Yes you can store loaded magazines. Over time the spring loses its ability to store the energy needed to push rounds up into the chamber. But, this is a long term problem. This article will cover everything you need to know about storing loaded magazines to keep yourself safe and keep your family protected. The reason a shooter may want to store loaded magazines rather than load them manually is that they are needing to reload in a hurry.
Filling an empty magazine is not hard, per se, but it is time-consuming. For example, imagine if there is a home intruder. You have 9 rounds in the magazine, one in the chamber. This is, in theory, enough bullets to stop whoever has broken into your home. But what if there is more than one person? What if you miss? In a panic, emptying a clip into your attack seems like the logical choice.
But there is no guarantee you hit your target, or if you do hit them stop them. Having a gun with no rounds is pretty useless. You can also think of the convenience factor. If you are heading down to the gun range, you might be paying a hefty sum for the privilege of being down there. You will normally pay by the hour, so every minute counts. It will very quickly eat into your time.
So, bringing loaded magazines can be a time and money saver. Not every range will allow you to bring in multiple loaded magazines, for safety reasons. Magazine springs always wear out. Even if you only use them and reload them each time, rather than storing them fully loaded, they will begin to lose their spring.
Except, each time you do this the spring wears out a little more. The problem comes after years of use. They will spring up, but not as well. Essentially, over time magazine springs lose their ability to store kinetic energy. Luckily, springs can be replaced. Magazines can be unscrewed, the springs can be swapped out, and then they will be screwed back together.
You can do this yourself, though it might be better to let a professional handle it if you really are unsure, but it is a maintenance skill you might want to learn.
It is always risky using tools on your gun, taking it apart and putting it back together. The magazines are less dangerous, but failing to put it back together properly can lead to your gun jamming and even misfiring.
There is a little bit of contention in the gun community surrounding how long you should keep a magazine loaded. Both for efficiency and safety. The army, the top-level gun associations, and most professional shooters all agree that around 6 months is a good middle of the pack time for storage.
If you leave them any longer, you run the risk of the springs wearing out and the magazine spring losing its power. If you are someone who only shoots casually, then keeping one or two loaded magazines in the house at all times is a good idea. If you are planning on going shooting soon, then loading a few extra magazines beforehand would be a good idea. Some springs may stay loaded for decades and still function, and others might wear out after a much shorter period of time. So just to be safe, the best practice is to rotate the magazines periodically.
A gunsmith at Beretta who claimed not to be speaking on behalf of the company told us he rotates his personal carry magazines every two weeks. The customer service rep we spoke to from Sig said that once every six months would be sufficient.
Polymer followers in particular seem to be a common failure point for magazines. Adding some complexity to this debate is whether loading the mags to their full capacity will make any difference in how quickly the springs wear out. Again, there is not a clear consensus in the industry. However, Wolff Gunsprings , a company well known for manufacturing a wide variety of springs for the firearms industry has a slightly different take.
These are designed to hold more rounds with less spring material often in the same space. This puts more stress on the spring and will cause it to fatigue at a faster rate. Unloading these magazines a round or two will help the life of the spring. Magazines and magazine springs wear out. De-formed followers, bad ammunition, problematic firearms, and user error are more often to blame for frequent malfunctions than worn magazine springs.
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