How long can a PMAG stay loaded?

[seagiant]

I have eight of the original "Patent Pending" PMAG's that were loaded with 30 rounds and the covers put on them in early 2009. They got forgotten until recently during the course of two moves and two divorces. Still good to go.

Hi,
LOL!

That's "funny"!!!

[TonyAngel]

I don’t remember exactly what year it was, but when I first got into ARs, I bought 30, 30 rounders and 5, 20 rounders so that I could load up 1000 rounds at a time.

They are all Gen 1, I believe, or maybe pre Gen 1, if there was such a thing. The only time they’ve spent unloaded was the time between their being emptied and taken home to be reloaded. It’s had to have been at least a decade or so. I don’t use the covers and haven’t had a single one fail on me.

[The_War_Wagon]

I got one in 2008 with my POF-415 (first PMag I ever owned). It's sitting in one of these 40mm cans around here somewhere... still loaded...

[MegademiC]

I have some gen 2s that have been rotated every couple years, loaded. No issues.

With the dust cover on, I cant imagine anything other than the spring being a question, and its not since its static.

I’d be comfortable using them.

[broke_shooter]

I have a gen 2 fde pmag that i had sitting in an ammo can loaded with 30 rnds for about 4 years. A couple months ago I was going through my mags and noticed the fde one wouldnt free fall from the rifle. All my other mags did. Upon inspection I noticed the top two rounds were almost side by side (not quite but the rear end of the second rnd was sticking up higher than usual, if that makes sense) , I pushed down on the rounds and they went back into place. Inserted the mag again and the same thing happened. Wouldn't drop free. Unloaded it drops fine. I can't really see a difference between this one and a good one. I just have it sitting on top of my safe.

[Mrgunsngear]

I’ve had Gen2 and 3 PMAGs since they came out and most of my non stashed mags (i.e. the ones I use for practice/testing) stay loaded. Been this way for over a decade. I’ve never had an issue with cracking/feed lip dimensions changing/etc.... That’s been ongoing for at least a decade.


I’ve seen some photos of feed lip/spine cracking on some Gen2s but never experienced it personally FWIW.

[Colt Carson]

It’s good to know pmags hold up so well. If I was going to keep loaded mags tho I would use metal mags. I would be curious to know if a pmag that was loaded for ten years was disassembled and the length of the spring measured, then compared to the measurement from identical one just as old but never used (new condition basically), would the loaded mag spring be any shorter?

[jackblack73]

It’s good to know pmags hold up so well. If I was going to keep loaded mags tho I would use metal mags. I would be curious to know if a pmag that was loaded for ten years was disassembled and the length of the spring measured, then compared to the measurement from identical one just as old but never used (new condition basically), would the loaded mag spring be any shorter?

I'm not sure why you're wondering about a PMAG spring. I wouldn't expect it to be much different than a USGI mag spring. If anything, I'd wonder about the PMAG feed lips.

[Colt Carson]

Why would a pmag spring be compared to a usgi spring?

[jackblack73]

It’s a spring. To my knowledge the springs aren’t significantly different. At least I’ve never read as such in like 10 years of reading about PMAGs.