Popere

I've been wondering, does it hurt the spring in a magazine to leave it loaded all the time? What do ya'll think?

redsox3624

to a verry little extent it does. but no leaving it loaded won't hurt the spring.

frizzellr

Studies say no.

johnch

I leave a pistol loaded by my bed ( locked up) .It has a 14 rnd mag ,I load 12 just to be sure.

Wingbone

I read an article on that very subject. The author claimed, and had research to prove, that if you kept your mags loaded with fewer than the max. capacity that there would be no noticable affect on the mag spring. I've got 3 mags for my Sig. just to make sure I rotate them in the house gun, but keep them "under-loaded" so to speak.

USMC PMI

The military also does not load their mags. to full capicity, the 30 round M-16 mag is typically loaded with 28 rounds. I have two handguns that stay loaded to full cap. -1 round, never had a problem. If you are really concerned you can purchase extra power springs for fairly cheap and they are simple to install.

Popere

Thanks guys for your input. I've been keeping my mags full to capacity, but after hearing everyones thoughts, I will go with the -1, or -2 theory. Thanks again.

SgtAL

Honestly... I think it really depends on what kind of magazines you use. If you buy higher end it goes without saying that they will work better and shouldnt require underloading.

bigbulls

It would literally take many many many years to see any ill effects on keeping a magazine fully loaded.

Actual repeated use will weaken one faster than just having it compressed because you are working the steel over and over and that takes 10 - 15 years before that happens.

Keep your magazines fully loaded. You'll probably loose it before it would need a new spring.

gorse

Just for clarification.... the primary reason that the US military does not load M16/ M4 magazines fully (28 instead of 30 rounds) is a feed jamb issue, not long -term storage. For whatever reason, which has never been fully addressed (by re-design), the M16/M4 magazines tend to feed-jam on the first round if loaded to capacity. This was true from the beginning, when the weapons were first issued, with 10 round mags. Later, it was found that the 30 round mags often gave the same problem. In fact, many "civilian" versions of this rifle family have this problem as well - such as the Bushmaster. Not all of the rifles do it all of the time - but it is enough of a problem that the military evolved a policy of under-loading the mags.... way back during the Viet Nam war.
The original aluminum magazines designed for the M16/M4 rifles (and never re-designed) are far from perfect, you see. In addition, they are much more prone to damage (and subsequent feed problems) than steel or polymer mags.