M1A & fully loaded 20 rd mags

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BaltimoreBoy

BaltimoreBoy

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It seems to be accepted (at least for handguns) that magazines can be loaded to their capacity and left that way without injury to the magazine spring.

In my youth, I thought I was told that the services only loaded the M14 mags to about 18 rounds.

Can anyone confirm if that was true?

If it was true, what was the reason?

Is there any reason to treat a quality rifle magazine differently than one does handgun mags?
 
If you're loading full mags into a rifle with the bolt closed.... It's a little easier if you download one or two rounds.
 
My first issue rifle was an M-14 due to my particular job at the time. We always loaded 20 rounds and never had a problem. Some mags were kept loaded for extended periods of time and they had no problems.

Years later I carried an M-21 sniper rifle. The same 20 round limit and no problems.

I have served in 3 branches over a period of 31 years. There are all sorts of weird wives-tales, barracks rumors and sea stories that become facts when taught by an old alcoholic drill instructor to a bunch of 18 year old kids.
 
I've got an old Borg-Warner and a TRW that have been kept fully loaded since at least 1992 (they've been "emptied" for testing/cleaning several times). The last time I used them a couple of years ago, they fed at least as well as my much newer Check Mate mags.
To the best of my knowledge, they still have their original springs. I know they haven't been changed since I acquired them in the mid 80's.
 
My cousin had an M1A but he did not complain of problems seating a full magazine with the bolt closed.

There are a few guns that are a pain to get a fully loaded box magazine to insert and latch with the bolt closed. Any of the Thompson full-auto or semi-autos seem to be designed around the idea of inserting the box magazine with the bolt open, not closed (preferrrably with the safety ON). It is merely embarassing at the range to insert a magazine, it not latch properly, then fall out of the gun when you cycle the bolt. I can imagine circumstances where the consequences could be worse.
 
If the dimensions of an after-market mag are off a bit, it's possible that a full load will cause enough friction to bind the first round if inserted with a closed bolt. Proper dimensions? Should be no problem.
 
Springs get weeker when compressed all the way and left like that. Its science. My father had a tangfaglio and left it with the slide locked back for 5 years maybe more in a gun box. Took it out to shoot it and what do you know have to push the slide forward everytime. Not enough force. Need a new spring.
 
strykerfire said:
Springs get weeker when compressed all the way and left like that. Its science. My father had a tangfaglio and left it with the slide locked back for 5 years maybe more in a gun box. Took it out to shoot it and what do you know have to push the slide forward everytime. Not enough force. Need a new spring.
Click to expand...
You will find that the accepted "it's science" position around here is that leaving springs compressed is no different than leaving them slack, and it is compression cycles (movement) that wears out springs.

:)
 
what Ed just said is science , but I still don't believe it. What I do believe is that fully loaded ones with 20 rounds allways worked well for me in my first VN tour. :eek:
 
Properly manufactured springs are just fine compressed down and left that way. It is indeed cycles that wear them out.

If the spring is badly made or not to spec with a design that calls for it to be compressed past a certain point, they can weaken if loaded beyond it.

In that case, time isn't much of a factor anyway, and if your magazines were designed and made anywhere but the Khyber Pass or Promag, it's not going to be an issue. Load 'em up.
 
Sort of an acid test about magazine springs: In 2001, my father gave me a bunch of pistols he'd had stored in a 50-cal ammo can since around 1948 or thereabouts. Bringbacks.

All the mags were full. I tested the 11 pistols. Colt, Mausers, Luger, Walthers, Radom, Lilliput.

100% bangity-bang.

Fifty-three years.
 
I remember when we hosted an armorers class and a Colt engineer came to talk about new designs. He asked a classroom full of various military folks and street cops how many rounds they were loading. And of course he received all sorts of different answers, many of which had been ingrained from basic training.

Then he explained that a 20 round means 20 and a 30 round means 30. The explained that they had engineered extra slack from the get-go and they had not been asked to change the design for 40 years.

Just like how people still think they should only load 5 rounds in a modern 6 shot revolver. Because that is how they did it with Colt SAAs back in 1876 by-golly.
 
I've personally seen MANY people have issues loading 30 in STANAG mags for ARs and loading on closed bolts. Sure, it's SUPPOSED to work fine, but often doesn't. *shrugs*
 
"...Springs get weeker(SIC) when compressed all the way..." No, they don't. The science, called physics, is a Tanfoglio getting full of assorted crap from being left open for 5 years. Flat springs do not loser temper from being compressed. They can get work hardened on the bends with repeated long term use though.
"...5 rounds in a modern 6 shot revolver..." That's mostly a bullseye shooting thing. Mind you, "That's how it's always been done." is military and widespread. snicker.
 
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