How long can a PMAG stay loaded?

[Disciple]

The dust cover keeping the feed lips from spreading is a common misconception and false.

Your evidence?

[Hank6046]

Your evidence?

I would also like to know this. Resurrecting a thread from August 2020 you would want to ensure that you have more than a blanket statement on your findings

[TexasAggie2005]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...34#post2249434

[Defaultmp3]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...34#post2249434

To expound further:

There is a common misconception that the dust/impact cover supplied with most PMAG products is in some way required to prevent feed lip creep or spread over time. This is not the case. When initially loaded, the PMAG GEN M3, and all PMAGs in the current lineup, exhibit a tiny normalization of feed lip geometry within a very small window of time measured in days, and then this geometry then remains stable over many years, heat cycles, cooling cycles, and outdoor UV and weather exposure. We routinely load magazines and place them into stable indoor, hot, cold, and outdoor exposure storage to monitor various batches of material. These magazines are occasionally function tested and reloaded with no issues.

As implied by the name, the dust and impact cover is indeed designed to keep debris out of magazines during storage, and to provide an extra measure of feed lip protection for magazines in storage, such as stuffed in an ammo can in a tactical vehicle used in off road operations, or for aerial delivery, kicking containers of loaded mags off of moving vehicles, and the like. This ensures that magazines that may normally be out of sight, not maintained, or subjected to delivery handling that is many, many times the normal testing and usage criteria will perform flawlessly after a quick flick to remove the cover.

Source: https://www.bigtexordnance.com/diffe...-magpul-pmags/

[lysander]

Q. How long can a PMAG stay loaded?
A. Until I can vote 30 times.

One election cycle?

They'll last longer than that

[TexasAggie2005]

Thanks for that. I knew there was a better explanation out there.

[fedupflyer]

The dust cover keeping the feed lips from spreading is a common misconception and false.

Magpul use to recommend using the dust cover for leaving mags loaded over extended periods of time.
I assume they still do.
But what does the manufacture know anyway.

[Defaultmp3]

Magpul use to recommend using the dust cover for leaving mags loaded over extended periods of time.
I assume they still do.

Your assumption would be wrong then.

[Disciple]

I may have misinterpreted wreck's statement. I inferred that he meant feed lip spread occurs even when using the dust covers, but my first generation PMAGs stored with covers on did not spread.

[17K]

I had a dozen Rev Ms loaded to 30 and stored from 2010 to 2016 with the dustcovers on.

When I checked them in 2016 about half the covers had popped off. All the mags were just fine and went into a friend’s training set and as far as I know have given good service.