[Tony Mig]

I was originally "not" going to use my new XD-9 as a home defense weapon, but have since changed my mind, and it now resides in the lock-box near my bed.

I have three 15 round magazines, and loaded all three with 10 rounds each. My concern is.....will leaving these magazines loaded 24/7 have any adverse effect on the magazine springs....?
Can they be loaded and left with the full 15 rounds, or would this be pushing my luck......?

 

[Captain Ray]

Fill the magazines full.. they like that. You will find that for a while the full magazines will not want to eject from the pistol easily until the springs break in.. but leaving them full will soften them up...

The magazines are pretty tough.. you don't need to baby them at all.

Raymond

 

[Corey G]

Plus you can get a new spring cheap if/when it does fail, better to have the extra rounds if you need them.

 

[Captain Ray]

Hey Corey.. I don't think I have had a chance to say hello.. so hello..

You may be missing my point.. the mag springs will not fail, and you really do need to fill them to the max. The springs take a little bit of time to wear, and if you don't fill them to capacity, they will remain so tight that they become a problem.

Fill the mags up, let the springs break in.. you will see what I mean...

If you don't beleive me, ask any of the old guys around here.. I think they will tell you the same.

Raymond

 

[Eric_Oh]

i'm a newb too, and i'm gettin my first gun the xd 40 in a couple days. Reading your replies, i take it i should do the same and break in my mags by keeping them loaded full. HOw long should i be doing this? FOr a week? month?

 

[Captain Ray]

always....

The springs in your magazines, whether they are 10's, 12's, 15's, are designed to be depressed. They will function as they are designed. In 10 or 15 years, you may have to buy a new magazine.. I don't know.. I have never heard of anyone yet who has had a magazine spring fail due to fatigue.. I suppose it could happen.. but I doubt it.

Raymond

 

[Eric_Oh]

haha... i recieve that news with mixed feelings....


First reaction... "aw ****... that means it won't ever get any easier to squeeze in the last round into the mag"

delayed reaction... "the magazines will last me a long time!"

 

[Captain Ray]

LOL..

I forgot to say Hello to you Eric... Hello..

They get easier to load. The springs get a little softer.. some of the old farts around here use those little machines to help them load thier mags.. I just push them in with my thumb... I am relatively young yet.. and it has never been a problem.

Raymond

 

[Eric_Oh]

hey raymond...

Hearing that the springs will get a little softer is definitely good news. hehe... thanks.

 

[ReloaderFred]

People who worry about the springs in the magazines going bad because they leave them loaded for a week or two have never worked a job where they carried a gun everyday. Working guns have the magazines loaded continually, and the only time they are unloaded is when they unload them for qualification with practice ammunition. In all the years my department carried the S&W Model 59, 9mm, from 1974 to 1995, I never saw a magazine spring go bad. The only thing that ever happened to a magazine was the feed lips would get bent from dropping them on concrete. Some of those magazines were loaded, and kept loaded, for the full 19 years, and I'm still using some of them today, because when I retired, they allowed me to buy one of the guns and they gave me four magazines with it. That makes those magazines over 30 years old and they are still loaded and work perfectly.

The bottom line is, with modern high carbon steel springs, you will wear out before most of the magazine springs will. That's not to say it can't happen, and that some magazine springs don't need to be replaced, but the average shooter isn't going to ruin one by leaving the magazine loaded. To my mind, an empty magazine is about as much use as an empty canteen in the desert.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Gary G23]

I would load them with 14 rounds, mainly because it is easier to get the mag seated during a fast reload if they are slightly downloaded.

 

[Tony Mig]

At 47 years old, I'm still too young to start using those mag loaders, being a guitar player, and working man, my digits are still pretty strong. With that said, I do have a hard time getting that 15th round in there. I found that loading them with 10, tapping the mag on the shooting bench, then loading the last 5 helps as it seems to be more of an issue with the rounds not staggering right, then with the spring tension.

The reasons I asked this question is, I had heard this was an issue with the older 1911's, and being a wheel gun man that's not used to dealing with magazines, I should ask those who would know bet than I....

Thanks for the advice guys, for now I have 10 rounds of standard ball ammo in each of my 3 magazines. Today I plan to pick up a couple cases of Remington-UMC for the range, and will look at what personal defense rounds this supplier has to offer. As much as hollow points are viewed as excessive force in "The Democratic People's Republic of New Jersey", I prefer to use them in the home to avoid over penetration. I know our local law enforcement uses Speer Gold Dots, so if I also use the same, it will diffuse any liberal prosicutor's claims to excess force.....

 

[sjp2452]

I know our local law enforcement uses Speer Gold Dots, so if I also use the same, it will diffuse any liberal prosicutor's claims to excess force.....

Bingo!

My advice would be don't just leave the mags loaded--get a speedloader and as your watching TV just sit there and load, empty, load, empty, load, empty... Work the springs as much as possible. I'm an electrical engineer and not mechanical, so take this for what its worth...just seems to me that by working the magazine you'll wind up with a more even expansion force curve. I've had issues with my hi-cap .40 mag--the spring seems to push a little harder as the follower gets close to the top of the mag (as it empties). This has caused feeding problems, and I'm still not able to trust that mag (still using 10 rounders that have proven themselves). I'm hoping that by continually working the spring that the expansion force of the spring will even out.