Posted: 8/16/2009 7:43:09 PM EDT
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Im sorry if this is a dupe. I was having a discussion with a friend. He says he has had the same 1911 mag in his pistol for 2 years. Yes with the same ammo too.
Ive always felt I should rotate my mags out. SO my question is, do you guys rotate mags and if so how often? |
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Quoted:
Im sorry if this is a dupe. I was having a discussion with a friend. He says he has had the same 1911 mag in his pistol for 2 years. Yes with the same ammo too. Ive always felt I should rotate my mags out. SO my question is, do you guys rotate mags and if so how often? He has the same carry ammo he had 2 years ago? 
I shoot at least the first few rounds (the ones that get cycled repeatedly) every time I go to the range. Jay |
| I don't see what the point is in 'rotating' magazines. The springs aren't like a pitcher's arm. They don't benefit from resting. Maybe a real engineer will come along and explain all this, but my understanding is that spring fatigue is a product of cycles, not time at a given level of compression. |
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Modern mag springs, even chrome silicon will take a certain amount of set.
I see guys with a 1000 rounds loaded ready to go in mags post pics, all the time. It's impressive but I think any mag you are going to bet your life on should be used/tested often enough to ensure it is reliable. I question the logic in keeping a case of ammo ready to go. You won't see the military storing ammo long term loaded in a mag. They keep it in ammo cans to be loaded as needed. I'm not saying weeks or months is long term, but years is a long time to keep a mag spring under compression, it does have an effect. I have an early Para Ordinance P12, maybe 15 years old, I recently had some fail to feed problems, always with second to last round in the 12 round mag. I installed new Wolff mag springs and ftf problem went away. I always keep 2 mags loaded. I don't shoot this pistol much. So I can safely say the springs didn't "wear out". They took a compression set. Newer chrome silicon will probably last much longer before they take a compression set. . |
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Ive been told ones a month, Every 3 months, Every 6 months and ones a year, Ive also had people tell me I was wasting time. I have notices some mags loosing pressure after long term storage.
I just dont know how often it should be done. everyone seems to have a different opinion |
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Quoted:
I don't see what the point is in 'rotating' magazines. The springs aren't like a pitcher's arm. They don't benefit from resting. Maybe a real engineer will come along and explain all this, but my understanding is that spring fatigue is a product of cycles, not time at a given level of compression. This was my understanding as well. |
| I have mags that I keep loaded at all times, except when I'm shooting. Once I'm done shooting, I reload all of the mags and keep them loaded until the next time I shoot. Most of these mags were the mags that came with the gun when I bought them. They are still reliable. I only keep a few of my mags loaded though. My stockpile of mags are merely spare mags for when the originals wear out. I bought them all to lock in the low price, as in 10 years, who knows how much they will be... |
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There is no need to "rotate" mags. They're fine if left loaded. All mine are loaded, all the time. Never a problem. They do get unloaded at the range................one BANG at a time.
Even that carry ammo, if it's quality ammo, well-made, and has been kept away from moisture, solvents, etc.................would be just fine for 2 years, or even 10. That said, most of us want to shoot up that carry ammo within a year or so, and replace it with new stuff.........................just to be absolutely positively sure it's going to go bang when we pull the trigger. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I don't see what the point is in 'rotating' magazines. The springs aren't like a pitcher's arm. They don't benefit from resting. Maybe a real engineer will come along and explain all this, but my understanding is that spring fatigue is a product of cycles, not time at a given level of compression. This was my understanding as well. Same here, I shoot mine when I shoot them, usually the carry ammo is in the first mag and then FMJ fired in the rest. Reloaded with carry ammo after and sit til next range trip. I only have 4 or 5 mags per gun vs some people on this site though. |
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Quoted:
There is no need to "rotate" mags. They're fine if left loaded. All mine are loaded, all the time. Never a problem. They do get unloaded at the range................one BANG at a time. Even that carry ammo, if it's quality ammo, well-made, and has been kept away from moisture, solvents, etc.................would be just fine for 2 years, or even 10. That said, most of us want to shoot up that carry ammo within a year or so, and replace it with new stuff.........................just to be absolutely positively sure it's going to go bang when we pull the trigger. +1 |