I did not want to jack the other thread about keeping SD firearms loaded at home so here goes with a new posting.

 I think it was mentioned by someone that they keep their magazines loaded but cycle them so that the spring does not loose tension and cause a failure to feed. Is this a real issue? My new G17 mags where a bitch to load and a friend suggested leaving them loaded to loosen the spring a little. Good idea bad idea? Any points or tips on this would be greatly appreciated, I would not want any issues with my magazines in the dreaded time that I would need to use them.

I've read that glock magazines can be loaded for a lifetime without affecting function at all. I have 8 mags of 10mm loaded on the top shelf of my safe at the moment.

if you google search this issue it has been debated numerous times with no real clear 100% definitive answer which way is best. In reality you could leave mags loaded for years and they would in all likelyhood function fine. If you are worried about it, some folks will not load to full capacity.

Personally, If you want loaded mags leave them loaded and don't worry about it. If you shorten the lifespan of the magazine spring in the long run no big deal just replace it.  Its not like you are going to leave a mag loaded for a month and come back and it won't even push the rounds out.

If you do an image search for "loaded magazine" it brings up lots of scantily clad women. I guess it's the UK trying to make the best out of their situation.

Your new mags are hard to load because they're new lol.  The general consensus is that it is the action of compressing and decompressing the spring that wears it out.

Your new mags are hard to load because they're new lol.  The general consensus is that it is the action of compressing and decompressing the spring that wears it out.

yup

Magazine springs will last forever.  Anyone telling you otherwise has a product to sell.  Seriously, you can expect a magazine spring to fatigue after TENS of THOUSANDS of cycles of use, or after DECADES of continuous compression. 

Magazine springs will last forever.  Anyone telling you otherwise has a product to sell.  Seriously, you can expect a magazine spring to fatigue after TENS of THOUSANDS of cycles of use, or after DECADES of continuous compression. 

That's what I've read as well. 

I have noticed that the feed lips in my 1911 mags, which I use for the range over and over, loosen more than the spring tension.  After a few thousand rounds cycled through these two factory type mags, the lips seemed to have loosened up a bit causing problems.  These are cheap mags.  My wilson combat mags, that I keep loaded up months on end, have no functionality problems what so ever, when I decide to run a rounds through them. 

Use causes the wear in the mags.  IMHO and limited experience. 

I rotate my mags simply because I don't want to take a chance on having a feed issue when the chips are down, not because I've ever had an issue. When I change them out the rounds pop right out. Those stating that you will "likely" never have a problem are probably correct.

But, metal, even spring steel, fatigues over time. When compressed for long periods it tends to retain it's compressed state longer before returning to its original shape or length. Don't believe? Load a mag and let it sit for a year or even 6months, then unload it and compare the spring length to a new spring immediately, you'll more than likely find the previously compressed spring is a little shorter. Will this result in a failure to feed? Maybe not. But I have no plans to find out, especially when the lives of my family may be on the line.

Besides, it gives me an excuse to pull the gun out and check it over without my wife giving me the old "eye roll". 

revolver ftw!

This comes up periodically on gun forums and this is what I learned many years ago from a post by Bruce Gray.

It doesn't matter if the magazine is loaded or not, repeat....it doesn't matter.  While a spring is at rest it does not matter one iota because it is static.  Springs wear out through work which means when they are actively being compressed and decompressed.  A loaded magazine spring is static just as an unloaded one.  For those that don't know nor have ever heard of Bruce Gray....well he is a gunsmith extraordinaire but this came later in life.....his background is as a metallurgist and he KNOWS metal and ALL their properties.

I keep my for use magazines loaded, SD/HD at all times.  I keep my range mags empty and load them prior to packing them in my range bag.  I keep my supply of spare magazines wrapped (NIW) as much as possible and if unwrapped, I'm sure to clean them inside and out before putting them into my use rotation (shipping/packing grease is meant as a preservative as time on the shelf is of unknown duration...it is a terrible lubricant and some formulas will actually induce failures as its properties change with exposure to heat and debris....ALWAYS clean your new mags inside and out before using them).  I keep a minimum of 5 mags for each SD/HD handgun and I'm not going to say how many mags I keep for my AR.

My match .45 1911 sat in the safe along with 6 unloaded 47D Wilson magazines for about 15 years. It sat there because I pretty much gave up shooting. By then, it had gone well over 10,000 rounds in practice and match shooting. The gun functioned flawlessly up until the time I put it away. Couple of years ago the desire to shoot came back and I brought it out, oiled it up and took it up to the range. I had numerous FTF and failures to lock back on every mag.

Got home and I ordered a complete set of springs for the gun, and Wilson sent 6 rebuild kits for the 47Ds. All of the old mag springs were about 2/3 the length of the new ones, The recoil spring was also about 2/3 the length of the new one. The gun has since functioned flawlessly as it used to. However. I will keep a supply of springs on hand.

This is only my experience, so I can't say that this is what will happen to everyone. My advice would be to keep track of gun and mag use and do not take things for granted.

My match .45 1911 sat in the safe along with 6 unloaded 47D Wilson magazines for about 15 years. It sat there because I pretty much gave up shooting. By then, it had gone well over 10,000 rounds in practice and match shooting. The gun functioned flawlessly up until the time I put it away. Couple of years ago the desire to shoot came back and I brought it out, oiled it up and took it up to the range. I had numerous FTF and failures to lock back on every mag.

Got home and I ordered a complete set of springs for the gun, and Wilson sent 6 rebuild kits for the 47Ds. All of the old mag springs were about 2/3 the length of the new ones, The recoil spring was also about 2/3 the length of the new one. The gun has since functioned flawlessly as it used to. However. I will keep a supply of springs on hand.

This is only my experience, so I can't say that this is what will happen to everyone. My advice would be to keep track of gun and mag use and do not take things for granted.

In general, recoil springs have a serviceable life of approximately 5000 rounds before replacement is recommended.  Yours had double that before being replaced.  Most manufacturers also use the same benchmark to keep your guns performance within a reliability window (5000 rounds) before performance begins to drop off, for replacing recoil springs.  Most armorer schools and courses go with the manufacturers benchmarks as their recommendations for gunsmiths.

Sorry , I didn't mention that my recoil spring was changed at every 2000 rounds. I was trying to describe the life of my magazine springs that were never changed, since the topic was about magazines.

Very good information from all. It was just mentioned in the keeping a cartridge in the pipe thread for SD/HD so it made me think a little. Thanks Fellas