Ammo in magazines?

[Wyatt]

My apoligies if this has been covered a hundred times but my search turned up little response.

The question is should I keep all my magazines, strippers, en-blocs, etc full for storage? Will this weaken the springs?

Thanks!

[emc002]

My apoligies if this has been covered a hundred times but my search turned up little response. Yep, it has.

The question is should I keep all my magazines, strippers, en-blocs, etc full for storage?
Up to you, but they won't load themselves and the zombies won't help you load.

Will this weaken the springs? No.

See responses above.

[Black Majik]

It wont weaken if left in a static state. Springs wear from use. Leave em' loaded.

[AJD]

Springs wear much more from use but they can weaken from being compressed over time. Single stack magazine springs like 1911s and such are less prone to this.
This is from the Wolff gunspring website http://www.gunsprings.com/1ndex.html

Magazine springs in semi-auto pistols are one of the most critical springs and the subject of much debate and concern. Magazines which are kept fully loaded for long periods of time, such as law enforcement applications, will generally be subject to more fatigue than the weekend shooter's magazine springs which are loaded up only when shooting. Magazine design and capacity also affect the longevity of the spring. Older designs where maximum capacity was not the goal such as the 7 round 1911 Colt magazines will last for years fully loaded. There was a lot of room for a lot of spring which reduced the overall stress on the spring. In recent hi-capacity magazines, the magazines were designed to hold more rounds with less spring material. This puts more stress on the spring and will cause fatigue at a faster rate. Unloading these magazines a round or two will help the life of the spring. Rotating fully loaded magazines will also help the problem somewhat but is not always practical. In applications where the magazine must be kept loaded, a high quality magazine spring such as Wolff extra power magazine springs, will provide maximum life. Regular shooting will verify reliability and regular replacement of magazine springs will provide the best defense against failure from weak magazine springs.

[Wyatt]

good info guys, thanks for the responses !

[Heavy_Grinder]

One would think that leaving a compressed spring of any type compressed for a very long time would somehow weaken it.

In this case magazines, I can tell you from first hand experience that if you were to keep a fully loaded magazine loaded for a number of years, it will still feed and function properly as if you loaded it yesterday.

[sloguy]

thats bull, springs are not fatigued by being under load, its movement or movement beyond their range of compression that hurts them.

however, magazines can have the oil evaporate out slowly, or gum up as the oil dries out and cause what seems like a weak spring. clean em and re oil em and that "weakened" spring will be good as it ever was.