[scjohn]

I have heard from quite a few people that keeping the magazine full of bullets (I own a XD-9 4 inch, so that would be 15 bullets) is bad for the magazine. People ahve said that you should only keep 10 bullets in there, so that the spring does not become worn too badly. To what extent is this rumor/myth/fact true? Any feedback would be appreciated. Also, I pointed out that police officers leave their mag's full, of course... so is it bad to do so? I heard it may jam the feed if the mag is full too long and the spring does not have it's original strength.

 

[Delija]

I heard it may jam the feed if the mag is full too long and the spring does not have it's original strength.

Others here would certainly know better than I. But I always thought springs get worn from expansion and contraction. Being compressed, or uncompressed, as far as I know doesn't lessen their original strength.

If I am wrong, I am sure others will chime in. I keep all my magazines fully loaded.

Peace,
D.

 

[theanswriz42]

I posted a thread with a similar question a while ago. The consensus was that, as delija said, the expansion and contraction is what causes wear on the spring, not the being depressed.

 

[bluebomberx]

Someone needs to send this to Mythbusters... I'd like to hear a final answer on this. I keep my carry magazines filled and only use my 10 round magazines for the range.

 

[Houndawg75]

It a myth started long, long ago. Some of the old timers still swear that the mags last longer if you download by 2 rounds and by not doing so your mags won't feed right. The first time I heard this was when I was in the Navy. We were only allowed to put 6 rounds in the 1911's. Most of the Gunners Mates that I knew thought it was a bunch of bull, but so far this theory or myth has been yet to be proven true or false. I don't know of anybody who is going to take a full mag and one downloaded by 2 and let them sit for years and years just to see which one fails first. My thought is, Carry as much as it will hold, so I've got 13 ready at all times, an unlucky number for the BG's.

 

[ichy_trigger]

I never understood the reasoning of buying or having a 15 round mag so you could put 10 rounds only into it. What the hell do you put in a 10 round mag, 5 rounds????

Sorry, dont mean to rant but even if it was to wear a spring out, what would it run you for a new one, $3.00??? I have mags that are ex LEO mags that are like 10 years old, they still work fine and have been used over and over and over again, sure they are weaker than new ones but I would still trust my life on them down to the very last round.

Rant off...sorry.

 

[chupacabrachus]

My mags are fully loaded @ all times (w/ the obvious exceptions). Whether it's best to keep 10 in a 12 round mag is better or not, i don't know. From what I've heard, in the military, m16 mags do not get fully loaded (feel free to correct me, I'm going on my roommate's personal experience). I think due to feeding problems if they are. I have yet to encounter feeding problems from a full mag, but then again, the XD mag isn't made from cheaply stamped out metal and tack-welded together.

 

[ichy_trigger]

but then again, the XD mag isn't made from cheaply stamped out metal and tack-welded together.

Wanna bet? Did you think they machine them from solid barstock?...lol
Back when I was in the Army, everyone I was with including myself kept our M-16 mags fully loaded. I did read others talking about this but I think the problem was the Vietnam era mags.

 

[JimLongley]

I keep my carry mags fully loaded all of the time, but I used to cycle them, three for carry and the others empty, regularly because I shot almost every weekend.

I had shoulder surgery in April and have not shot much since then, although I am itching to get back to it, so none of my mags have been cycled in months. I do not expect any problems.

I order my magazine rebuild kits in sets of five or ten and do rebuild my mags as soon as they show any signs of loss of reliability.

 

[40SWXDSHOOTER]

I work for an indpendent testing lab, and we have never tested mag springs"cause guns are bad mm kay" but we do test alot of other springs. They are compressed and the weight recorded, then set up in a press and ran through a set number of cycles and rechecked. This can go on through thousands of cycles, and from what I have been told by the engineers I work with that it is the cycles that that take their toll on the springs. I had asked for just this reason. I had always emptied my mags between stages and when I was done at the end of a match, now I just leave them loaded until the next match. The only time I empty my carry mags is when I shoot, or clean the lint outof them.

 

[retired]

Look at it from leo point of view (well former). We all carry our mags fully loaded and one in the chamber (I can't imagine any leo not carrying one in the chamber, even tho I know it looks cool to see/hear the officer in the movie rack one in the chamber).

