How long can I expect a mag to last. How aften does anyone have to get rid of a mag because of feed lip issues.

I guess I am not just looking at my use of the mags but I want to have enough for my son and so on down the line. I still see a time where he won’t be able to get the AR stuff he needs.

FWIW, I have USGI mags from the Vietnam war era, which function 100%, believe your worried about nuthin.

While some have had their springs replaced, (mostly the 30s) some of my 20 rounders are still sporting the original springs and still provide excellent reliablilty with no indication of malfunction.

You should have replacement springs for all the mags ya own, IMO, provided you are serious about passing them on to your heirs.

Mike

I think Mike's right about you worring about nothing, I think there will be plenty of mags to go around for several years to come, if your losing sleep over it, buy a 20 or 30mm ammo can and Fill it up with 20 and 30rder's  I only have two 20mm cans full,but I'm working on my third !!  

get yourself some extra  springs to squirrel away also ...    

I also have some 20rd mags from the 70's that I brought home, and still use them to this day, IMHO they are the most reliable AR mags to use,   and now the GI 30rder's with a magpul follower in them are just as Good ...  

I've got some Adventureline 30's from the late 60's early 70's with black followers.  Should have 5 20's coming soon.  They work 100%, never had a feed issue, but I don't run full auto.  I leave them loaded for extended periods and they've never failed me.  Good stuff.  Most GI mags will last almost indefinitely unless they're abused.  Good idea to have replacement springs and followers, but the body should last a LONG time.  

87 months!

I used 2 30 round GI mags constantly as Range mags and kept my others for Duty use. The feed lip on one of them cracked about 1 year ago and the mag stopped working last month so I trashed it. I kept the follower and spring. Anyway I got 3 years of fairly hard use out of it.
Pat