Who carries extra magazines? And how?

[skiingislife725]

I've always carried two extra magazines in my bellyband appendix position opposite my Glock (which is usually AOWB but sometimes is AIWB). I've just stuck with carrying them there because I like having consistency versus carrying it in a pocket one day and in the jacket the next. I don't want to be flailing around looking for an extra magazine should I need another. Why two magazines? For all of the reasons stated above and because people a lot more experienced in this field than I am highly recommend it. I'd rather go through the very minor discomfort of carrying the two extra magazines than to have a malfunction/run out of ammo and not be able to protect my family and have to beg on my knees like the cop did outside of the Best Buy in another state a few years ago (still got shot in the head, but survived).

 

[Metalhead47]

Still listening & analyzing here, thanks for the input.

Couple questions... for those of you who carry mags in your pockets, do you ever have problems with rounds popping out or otherwise getting buggered up?

How often do y'all "rotate" and rest your magazines so the springs don't take a set?

 

[fire suppressor]

I have not herd or read much about rotating gear but I break my magazines down about every six months. I will unload them, break them down completely and allow the springs to air out for a few days before putting them back together

 

[BigDave]

Buy quality magazines, clean them ever so often and they will last a very long time. My springfield mags have been loaded full for the last 6 years or more.
I do however rotate all my magazines through when at the range to ensure operation.

 

[skiingislife725]

Still listening & analyzing here, thanks for the input.

Couple questions... for those of you who carry mags in your pockets, do you ever have problems with rounds popping out or otherwise getting buggered up?

How often do y'all "rotate" and rest your magazines so the springs don't take a set?

Metalhead, from what I've read up on it, magazine springs (or any springs, according to what I've read) don't wear out from being full for too long (or empty for that matter), they wear out from being compressed and uncompressed too many times or from being compressed or extended past what they're designed for. That is to say that the mag spring thing is a myth.

 

[MAC702]

Magazine failures come in two common forms. One is cheap magazines, for example using Pro-Mag magazines in a Sig Sauer P6. The second is damage from dropping them or other physical abuse. We see these every once in a while in competition, even with high-quality magazines like Chip McCormick's. But a high-quality magazine that has been tested and tested in your combat firearm as reliable, and not abused in competition or practice, is not a likely thing to "all of a sudden" cause your firearm to malfunction.

I am NOT saying that you shouldn't carry an extra magazine because of this, though. I am saying it is not that "bad" if you don't.

 

[OlGutshotWilly]

Having been, at one time, an enthusiastic skydiver I learned rather vividly the value of having a backup parachute. On more than one occasion. :shocker:

Thus, I always carry an extra mag on my belt where I can get to it easily and quickly. I carry my 7 round mag in an Uncle Mikes with velcro top, and my P10 mag fits rather nicely in a leather SOG carrier with snap top.

I don't worry about carrying large round counts, just having that spare backup mag. I have specific carry mags and range mags. They all get exercised at the range regularly.

 

[MAC702]

Absolutely. There are MANY good reasons for carrying an extra magazine. I just thought the thread was starting to sound a little like this: 'If you aren't carrying an extra magazine, don't bother carrying a gun.'

 

[sirpuma]

My XD came with a holder for two mags and I buy them for my other firearms as needed and yeah, I always keep at least two extra mags on me. I know 13 rounds of .45 should be enough but if I do have to empty my firearm I want to be able to refill it immediately. Besides, two extra mags on the other hip helps counter the weight of the pistol.

 

[hermannr]

A short word on "Metal Fatigue"

Take a canned food can, run the opener around 99% of the rim. Pry up the lid and wiggle back and forth. eventually the lid will come free because that little 1% left finally breaks. How many wiggles is a function of the quality of the metal.

Aircraft pressurization and cracks in the metal skin come from exactly the same function. Springs break for the same reason. A properly manufactured sping will never break from tension or compression within design limits, however it will break if flexxed many times, a la the tin can lid. It will fail quicker if it has been damaged somehow.

