Leave magazines full? School me...

[C-dub]

Before my knee went, shot IDPA at least once a week and cycled my carry mags right along with all my others.

During this period how often did replace any of those springs?

[RPB]

Purely anecdotal but I left some magazines loaded for 20 years. They worked flawlessly.

loaded some Glock mags in 1989, worked fine in 2010

[Superman]

Lots of great info...thanks for the confirmation guys!

[jimlongley]

Before my knee went, shot IDPA at least once a week and cycled my carry mags right along with all my others.

During this period how often did replace any of those springs?

I replaced three springs in years of IDPA shooting; and two were on brand new mags which got the whole treatment, new follower, baseplate, and spring, because neither was reliable right out of the box, including one that came with my Colt; and one mag that disassembled when ejected onto a hard surface and the spring got stepped on. I have several spare mag springs in my "possibles" box, at least one per gun that either I or my wife owns, and a couple of others in my spares kit at home.

I have also replaced or modified springs on mags that were brand new because I felt the tension was too high (most often) or too low (rarely). Now I have a device made by a friend which allows me to compare spring tension right in the mag, but since I don't shoot much anymore . . .