Loaded or unloaded, the age old question...

[swilliams]

I was told by a metallurgist the working a spring wears it, leaving it compressed will have no effect on it. I leave my mags fully loaded and if you own a double stack Sig or a Glock 30 you will agree that a little spring wear might be a good thing.

You can add the Beretta mags to that list. After two years, I can finally load 12 before I have to give in and use the loader for the last five. And I have strong hands.

[Robin'son]

I used to have a spring in my step, now(?), well, depends on who's looking.
Robin

[dwa12479]

The car analogy doesn't really fly, cause the springs are in their upper position even when sitting idol cause their so damn strong and tight..the idea of the suspension is when u hit a hole or something, the car and springs dip down thus compressing them at that moment, then they come back up to normal position. But the magazine spring is up already like the car, then crunched down when loaded, like the car hitting a hole and it staying like that indefinitely.

If you loaded the trunk with 500 lbs, let the car sit for an extended period, and then removed the weight, it would return to it's normal height.

If you took the car out and ran it over moguls for 50,000 miles, it would then be riding lower once you removed the weight. It's flexing back and forth that fatigues metal.

[camper4lyfe]

The car analogy doesn't really fly, cause the springs are in their upper position even when sitting idol cause their so damn strong and tight..the idea of the suspension is when u hit a hole or something, the car and springs dip down thus compressing them at that moment, then they come back up to normal position. But the magazine spring is up already like the car, then crunched down when loaded, like the car hitting a hole and it staying like that indefinitely.

They are still compressed, even when sitting idle. The theory remains the same: compressing a spring does not wear it out, cycling them does.

[Guest]

Loading em up then

[maghexjunkie]

Magpul Pmag was loaded for over a year and works perfectly fine.

[MDC]

An unloaded mag is a useless mag.

[Firenailer]

I'm not a Scientist but I leave mine loaded and have for years. So far I haven't had any recurring problems with failures to load, fire or eject with my .45 or .22 so I'm going to keep on keeping them loaded.

I'm thinking I can swap mags quicker than load an empty if I need to.