question about clips

I have a question for you gun aficionados. I have a rugger 9mm semi-auto, that I keep loaded. I was just wondering if it was ok for the spring in the magazine to keep it compressed like that all the time, or would it be better to keep it unloaded?

reply to post by InvaderSkich


No, it won't hurt it, if you need it loaded leave it that way. I had the same gun only 40 cal, always left mine ready to go.

Hope this helps.

Opinions differ on that question.

I had a gunsmith answer it once, and it made sense to me. He said, "a spring is a spring, if it fails because you keep it compressed, it isn't really a spring."

Anecdotal evidence from me: my father handed down a 1950's era Remington Model 760 Gamemaster in 30-06 to me. He bought it new, he said in 1952. The magazines (3) were never unloaded, and never failed to function through 2009.

Like anything springs need maintenance also they come apart and should be very light oiled when put back together. If one has enough magazine's then you can rotate them.

A trick I recently picked up from some talk at the gun store is to leave out one or two rounds, probably going to start doing this with my M4 magazines to ensure they don't take a set, but as someone else already said you can also rotate magazines to ensure the health of the mags.

Clips don't have springs. Magazines do.



Notice the Magazine on the left and the Clip on the right.

But keeping a loaded magazine will not damage the spring. It will function just fine after many years.

With modern spring technology you're ok leaving it loaded. I'll ditto on leaving one or two rounds out of your mag though. Also if you have extra mags, you can also rotate them once and a while. Even if you just left it you would be ok.

Originally posted by allenidaho
Clips don't have springs. Magazines do.

My SKS Stripper clips have springs on them.

It is a flat "leaf" spring that puts pressure on the back of the round where the primer is to keep it tight in the clip.