Prolonging Magazine Spring Life

I've been at school for the past 4 months so I havent been OC except when I come home. Now that I'm home for the summer, my pistol will be loaded 24/7. I only have the two factory mags right now. When I carry I only carry one mag because I dont have a way to carry the other. To make them last longer I figure I would switch out magazines each week. Is this a sound plan to lessen the wear on the springs?

I was thinking of how I would mark each magazine so I wouldn't mix them up and have decided to paint the bottom of one and keep the other black (black on black will look nicer if I have to wear a shirt and tie w/ slacks). So.... what color should I paint the one magazine? So far I like Satin Khacki, Satin Brown Boots( http://www.krylon.com/products/fusion_for_plastic/ ), or Olive (http://www.krylon.com/products/camouflage_paint_with_fusion_technology/ ) I've had good luck with Krylon for other plastics so I'm going to use that again unless someone has a better suggestion.

Here is what I'm working with:

I think that you have put too much thought in to this. If you are carrying one mag and really want to switch between the two once a week just take the ammo from one and put it in the other. You can tell them apart based on which one has ammo.

I own six mags for my Para, and I carry two at a time (one in the gun, one on my belt). I swap out mags every few months, and the ones I'm not using, I remove the buttplate from, and store them unassembled, with the springs in their "natural" state. I've been using the same six mags for about 5 years, and never had a mag-related issue with this handgun...

But I'm sort of OCD about this sort of thing... :uhoh:

According to metal experts, you're actually doing more damage to springs by constantly loading and unloading them. Although there have been many studies done that show springs wearing out quicker when they are fully compressed (fully loaded mag). I have at least 4 magazines for each one of my pistols and I swap out my carry mags every few months. I always carry my double stacks underloaded by one round. For instance, if my Beretta mags hold 18, I carry 17 in the mag and one in the chamber. I carry my spare mag underloaded by one round also. Sometimes it's hard to get that last round in there and I've had trouble seating a fully loaded double stack magazine in a gun with the slide closed. I carry my single stack 1911 with a mag to full capacity.

Although it's been proven that constantly using magazine springs wears them more than storing them full for long periods, my OCD won't let me believe that, so I do what keeps me happy (swapping mags every once and a while) :lol:

To CDT COX: Paint that sucker OD Green! If I were you, I'd get an extra magazine to keep at home just in case you have problems with one of the others. That way when you OC, you can carry an extra magazine. Get a cheap pocket knife belt holster for your extra carry magazine. http://www.amazon.com/Pocketknife-Belt-Pouch-Cordura-Black/dp/B0016CV1O0

Bombay said:

I think that you have put too much thought in to this. If you are carrying one mag and really want to switch between the two once a week just take the ammo from one and put it in the other. You can tell them apart based on which one has ammo.

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probably

I know I could but I really just want to paint one :lol:

mattwestm said:

Although it's been proven that constantly using magazine springs wears them more than storing them full for long periods, my OCD won't let me believe that, so I do what keeps me happy (swapping mags every once and a while) :lol:

To CDT COX: Paint that sucker OD Green! If I were you, I'd get an extra magazine to keep at home just in case you have problems with one of the others. That way when you OC, you can carry an extra magazine. Get a cheap pocket knife belt holster for your extra carry magazine. http://www.amazon.com/Pocketknife-Belt-Pouch-Cordura-Black/dp/B0016CV1O0

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So maybe I should change the mag every 3 weeks or something? I really just need a way to justify painting the mag to myself. I'm trying to get a 1911 in my hands by the end of the summer, then I want to paint this 380 I have now.

Looks like one vote for the Olive I posted. Should have made a poll I guess. Any other opinions?

Load them both, leave them alone. Paint them if you want. If you want to carry both, check out the cell/radio holsters at Lowes. That's what mine goes in. Even if I CC you don't know what it is. IIRC, it was around $10.

I have 3 magazines for each my glock's and just cycle thru them every few weeks when I go to the range. All I did was scratch numbers into them to tell which one I need to rotate out