads remington rand 1911 that, as the story goes ...

Have you ever heard the saying that "they don't make them like they used to?"

On the other hand, steel quality and heat treating today is far superior to what they had 100 years ago.

[texasmusic]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creep_(deformation)

As a rule of thumb, the effects of creep deformation generally become noticeable at approximately 30% of the melting point (as measured on a thermodynamic temperature scale such as kelvin or rankine) for metals

I'm convinced this is the principle that caused the worry over leaving springs loaded. We have a few ME's on here who debunked this a while ago. In theory, yes any material under any stress will experience creep, but you might have to live a few hundred years to be able to tell the difference.