[firefighter1635]

I've had people tell me not to load out my 30 round AR mags full, leave them a couple rounds short . If it's a 30 round mag, why would you leave it short a couple rounds?

The people that tell me this said it's due to the springs. While i'm new to the AR platform I don't see them any different than any other mag. I load out my pistol mags full every time, and leave them loaded for months at a time.

Tell me exactly why I shouldn't top off my 30 round AR mags and leave them that way for months, years at a time.

 

[firefighter1635]

Bah! Mods please move to the correct section. I thought I was there when I made the post. Sorry

 

[Snakedriver]

Those of us who are old timers that carried M-16 & varients in Vietnam learned to download our mags. a round or two back then to make sure that it would feed reliably. The mags. of that time tended to double feed or jam the bolt by not coming out of the mag. right if they were filled all the way up.

These days with the better springs and anti-tilt followers in the modern mags., you're probably good-to-go and have found it to be so, but old habits die hard.

BTW, I still only put 28 in my 30's just to make sure.

 

[LDBennett]

firefighter1635:

While I believe as you do that you load the mags to capacity, the reasoning behind not doing so is based on the force the mag spring puts on the top round as more and more rounds are added to the magazine. Cheap mags may spread or distort the lips of the mag with the added force created by the full capacity of the mag. That may make for unreliable feeding of the first round or two. If the mags are that cheaply made then throw them away and buy some good mags.

LDBennett

 

[GunHugger]

It has more to do with how you do mag changes.

Normally...one fires until the mag is empty and the bolt locks back. You hit the mag release, mag falls, insert loaded mag, hit bolt release...fire.

When you change mags as above thirty rounds in the mag isn't a problem.

But when you insert a fully loaded mag when the bolt is forward it can take a lot of force to fully insert and the mag catch to engage.

IF, in a battle situation your bolt doesn't lock to the rear on an an empty mag for some reason loading a fully loaded mag could cause you time either fighting to get it to lock in or locking the bolt back first.

Or, you know your mag is down to a few rounds and you want to reload so you have a full mag 28 or 29 rounds it will make it easier and quicker to insert the mag when your bolt is forward.
This is why many do not load the full.

And note that some Pmags will even take 31 if you force it. This makes them real hard to insert with the bolt forward.

 

[wv hillbilly]

why take a chance on weakening the spring
if you can't hit your target with 28, i'm sure the other 2 wont help

 

[firefighter1635]

why take a chance on weakening the spring
if you can't hit your target with 28, i'm sure the other 2 wont help

I'm under the impression that a loaded mag will not weaken a spring. The repetitive loading and unloading of the spring is what i've always been told will weaken them over time.

 

[aa1911]

looks like you guys already covered it.

not the springs, those can stay mooshed forever and still work, it's the feeding issue.

I'm of the school of though that says don't sell me a 30 round magazine that only is supposed to have 28 rounds in it. That being said, I tend to load 29 rounds many times, but not really all that important to do so.

I've shot mags that were loaded completely and sitting for years that all fed reliably even after being fully compressed for that long. I used to rotate magazines at least every two weeks but now I hardly rotate at all, maybe 6 months if I think of it or if I dump a bunch at the range. Takes a hell of a lot to wear out a spring!