Why do people say storing a magazine fully loaded damages the spring?

Question

I've seen countless videos depicting firearms working just fine using magazines that have been fully loaded for 2, 5, even 10+ years, and the guns always work just fine, even seen two videos showing that the spring has very slightly shrunk but it still functions with no problems. I've never once see a video showing a firearm malfunctioning due to long term magazine spring compression. Why do so many people say keeping mags fully loaded is bad but never show any real proof that it does harm to the function of the mags?

Answer 1

Some people are stupid. No one EVER puts their vehicles on blocks to release the pressure on their springs.

Answer 2

Damaging springs by storing the magazine full - used to be true back in WW1, WW2, and Korean War. If you have an old original magazine from an older Legacy firearm - yes - you can damage it. This also applies to the tube springs on older pump, semi-auto and lever action guns as well.



Today we have better spring alloys. Its one reason you see typical 1911 mags that once only held 7 rounds - they can now hold 8 rounds do to the improved spring science.



It's also why when I buy an older 1911 or High Standard target pistol the first thing I do is buy a new spring kit for it.

Answer 3

Springs will function well as long as their specific elastic limit is not exceeded.

Answer 4

Sometimes the springs go to hell in performance. Honestly it all depends on who made the springs. Still, it does not hurt any to rotate springs.

Answer 5

Why do kids make up stories? When I was in grade school there was a story about a hoop snake that put his tail in his mouth to form a hoop and roll down hill and when in range unfold and hang his fangs in you. Some believed it because it was told many years before I heard it and some still believed after science teachers denied the existence of such a snake.



However, there may be a tad of truth to the spring story. When coil spring wire is wound around a mandrel it is wound to a specific dimension smaller than the desired diameter to expand to finish size.Some spring steels go to a tempering oven to cure for a given time to make it stay a spring. If this process is not carried out correctly then there may be a problem collapsing when over compressed or stretched out of working range.

Small endless (until cut to length) springs are formed without a mandrel in a Torrington Spring coiler. AR detent springs that stay compressed for prolonged periods of time are done this way.

So, possible just one magazine spring failure made a lasting impression begins hearsay that may never take place again but just like the hoop snake some folks never let the story die.(also wondered if the hoop snake story spawned the ingenious idea of the garter spring)

Answer 6

Weak (or no) education in sciences.

Answer 7

It's one of those traits some people have that they accept as truth something they did not verify or have no evidence to verify it. It's no different than people saying hunting today causes extinction of wildlife, but cannot back it up with evidence much less a coherent argument.



Even when the springs are slightly "shrunk", they were overbuilt anyways to account for wear from usage. Many mechanical devices are engineered to account for wear during the life of the device. Magazines are no exception. This is one reason why brand new magazines are so hard to load as well as the hammer and recoil springs in semi-auto are a bit "tight" when brand new.

Answer 8

It doesn’t. It’s an old gun myth that won’t die. Spring steel has certain behaviors. Springs lose power through repeated compression and depression.

Answer 9

The uneducated will parrot the most repeated lie as fact.

Answer 10

...personal preference....but an unloaded gun or mag, is like a stick or a rock....

Answer 11

Most are just repeating something they heard without any facts.