Clip springs??

[Long_Hunter]

Something I did with some older parsons and center industry mags: I ordered magpul followers, ranger plates, and some new springs and "rebuilt" them. They are still metal mags, but far superior to any metal mag on the market. Pmags are worth every penny (if you can find them), but if you have some older AR mags, you might be better off just doing a rebuild or recondition.
I store loaded mags for a year and then empty them down range and load a new set.
You can order parts here:

http://www.gandrtactical.com/

Any one on here shoot 3-gun tactical?

[Long_Hunter]

Also wanted to clear this up. The original post was on "clips", which are not magazines. walk into a reputible gun store and ask for clips and they will point you to the Garand rack.

Clip: A device for holding cartridges together, usually to facilitate loading. Widely used as a synonym for "magazine" (although most firearm authorities consider this substandard usage). Technically, a magazine has a feeding spring, a clip does not.

A clip is different from a magazine and the terms are by no means interchangeable. Using "clip" when one means "magazine" is akin to saying "tires" when one actually means "wheels." If it does get the speaker immediately corrected, often unkindly, in newsgroups and on Forums, then such a malaprop marks the user as a hopeless newbie.


Some simple pics of the using the PMAG followers and baseplates to "rebuild" any standard AR mag.

[Morguns1Cam]

I think the notion of springs losing their "spring" after being compressed for a long time is a myth (or a marketing ploy to sell springs and mags) Springs don't take a set unless bent past their design limits (over-sprung?) . I read an article very similar to the story jetskrtal told about a guy that brought home his .45 from WW2, it sat in his dresser drawer for 50 years with two mags fully loaded. The gun was taken out cleaned , the mags left fully loaded, each mag fire all 7 rounds without a hitch. Since I read that article I have had no qualms about leaving mags fully loaded, and Ive never had a problem with any of them.

[Mags]

Bad mags are a major cause of failure to feed/fire malfunctions. Some brands are better than other's when it comes to mags. Keep'em clean, protect the lips best you can, as suggested you can even "rebuild'em" but keep in mind that magazines are meant to be disposible.

I have several metal and plastic mags for my AR's. The Magpul PMAG mentioned is the heat right now. I've never had an issue with any of mine.

Mag's mag porn for your viewing pleasure..........




Yes they're all windowed. Ranger Plates and sk8tr tape for the "naked" ones are enroute as I type.

[Oscar Wilde]

[Do you guys keep your clips loaded in storage?]

I kept all but one of each caliber at max capacity to determine faulty mags...after two years found none. I keep them all at 2/3rds capacity now.
O.W.

[HileTroy]

I have some Tapco AK mags and have had no problems with them. Actually prefer them and the Bulgarian made mags to others I have owned. I worked in the base armory for awhile in Europe while in the service and the ammo was left in the magazines as far as i could tell - forever. We would test the spring action but that was about it. In my opinion, if its a quality mag then you should be fine.

[brotherzoo]

Nice stuff Mags. Looks like my place, 'cept here in the Bayou I go OD not DT.

MagPul Pmags have a snap on cover that keeps out debris and also eases tension on the feed lips. I keep a full load maxed out and ready to go. MagPul and C-Products AR mags are both engineered so that the springs are not fully compressed when they are loaded, but any good quality chrome silicon springs can be left loaded for quite a while safely. I'll post some mag porn once I've earned my linking rights here, lol.

[SyLord]

Glad the correction of clips vs mags.

I leave my clips loaded until I need them. Never had a problem with any of them. Garand clips are the closest to a mag as they stay inserted into the firearm's fixed chamber (magazine?) and ejected when empty. Also the only firearm that cannot be single loaded, it requires it's embloc clip to fire.

To clear something up, ruger 10/22 magazines are of a rotary type, and different type spring. I have had ruger mags go bad, including many cheap bannana mags. That is one reason many drums that have coiled springs are made to be loaded without tension but a key on back cranked as you need it. Calico and some AK drum mags are like that.


I'm not sure of all snail drums for AR's but the one I saw had 2 springs, not a coil spring.

Most of my older but regular 10/20/30 round AR mags have been loaded and worked for me as much as 20 years later. Now pistol mags I have some loaded 30 years, as well as an uncles found after 50+\- years and it still fired and is in use. If any questions I down load the mags one short to keep pressure off the lips.

It's also easier to swap mags when you have a round chambered and the mag isn't stuffed full. I had a few you had to slap hard in to lock.

[Rednekdaddy]

I have been told by a structural engineer that the springs in a magazine will actually hold up longer under tension than one that gets cycled frequently. Something way over my head about tension memory and kinetic release, heck he lost me in the first half second of the explanation! But after about a 10 minuets of explanation he said that it was actually better to leave them loaded the to continually load and unload and reload.

[DocWalt81]

we had a simple solution for this in the army, once in awhile we would unload our mags, take them apart and strech out the spring. If you have a mag that keeps jamming or giving you misfeeds try this and most times it will correct the problem.

[batmanacw]

Do you guys keep your clips loaded in storage? I keep one loaded just in case. Will longterm storage with a loaded clip weaken up the springs. One of my 10/22 clips finally weakened to the point it will not feed up.:mad: Just curious if it was due to leaving it full. Didnt want it happening to the AR Clips.

I have thousands of loaded clips........ Hundreds of loaded magazines too.

I am sure someone has mentioned that cycles and not compression kills magazine springs. Any well made magazine will not compress the spring past its elastic limit.

Your 10/22 mags are probably just dirty. My eagle mags had issues as you describe.

[batmanacw]

Springs wear out just like anything else and as stated above, modern day metallurgy has improved significantly and they can be stored loaded for an extended period of time. But its also a good idea to rotate them ever so often too. So you can let the springs stretch their legs so to speak. If anyone is looking for good AR mags, I highly suggest checking out Pmags by Magpul. They are top notch mags!

I have personally fired a 1911 magazine that was loaded in the 1950's. Not one malfunction. You do more damage by unloading them than leaving them alone, which is still almost no damage at all. I ha