I was issued my 15 round 92f Beretta mags in Jan 1990 and always kept them loaded. Now that I'm retired, I don't, but only because I carry the XD ccw. BTW I can now carry 16 rounds in the mags and I'm guessing that's due to age, but they still shoot fine and I've never had 1 FTF/FTE.

 

[demented]

In 1985 a friend and I were shooting our 1911's behind his familys home. The friends Father came to see what we were shooting and mentioned something about having some magazines he'd brought back from WW-2. He found them, they had been loaded for at least forty years, we slapped them in and not only did they work just fine, the ammo did too. Magazine springs are mechanical mules, work them hard they can take it!

 

[slowburn]

I have extra mags of 22lr that have been loaded for at least 5years, no worse than the ones cycled, I have garage door springs that are over 20 years old.......still strong, a few ball point pens that have be around a few years still click nicely, springs in our water faucets over 10 years compressed still working and my kids pogo stick is one handed down over the years, beat to crap, still pogos fine. Buy some extra mags every month that will solve your delema

 

[XD-9Sub68]

Seem to remember one of the Gun mags, had an article on just this,
They found a magazine fully loaded with 45 , think it was like 50 yrs old
was.

they took it out and it shot fine,

The cycling of the springs is what will wear them out.

just my 2 cents

 

[ninja-xd]

My Paw finaly turned over his Gov't 1911 to me, he recovered it in a plain crash in Alaska during the Korean Conflict. He gave me the gun, gun belt, mag pouch and two mags that were still full loaded from that time. I removed the old rounds, sprayed the mags down with Break Free and they perform like they were brand new! So if these things were loaded full for at least 50 years and they still perform so well I wouldn't have a second thought about craming ALL 15 rounds into that mag.

 

[flipya]

This neatly matches what I have been wondering . . . If you are using your XD for home defense (along with other things), any worry about leaving it sitting with a full magazine? (I don't mean safety-wise - the gun is secured.) I mean should I be rotating my magazines every week/month/year? I've always had a wheel gun - and I know that is going to fire every time, even if I don't touch it for 5 years. I've been told that the spring in the magazine will lose tension after a while - and then you have a gun that doesn't feed when you need it most. Thoughts? Codicil to this - I WILL be firing it fairly regularly - but I know a month might go by when I don't pick it up. Can I leave that magazine fully loaded for long periods of time?

 

[Blown330]

Never had a problem and my mags stay loaded to full capacity. With being back in school again I don't get to the range but once a month or so and the mags stay loaded during the time between. Just keep them clean with a little silicone on the follower and they run smooth and are easy to load.

 

[MeanStreaker]

Interesting to see someone mention "it might be with the Vietnam era mags" as my Dad told me that they never kept their M-16 magazines fully loaded because they saw too many malfunctions when people came back from the rear and hadn't fired their weapons or cycled magazines in awhile. Logically, I would have to agree with everyone here that says keeping the spring fully loaded or unloaded shouldn't have a negative impact on the characteristics of the spring... but I also wonder what improvements could be made to something as simple as a magazine in 35 years as I fully trust my Dad's judgement on this topic.

Hope this discussion keeps going and we can get some definite answers.

 

[ganesh]

We always kept our mags for our m16s and m9s fully loaded. Never heard of a problem because of that. One thing that is the same today as it was back in the vietnam era.....you could set your rifle down in your tent and leave it be for a week. And good chance that dust and sand would be all in it. Then again yer livin in a tent, heh. :wink: Not only would sand and such have been a problem back then, but powder type was switched when They took over Mr. Stoners idea for the next vision of military firearms. This also was a factor. They are still using vietnam era firearms and magazines for training new recruits. These are pretty beat up Bakealite models. Only problems I seen were operator error with them.

Sorry this info is a bit off of what was asked. In my opinion, i wouldnt worry about it in any magazine, especially ones from more modern firearms.

 

[CattleDog]

The subject of springs:

Think of the oldest high usage spring you can... It can be an old car or tractor, whatever. They have millions of cycles on them and are stored under compression. Valve springs, solenoids, brakes, carb all exposed to bad conditions and years and years of usage.

This was using 80 to 100 year old steel technology. Ask yourself if you have ever seen a mag spring failure? Nope. No one has. If you did, you found a piece of defective steel. I am sure it happens, but at defective parts per billions.

It is not an issue.