New Owner Magazine Question

[DominicusSaxon]

I bought a very nice Ruger SR1911, and had a question about the magazines. Unless I want to just throw the gun at an intruder, I need to keep it loaded. My question is, how long can I keep the rounds in the magazine before it ruins the spring in it ? Or is that not a real concern I should have ? A new magazine is only $30 so I guess it shouldn't make a huge difference to buy a new one every year but I'd rather not.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[Pat-inCO]

I had first hand experience with a loaded magazine that went from the
Korean "conflict" to 2010 with a magazine that was loaded. No problems
with it.

If you want to be super careful, whiz-bang fer sure, cycle it once per
year. I have several that have gone four years with . . zero . . problems.
I just shoot them dry, and put in a different magazine with fresh ammo.
If you do that each year, you also have fresh ammo in the gun.

As far as fresh ammo goes, that is a subject for gun mag writers to
expound on, rather than a real issue. I just shot up a box of .45s that
was over twenty five years old . . . . no problem.

 

[Precision32]

Ask yourself, when was the last time you changed the springs under your car?

Look up "elastic solids" on the net and see what you find. There are reports of 1911 mags that have been loaded since WW1 and function without a problem.

 

[LaneP]

Good quality, properly tempered magazines springs can be loaded for years with no discernible loss of compression. What weakens magazine springs over time is the constant flexing from loading and unloading.

I have had 1911 mags loaded for years in my safe, took them out and emptied them without a hitch.

 

[DGW1949]

Ask yourself, when was the last time you changed the springs under your car?

Look up "elastic solids" on the net and see what you find. There are reports of 1911 mags that have been loaded since WW1 and function without a problem.

I changed the springs on my wife's '92 Lincoln Town Car last year. At the time, it had less than 90K on the odometer and it's ride heigth had dropped by almost 2". Judging from it's tire wear pattern, my '01 Dodge truck is (past) due for new springs also. It has presently traveled 165K.
Not saying that well made mag springs won't last many years because they will. On the other hand though, springs do take a set rather quickly and at some point....yes, they do "wear out".

I'll leave to other's who are smarter than me to mull over the implications of "wear out" and how it might effect their own gun.

DGW

 

[DominicusSaxon]

All car comments aside, I didn't think the spring would wear out anytime soon so I'm glad you guys confirmed that it not something I really have to worry about.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Like others said, swap the mag for another once a year or so and unload the one you take out to let the spring relax. Fresh ammo don`t hurt either, especially if you use lots of lube that could contaminate the loads.

 

[clayflingythingy]

No need to pay $30 for spare mags either. Go over to CDNN and buy Metalform mags for $15 each.

 

[edlmann]

Checkmate 8-round mag which is a dupe for the Ruger 8-round mag. $20.30 shipped.

 

[clayflingythingy]

http://www.cdnnsports.com/magazines/1911-45-8rd-sts-mtl-fllwr-fr.html#.U4DHkXJdVoU

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

I will stay with the Ruger mags myself. The six I have all function great. To save a couple bux and not feel completely confident is not a good trade IMHO.

 

[Precision32]

The auto springs where overloaded at some point in their life span. An elastic solid will return to it's original shape every time, unless it it pushed beyond it yield point.

Ever use a beam type torque wrench? It will maintain it accuracy until the day it fails through a fatigue break. They are nothing but a spring. I worked at one time with a watch maker. We worked on watches that had 100 year old springs that worked as good as the day they were made.

 

[clayflingythingy]

I will stay with the Ruger mags myself. The six I have all function great. To save a couple bux and not feel completely confident is not a good trade IMHO.

Ever actually use a Metalform mag? They work. And work well.

As long as it works there is no reason not to "feel" confident.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Never even heard of them until now. Now I have all I need. I prefer the standard 7 shot mags also. Nothing wrong with the eight round mags. Just me.

 

[Thunderhawk]

Load up those mags, and don't worry about it. I have Ruger and Kimber Pro mags, and they're all great!

 

[Biggfoot44]

Even if/ when a spring needs replacing , you need only replace the spring , and not the whole mag.