Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I was wondering, how often should one either replace the spring in the magazine or unload the magazine in order to relax the spring and if so for how long.

I would think that after a certain time the spring would loose its ability to provide sufficient tension for pushing the entire magazine load into the chamber.

The spring will weaken the more it's used, i.e. the more it's loaded and unloaded than it will if you just leave it loaded with the spring compressed. Leave the magazine loaded, and the spring won't give you a problem.

I carry a revolver, but that's the way I've heard it told regarding magazine springs.

While I leave mine loaded it makes sense to me that leaving them loaded would eventually compress the spring. Loading and unloading it frequently would weaken the spring IMO. I have to wonder though how much of a problem it really is. Think of the thousands of rounds used by the military in magazines. I know they go bad but in 17 years of service I never saw it. Also, I have a 35 year old Marlin with a tube magazine, it has a long spring in it. After 35 years and God knows how many rounds it still works. The worst working magazine I've ever seen belonged to my son, it came with a used gun he bought. While he had problems it turned out that dirt in the gun and both magazines was the culprit.

I'd have to agree with Moccasin. You are more likely to experience issues with a magazine that
is being used more often, with unloading and load, than one that is loaded and just sits idle.
The metal fatigue of the loading/reloading is likely more damaging to the spring.

Thanks, guess I'll use one for target practice and just keep the other two at the ready.

I have mags that have been loaded for many years and shot them with no problem at all.

I think the biggest problem I have is getting them dirty. I open carry on my land and get pretty dirty and what ever pistol I'm carrying gets dirty too.

Using a chain saw is the worst, saw dust and chips every where, I'm always cleaning guns.

I had to edit this post, after I read what I wrote it made no sense to me and I'm sure not to anyone else either.

Keep them clean and you should be good to go. I've never seen a magazine spring turn into a cooked spaghetti noodle because the mag was kept loaded. I'm more concerned with dust and pocket lint than anything else so I break down my mags and clean them once a week. If you do a lot of shooting it might be a good idea to have "range mags" and "carry mags" though. Get out and do some shooting this weekend!

http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/tech/spring_set.htm

I don't think I'd worry too much about loading and unloading causing fatigue either...one trip to the range equals a years worth of weekly loading and unloading.

Loading and unloading is what causes magazine wear.

Compression is fine. Think of it like a paper clip. The clip holds papers and is fine. Opening and closing the clip by inserting papers over and over is what wears it out.

Spring steel is spring steel. The notion that a mag spring will fail due to being loaded is a theoretical fallacy.