question about magazine fed rifles

[subway]

next week I will be taking delivery of my first semi-auto rifle and its is also my first rifle with a detachable magazine. (Ruger PC9 which takes standard Ruger 9mm pistol mags).

just for discussion purposes, lets say I wanted to use this carbine as my primary ‘home defense’ firearm. with no children EVER in the home, I’d like to keep the rifle loaded with a full mag and with a full spare mag strapped to the butt. how much should I worry about permanently compressing the mag springs by leaving those two mags loaded? Should I swap out the two mags once per week with two others that have been unloaded during the previous week? other suggestions?

thanks

[whatever]

I hear those are nice rifles. The 9mm is supposed to be more accurate than the .40 cal.

Many have written that the spring gets weak from regular use, meaning unloading and loading. If it is just compressed for storage it doesn't wear out as fast. So swapping them, rotating, etc, will only speed up their wear. At least that's what I've read.

[Stanze]

+1, compressing and expanding the spring wears it out, not leaving it compressed.

[vonsmith]

A common practice is to leave out 1 or 2 rounds so that the spring isn't compressed to the max. After a couple of years it wouldn't be a bad idea to put new springs in. If it doesn't get much use make sure to fully clean the gun and lubricate it at least once a year so that it doesn't gum up. During an emergency is a bad time to find out something is stuck.

Just my 2 cents.


=vonsmith=

[daskraut]

shoulda got a Kel-tec SU16, probably the same price. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y272/daskraut/HPIM1010.jpg

[blkA4alb]

Why? Maybe he has a 9mm and wants to share ammo, or maybe he doesn't have standard capacity AR mags. He wasn't asking you to tell him what rifle he should've gotten.

In any case, as the others have said leaving the mags compressed will not wear them out, usage will.

[EBWhite]

The .223 round is not great for hom defense either based on the fact that the round goes thru walls and could cause harm to someone else. 9mm is great. I would have stuck to a shotgun or handgun in my opinion but to each his own.

[DrjonesUSA]

next week I will be taking delivery of my first semi-auto rifle and its is also my first rifle with a detachable magazine. (Ruger PC9 which takes standard Ruger 9mm pistol mags).

just for discussion purposes, lets say I wanted to use this carbine as my primary ‘home defense’ firearm. with no children EVER in the home, I’d like to keep the rifle loaded with a full mag and with a full spare mag strapped to the butt. how much should I worry about permanently compressing the mag springs by leaving those two mags loaded? Should I swap out the two mags once per week with two others that have been unloaded during the previous week? other suggestions?

thanks


1) Magazines (and everything else) only wear out with USE. Simply loading a mag and leaving it that way does not harm it in any way. The only thing that will wear out a magazine spring is USE; loading and unloading it.


2) IMO, a pistol-caliber carbine is a bad idea for home defense. It has the size of a rifle but with absolutely NONE of the power behind it.

If you want to use 9mm for home defense, buy a good pistol.

If you want to use a rifle-sized gun for home defense, buy a shotgun (preferably) or a real rifle.

Basically, if you are going to carry a rifle-sized gun, it had better shoot a rifle bullet.

[bwiese]

The .223 round is not great for hom defense either based on the fact that the round goes thru walls and could cause harm to someone else. 9mm is great. I would have stuck to a shotgun or handgun in my opinion but to each his own.

Where do you get this BS, EBWhite?

Police depts all over are switching to 223 carbines for CQB and ditching their 9mm carbines for precisely this safety issue.

Overpenetration with 9mm and other pistol-caliber rounds is a significant issue, even with special bullet types. By contrast, 223 rounds like Hornady TAP radically reduce overpenetration risk in indoor environments - and do a better job of bringing down the bad guy.

Don't believe the ballistic crap gunshops give out, or the less-informed rave about on web forums. http://www.firearmstactical.com is a good starting point for reading...

[DrjonesUSA]

Where do you get this BS, EBWhite?

Police depts all over are switching to 223 carbines for CQB and ditching their 9mm carbines for precisely this safety issue.

Overpenetration with 9mm and other pistol-caliber rounds is a significant issue, even with special bullet types. By contrast, 223 rounds like Hornady TAP radically reduce overpenetration risk in indoor environments - and do a better job of bringing down the bad guy.

Don't believe the ballistic crap gunshops give out, or the less-informed rave about on web forums. http://www.firearmstactical.com is a good starting point for reading...


.223 will penetrate a LOT, just as most handgun bullets will.

I personally haven't seen any performance reviews of special ammo like TAP, but would be curious to see how much it penetrates walls.

If anyone cares to send a box of ammo to www.theboxotruth.com , he'll test it for us. :)