Should I keep my magazine full?

[Kilozz]

I shoot my M4 maybe once every month, sometimes less. With that being said, should i keep my magazine full, would it wear the spring out and cause a jam, and if so how long will it take before it messes up on you?

[Rattlehead]

I shoot my M4 maybe once every month, sometimes less. With that being said, should i keep my magazine full, would it wear the spring out and cause a jam, and if so how long will it take before it messes up on you?

Generally springs will not wear out from being compressed. Constant use of the spring itself is what wears them out.

You should not see any problems by keeping them loaded so long as you have quality magazines.

[Kilozz]

Thanks, helpful info.

[Clint]

I shoot my M4 maybe once every month, sometimes less. With that being said, should i keep my magazine full, would it wear the spring out and cause a jam, and if so how long will it take before it messes up on you?

Couple of things.

You may want to consider 10 magazines per weapon as a good starting point. If you have only one magazine, your options are limited.

I keep several loaded at any time and rotate them through use during practice.

Cycling springs is what wears them out so keeping a mag loaded for periods of up to a year should be fine.

I recommend only NHMTG mags with magpul follower or rev M PMAGS.

It's not worth it to mess around with any lesser quality mags.

[Kokopelli]

Keep them full... So long as the first round feeds fine.. Ron

[a0cake]

It's important to make a distinction between 30 rounds and 28 rounds as far as what constitutes "full." I don't think it's a good idea to store aluminum magazines with 30 rounds due to pressure on the feed lips. 28 seems to be less problematic in this regard. I don't know what the conventional wisdom is on this, it's just something I've noticed.

[steelonsteel]

it's also easier to seat on a closed bolt with 28 rounds, so i've always found it good practice to load them to 28 rounds when I leave them loaded.

[SMETNA]

It's important to make a distinction between 30 rounds and 28 rounds as far as what constitutes "full." I don't think it's a good idea to store aluminum magazines with 30 rounds due to pressure on the feed lips. 28 seems to be less problematic in this regard. I don't know what the conventional wisdom is on this, it's just something I've noticed.

+1

28 rounds in a AR mag, 15 rounds in a Glock 17 mag.

ETA: I do NOT believe in having a round in the chamber at all times for home defense. I'd rather charge/rack when there's an issue, not before

[ache_d]

You should just shoot more! Ha!

[a0cake]

ETA: I do NOT believe in having a round in the chamber at all times for home defense. I'd rather charge/rack when there's an issue, not before

This is a "whole 'nother" can of worms and I don't want to derail the thread too badly, but I would strongly suggest you reconsider this line of thinking.

The noise is going to give away your position inside your house, first of all. I don't want an intruder to hear anything except the sound of gunfire as the flash hider comes around an unknown corner. Contrary to popular belief, the sound of a gun charging isn't going to help you at all once somebody's gained entry into your home. It shows your cards in that the intruder now knows A) that you have a gun and B) where you are inside the structure. Why show your cards? Whoever gets through their OODA loop first wins. Why assist him in "orientation?"

"The key is to obscure your intentions and make them unpredictable to your opponent while you simultaneously clarify his intentions. That is, operate at a faster tempo to generate rapidly changing conditions that inhibit your opponent from adapting or reacting to those changes and that suppress or destroy his awareness. Thus, a hodgepodge of confusion and disorder occur to cause him to over- or under-react to conditions or activities that appear to be uncertain, ambiguous, or incomprehensible." - Harry Hillaker on the OODA loop.

Second, reaction time can be as little as a few seconds if you're a heavy sleeper. Somebody could be in the home before you get up and out of bed and figure out what's going on. Do you really want to add steps before you can fire?

I've carried AR's in condition 1 / red for literally years, with the rifle never more than a few feet away. The more you handle weapons in this condition the more comfortable you become (just don't get complacent), and it becomes more and more pointless to carry or keep a go-to firearm in any other condition than "locked and loaded."

[Iraqgunz]

Discussed numerous times. Just use the search function.