How long can a magazine be at the ready?

[winnre]

Take a magazine. 30 round 5.56mm, 8 round .45, whatever you got. Now load it full. Now put it away.

Now come back in ten years, or twenty. Assuming the mag has been kept clean and dry and had no rust, etc, what are the odds that it will function perfectly, assuming it was perfect to begin with? How long does it take the springs to get horked up? Are expensive mags better at this than cheapie ones? can you store them fully loaded for one year or two with no issues? At what point would you not be comfortable doing this? Have any of you stored ammo this way for any length of time?

[sammy]

I would bet it would not run reliably if it sat for longer than 10 years.

A while back I tried the same kind of experiment. I loaded a brand new Wilson 47D mag with 8 rounds. After 5 years I took it apart and it was compressed by about 40%. Keep in mind I never cycled a single round. When I took the mag to the range it ran fairly well. A few FTF's in 100 rounds. After I replaced the spring it ran great.

[paul0660]

Some people say a compresses spring does not wear at all, and it is cycling that wears them out.

Doesn't make sense to me.

[MIAMIbaseballer]

I've had my G21 mags loaded since day 1 (8 years ago) and I have no problems with them...

[repubconserv]

cycling wears out springs.

So compressed? forever assuming good conditions.

[Montu]

Some people say a compresses spring does not wear at all, and it is cycling that wears them out.

Doesn't make sense to me.

will the springs on a car wear out if the car just sits in the garage?

*as long as you don't over compress the springs there should not be any fatigue

[Citadelgrad87]

I read an article in the 1990s about this, the author found some GI .45 magazines which he decided were his fathers, from WWII, in a footlocker in the attic, IIRC. They were wrapped in oil cloth.

He fired something like 4-6 magazines worth without incident.

One thing to keep aware of is that the powder can degrade, I would not trust powder that is 10 years old for self defense purposes.

[winnre]

In my early Army days as an MP we carried 7 round mags in our 45s but only loaded 5 rounds in order to not compress the springs too much. Logical?

Good point about the age of the bullets though, when they get to be 5 years old I will have a really fun time shooting thousands of 556 rounds!

[Det]

Some people say a compresses spring does not wear at all, and it is cycling that wears them out.

Doesn't make sense to me.

^This^ The energy is stored in the spring when compressed and released when extended. Every single time the spring is compressed and extended, its effective life is reduced. So it's not the compression alone, It's the compression and extension.

Think of a car in the driveway. Parked, the springs might last 10 yrs. Drive it 100,000 miles and in two years they need replacing.

[mike_the_wino]

I had a Berretta 92FS 2/3 full sitting for about 2 years. When I unloaded it as a pre-range function check, manually at home, the spring was weak. Pulled it out of service. Reminds me, I need to order springs...

Keep in mind that magazine is almost 20 years old and had seen some use early on in it's life.

[winnre]

Can you take out the springs, stretch them, and all is well again?

[RazzB7]

If you can stretch it, it's not a spring anymore.

[BruinGuy]

Last year my mother-in-law found an Astra 300 that belonged to her father in an old handbag in a closet in her house. He passed in 1982. She brought it to me to examine, where I found the single-stack .32 ACP magazine full in the gun and two additional full magazines.

I stripped and oiled the gun (it was in nearly perfect shape - only the slightest oxidation on it, so that's not bad for being left in a handbag in a closet for over 30 years) and shot multiple mags without a single failure from that magazine. The ammo worked fine, too (it was Remington fmj, from the looks of it probably purchased in the 60s or early 70s).

I've personally kept the OEM magazine for my Hi-Power filled at all times, and use it every time I shoot the pistol, and it still functions flawlessly. I've owned that pistol since 1993.

Yes, this is anecdotal, but if that inexpensive single stack mag from a 50s-vintage Spanish pistol can still function fine, I think most modern magazines would too even after years of compression.

Cartridges should also last a lot longer than 10 years and still function reliably, unless they are exposed to extremes in temperature or liquids or other substances that would affect them adversely. Just keep it stored in a dry place.

[Steve1968LS2]

Constant tension doesn't kill a spring and more than being contantly relaxed does.. compressing and relaxing repeatedly does.

So, leave it empty, or leave it loaded.. either way will be the same.

[xpbprox]

cycling wears out springs.

So compressed? forever assuming good conditions.

Cycling and compression both wear it out, so no, not forever