Many years ago I took care of the test computers at the PacCar (Kenworth and Peterbuilt trucks) technical center. One of the tests was to see how long the torsion bars would last if flexed to the extreme. They would put these huge torsion bars in a fixture and used a hydraulic ram to flex them to the extreme over and over, for days on end. When they finally broke, the engineers would analyze where they broke and tried to find a heat treatment/metal alloy that would get them to last longer, make the change and do it all over again. Every one of those torsion bars eventually broke, because the test was to failure. Same for any spring.

 

[Jeff Hayes]

I have both practice and carry mags for every gun that I carry for self defence. My carry mags are only occasionaly used just to check function and never abused. My practice mags are used a lot, dropped on the ground during live fire exercises and malfunction drills.

I never ever carry a mag that I practice with.

On the other hand I have never had a mag fail for any reason.

I carry spare mags in my pockets and have never damamged one or had a round pop out.

Hermannr post above is exactly correct, springs (metal in general) wear out from use.

 

[amlevin]

One of the tests was to see how long the torsion bars would last if flexed to the extreme.

The operative word here is "extreme". No magazine spring is flexed "to the extreme". Since it's contained withing the body of the magazine it's movement is limited to well within the elastic limits of the metal.

 

[MAC702]

"modulus of elasticity" would be a good term to research, and I will admit I don't remember enough to provide a good synopsis at the moment. It's been at least a month since I was at a Holiday Inn.

 

[sudden valley gunner]

The operative word here is "extreme". No magazine spring is flexed "to the extreme". Since it's contained withing the body of the magazine it's movement is limited to well within the elastic limits of the metal.

Even if not flexed to extreme metal still experiences fatigue if flexed at all but it would take a lot longer to fail if not flexed to extreme.

 

[amlevin]

Even if not flexed to extreme metal still experiences fatigue if flexed at all but it would take a lot longer to fail if not flexed to extreme.

Considering that metal failure testing consists of thousands if not millions of "cycles" to complete I'm not too worried about my magazine springs.

I think this topic comes up regularly because people just like to over analyze non-problems.

Just think about all the money that the Government could waste on a subject like this, assuming they haven't already. I can see it now, a "study grant" on "How many times can a magazine be loaded and unloaded before spring failure" accompanied by another study grant on "How many years can you leave a magazine fully loaded before spring failure".

In the real world more springs fail because they rust or are diddled with too much.

 

[gogodawgs]

I think this topic comes up regularly because people just like to over analyze non-problems.

NO!

 

[sudden valley gunner]

Considering that metal failure testing consists of thousands if not millions of "cycles" to complete I'm not too worried about my magazine springs.

I think this topic comes up regularly because people just like to over analyze non-problems.

Just think about all the money that the Government could waste on a subject like this, assuming they haven't already. I can see it now, a "study grant" on "How many times can a magazine be loaded and unloaded before spring failure" accompanied by another study grant on "How many years can you leave a magazine fully loaded before spring failure".

In the real world more springs fail because they rust or are diddled with too much.

I'm not worried about it either. Just clarifying that any bending of metal does cause fatigue. You are right though it would take a long long long time. I think more failures would be due to negligence or manufacturing.

 

[MAC702]

I've had one [high-quality] magazine fail on me. It is one of the four Chip McCormick 10-round .45 1911 magazines that I use in USPSA matches and practice. It wasn't the spring, but the feed lips that failed by parting too much (not even enough to see) preventing the magazine from entering the firearm. As a competition magazine, it has seen countless drops onto hard surfaces, usually while half-loaded.

The Wilson 8-rounders that I carry have never been dropped in such a fashion.

I've never experienced a spring failure in any firearm's [high-quality] magazine.

 

[Jeff Hayes]

Most of us cant afford enough ammo to wear out a mag spring.

 

[deepdiver]

Obviously, mag springs will eventually fail but I don't know what that really takes. I have mags that have had at least 750 rounds through them without any signs of fatigue or damage.