Storing loaded magazines

[Excalibur01]

I wonder with the XDM mags, if I have extras like a couple that I don't immediately use, do I store them unloaded and I always carry at least 1 extra magazine, sometimes 2 with me when I leave the house. How long do I wait before I switch out the ammo if I never use them or do I swap magazines that are unloaded and put ammo into them and switch off every month?

[RichardSinFWTX]

These days you can leave your mags loaded indefinitely.

I just posted a similar question earlier this week. The majority opinion is that you don't need to empty your mags. That being said, you don't HAVE to. The springs in the mags get weaker only by repeated compression / decompression. If they stay loaded for long periods of time it's OK.

[ramitupurs84]

I was curious about the same thing myself with my pistol. I asked on another forum. The majority of people rotate them on a regular basis. If they practice which they do, they just load up another for carry. Best way to check for failures in practice versus setting a limit on time. Now a person said they had a mag loaded for 5 years and it cycled fine when they shot it years ago. It was a Glock and not our beasts. I am sure everyone is going to have a opinion, but it's the most logical explaination when we put it into the context you and I had asked.

[Excalibur01]

Well I have 3 19 rounders for my XDM, I took out the ammo for one because I carry 1-2 on me at all times plus the compact mag. My 1911 I keep at home, I unloaded the factory mag that came with it but I Chip McCormick and the Wilson mags I kept loaded.

But if it's ok to keep my XDM mags all loaded months even without fail, it's fine. I was under the impression that a spring compressed for long periods of time will stay that way after a time.

[F4injected]

Originally Posted by RichardSinFWTX

These days you can leave your mags loaded indefinitely.

I just posted a similar question earlier this week. The majority opinion is that you don't need to empty your mags. That being said, you don't HAVE to. The springs in the mags get weaker only by repeated compression / decompression. If they stay loaded for long periods of time it's OK.

How do you know that the springs get weaker only by repeated compression and decompression? Was the some scientific test done?

If there was, can you link us to where you found this out?

Originally Posted by Excalibur01

Well I have 3 19 rounders for my XDM, I took out the ammo for one because I carry 1-2 on me at all times plus the compact mag. My 1911 I keep at home, I unloaded the factory mag that came with it but I Chip McCormick and the Wilson mags I kept loaded.

But if it's ok to keep my XDM mags all loaded months even without fail, it's fine. I was under the impression that a spring compressed for long periods of time will stay that way after a time.

I thought the exact same thing. That's why I rotate my mags every so often.

[Bonehead]

I have a last round failure to feed from time to time. I thought it was a out of spec round with a malformed hollow point but it happened last time out with FMJ so I am thinking its the magazine.

I have right around 500 rounds though it. maybe a bit more. maybe 600 ish.

[john_bud]

Originally Posted by Excalibur01

Well I have 3 19 rounders for my XDM, I took out the ammo for one because I carry 1-2 on me at all times plus the compact mag. My 1911 I keep at home, I unloaded the factory mag that came with it but I Chip McCormick and the Wilson mags I kept loaded.

But if it's ok to keep my XDM mags all loaded months even without fail, it's fine. I was under the impression that a spring compressed for long periods of time will stay that way after a time.

You are under a false impression, sir. Springs fail from cycling, not constant load. You don't expect your car's springs to fail while the car is just sitting there in the parking lot, do you? So why would you expect the mag spring to fail while it is just sitting there?

[stuz92]

Originally Posted by F4injected

How do you know that the springs get weaker only by repeated compression and decompression? Was the some scientific test done?

If there was, can you link us to where you found this out?

I believe it's call metal fatigue:

Long ago, engineers discovered that if you repeatedly applied and then removed a nominal load to and from a metal part (known as a "cyclic load"), the part would break after a certain number of load-unload cycles, even when the maximum cyclic stress level applied was much lower than the UTS, and in fact, much lower than the Yield Stress (UTS and YS are explained in Stress and Strain). These relationships were first published by A. Z. Wöhler in 1858.
They discovered that as they reduced the magnitude of the cyclic stress, the part would survive more cycles before breaking. This behavior became known as "FATIGUE" because it was originally thought that the metal got "tired". When you bend a paper clip back and forth until it breaks, you are demonstrating fatigue behavior

Everytime you load and unload a spring , you cause fatigue. May take years but the spring will lose strength over time.

[F4injected]

Originally Posted by stuz92

I believe it's call metal fatigue:

Long ago, engineers discovered that if you repeatedly applied and then removed a nominal load to and from a metal part (known as a "cyclic load"), the part would break after a certain number of load-unload cycles, even when the maximum cyclic stress level applied was much lower than the UTS, and in fact, much lower than the Yield Stress (UTS and YS are explained in Stress and Strain). These relationships were first published by A. Z. Wöhler in 1858.
They discovered that as they reduced the magnitude of the cyclic stress, the part would survive more cycles before breaking. This behavior became known as "FATIGUE" because it was originally thought that the metal got "tired". When you bend a paper clip back and forth until it breaks, you are demonstrating fatigue behavior

Everytime you load and unload a spring , you cause fatigue. May take years but the spring will lose strength over time.

hmmmmm interesting... I'll have to try to test this theory out. It goes completely against what I would have thought, but sounds very legitimate. I'll have to ask an engineering friend to translate that website into plain old English for me.

Thanks for explaining!

[Excalibur01]

But is it healthy to a mag to leave it loaded forever?