Does storing Glock clips full hurt the magazine spring?

Question

I have a Glock 23 (.40 S&W). I also own a 9mm in another cheaper manufacturer.

How should I store my magazines? I want a gun ready if needed for home defense. Should I store the magazines fully loaded or half-loaded? Does storing full magazines damage the springs or hurt the life of the magazine in anyway? Should I rotate out the loaded magazine with my spares?

Answer 1

Nope, storing magazines fully loaded does them no harm. It's the cycle of compression/decompression that wears down this type of spring, not constant compression (as with some other types of springs). Firearms magazines should always be stored completely full or completely empty, as there are the two states that are the least stressful for the springs. VERY long term storage of partially filled magazines could, in theory, weaken the springs to the point that they won't feed reliably when loaded beyond where they were stored...

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Does storing Glock clips full hurt the magazine spring?
I have a Glock 23 (.40 S&W). I also own a 9mm in another cheaper manufacturer.

How should I store my magazines? I want a gun ready if needed for home defense. Should I store the magazines fully loaded or half-loaded? Does storing full magazines damage the springs or hurt the life of the magazine...

Answer 3

Glock Clip

Answer 4

This is the deal on detachable magazines. Magazine springs DO NOT wear like people think they do. The problem is the interior metal walls of a magazine. You could load a magazine to full capacity and leave it stationary indefinitely and the springs will not "wear out" or "lose elsaticity". Problems occur when a magazine is loaded to capacity, carried, and never rotated. That is the source of the problem. Shells are cylindrical in nature and rotate even when compressed in a magazine. For comparison, look at a used police revolver and see the casehead marks made in the recoil shield. Shells in a magazine do the same thing that shells in a cylinder do when the gun is holstered and carried.
This movement causes the casehead area to mark up eventually mar enough to cause functioning problems. Springs go bad because people fiddle with them often while disassembling a magazine or because of a quality control problem at the manufacturing level. Magazine springs are not like recoil springs. They are more like the mainspring of a revolver. How many people do you know that have had to replace the mainspring in a revolver? What is the solution? Buy extra magazines and rotate them to spread the wear and relax. Stationary magazines do not incur spring wear!

Answer 5

The best way to retain serviceable life of your mags is to make sure you let them rest for 72 hours every 28 days. Now I carry a Glock 22 on duty five days a week. Full load 15 rounders, three of them. Every two weeks I pull my secondary set of mags out and load them up, and carry them for two weeks, than rotate again.

Now if you want to be turely sure of mag streangth; everytime you clean your weapon disasble the mags, and measure you spring leangth, once you have a 3%-5% decrease in spring leangth replace them.

If I were in your shoes I would be more concerned about your recoil spring. The reason is simply this, even with a weakoned spring in your mag (glock 23 holds either 10/13) you well still 7 rounds that well feed and function normaly before you are forced to reload. Now you have to remember the rule of seven. According to the FBI 93% of ALL gunfights happen at a range of seven yards or less, and last seven seconds or less. Now in that seven seconds normaly only 8 rounds TOTAL are discharged between two firearms. So I would be more concerned about that captured recoil spring since it well foul sooner than your mags unless you are abuseing them by droping on concret, fileing them, ect... Just my two bits.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

First, I see you corrected your own mistake, you are dealing with Glock MAGAZINES, not Clips. It is a device that has no moving parts, whereas a magazine DOES. This mistake, like calling a Suppressor a "SILENCER" is moronic lack of intelligence perpetuated by the idiots in Hollywierd and the rest of the media. In answer to your your question, storing a magazine even half loaded will, over a long period of time, cause the magazine spring to relax and weaken. Your best bet is to store all magazines not in use empty of ammo.
Whichever weapon you choose for household defense should be kept FULLY loaded, as well as a spare magazine, if you desire to have one handy (smart move). Buy several other spares(your G-23 will also accept the larger capacity G-22 .40 S&W mags,as well) and rotate them on a monthly basis, or whatever interval you see fit. This will allay any concern for possible magazine damage you may have.

Answer 8

Not too many years ago, a friend of my father died, and we found three full magazines from his service .45. They had been lost DEEP in his personal stuff from WW2, and one even had the lanyard hoop from the original 1911. I have used all three with no misfeeds, at all, even with the ammo that came in them! So, in this particular case, they had been fully loaded for somewhat over 40 years, maybe 50, and lost nothing. If you shoot regularly, you will take care of the problem soon enough.

Answer 9

I carry 4 Glock Mags fully loaded I have for ten years the only time they are not loaded, is when I shoot them empty. Then I fill them again. They have NEVER failed. I have shot countless thousands of rounds through them. I have been on SWAT for nine years and use this weapon daily.
If it concerns you unload your mags and load them when you need them, however you should not notice any failure due to weak springs from your Glock mags being fully loaded for any period of time.

Answer 10

Well, keep any magazine fully loaded for long enough, and eventually the magazine spring will start to lose its full elasticity on the account of being compressed all the time.

For best magazine spring life, and feeding reliability, you should rotate magazines every few months, and change your magazine springs every couple of years, or as otherwise required.