At the end of the day, do you leave the magazine loaded or unloaded?

I was always told “unloaded guns kill people” and I don’t want to be alone with a gun that would kill me so I leave mine loaded.

Seriously though, I have some mags that have been loaded for well over a decade, they’re not for defense use though. I try to cycle those at least every year or so just as a reliability check and fresh ammo.
 
I keep a magazine loaded for any of the pistols I may carry and they stay out of the gun when it is in the safe, in a pouch on the inside of the safe door. But the pistol gets loaded as soon as it comes off the rack if I'm carrying it. There's always a loaded something-or-other outside the safe at all times, though.
 
Magazine springs can and do get fatigued and take a set after so much time and use. Personally I have not seen test results showing a loaded magazine setting for 5 yrs takes a different set over a magazine that is fired to empty and reloaded everyday for 5 yrs straight.

But I do know that I have shot and daily carried my M&P platform since 2009. I record the date of current spring installation in the mag base plate so I know exactly how old they are. For M&P and Glocks for me, I’m seeing 5 yrs of fully loaded all the time for EDC and weekly range time and training class firing. After 5 yrs on average you will start getting a nose down on the last 2 or 3 rds of a mag during feeding. This is an indication of a weak spring.
As already mentioned, new springs are cheap from Brownells, Midwestgunworks, etc. I can say this for certain. Buy brand name OEM or Wolff springs. I had a set for my M&P I got from Brownells that I don’t know who made them but they lasted 2+ yrs and were dead. Bought S&W brand and replaced them and those are still running currently.
If you shoot M&P and your mag spring is running 3/4” to 1” shorter than when it was new…. You will start to see nose down feeding failures soon if not already.

Now for those Shields…. Holy cow those things last forever so far. My original factory springs in my 2015 Shield 40 are still fully loaded everyday and functioned perfectly about 6 mounts ago.

Steve
 
Charlie Martinez said:
For all that carry pistols daily; Do you leave the magazine(s) loaded all the time or do you remove the bullets at the end of the day (or periodically) to give the spring a rest?
Click to expand...
I always leave the mag in the gun full of bullets at the ready. You never know when you might need it. If you unload your mags every night, you will never be prepared for what comes next.

Joe
 
Charlie Martinez said:
For all that carry pistols daily; Do you leave the magazine(s) loaded all the time or do you remove the bullets at the end of the day (or periodically) to give the spring a rest?
Click to expand...

I read a piece once, I believe it was on Barfcom, by someone who claimed to be an engineer who was knowledgeable about spring fatigue. His claim was that spring fatigue was not caused by static compression but by repeated cycling from compression to decompression. He documented his claims well. I leave my mags loaded.
 
Charlie Martinez said:
For all that carry pistols daily; Do you leave the magazine(s) loaded all the time or do you remove the bullets at the end of the day (or periodically) to give the spring a rest?
Click to expand...

There is no "End of the day." However I do have lots of mags for each gun I own and I alternate mags. There will never be a definitive answer to the magazine spring thing, so I do what I do, and let others do what they do.
 
I have a rotation system: My birthday is in late May, and thanksgiving is in late Nov, which puts them conveniently 6 months apart, give or take a day or 2. That is when I "swap" mags (all are color coded) on all of the pistols I store loaded, whether it is a "carry" pistol or just something I keep handy and ready in the house. So the mags stay loaded for 6 months at a time and "rest" the other 6 months. The "unloaded" mags get used periodically during the "rest" phase for training at the range. Never had any issues doing this. My pistols that stay loaded and ready include several Glocks and a S&W shield, all using factory mags, and 1 1911 that I use Ed Brown mags in.
 
Typically have three loaded mags for concealed carry pistols; five or six for home defense. Always loaded, will shoot up all the mags at least once or twice a year, then load with factory new cartridges.

Guns that only go to the range, if any come back in the range bag with a loaded magazine or two (rare), will leave them loaded for the next time.

Usually once a year on a rainy afternoon, will go through and clean every pistol mag that's seen use over the past several months.
 
Loaded, though I typically like to have mags in sets of four, so I'd have one set of four loaded, and the other sets, empty. Usually four sets of four mags is my goal per gun. I periodically rotate the "active duty" set and put another set of four into service.
 
Carry gun goes in the safe still loaded and holstered. Mags stay loaded and go in the drawer next to the safe.

Maybe once a year I’ll rotate mags if the springs feel tight, but most times I don’t.
 
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