Posted: 12/4/2008 11:14:47 AM EDT
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OK, with all these new rifle purchases people are making, lets assume you have 12-15 new magazines for your new rifle. Now with the hostile potential political climate, what would be your plan to maximize the life of said magazines.
Would you use them all evenly so that they each age as slowly as possible? Would you test all of them and then use 2 or 3 at a time until they are completely worn out before starting on the next 2 or 3? Would you keep all new in wrap except the 2 or 3 you are using? Something else? Assume you have no promise of being able to obtain more. We all assume if the opportunity presented itself, it would be prudent to take advantage of that. Doc |
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I personally would go with... Test them all... make certain they all work and then use 2 or 3 different ones at a time each time you go to the range... until say you have a couple hundred rounds through them each... break in period. Then I would simply use the same 2 or 3 each time after that until those wear out. When those wear out... simply replace with your others... and then buy new ones. I would think tho that you should get ALLOT of mileage out of mags... I've been shooting for 15 years multiple weapons with the same mag and have not had to replace one mag yet.
Camm |
| 12 to 15 magazines is not going to last you very long if you do any serious amount of shooting. if you are planning to rely on what you have now to last the rest of you life, I would look at how many magazines you have managed to break for that gun so far and adjust your total accordingly, if you think it is a problem. |
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Test them all, pack them away, then buy more and repeat the process.
This may sound like a smart a$$ answer, but it is not meant to be. I'm serious. While 12-15 magazines is a good amount to have on hand, loaded up for an emergency, I would not consider it a "life time supply". Magazines do wear out, get damaged, and/or get lost. The more you train, practice or just shoot for fun, the more wear they will receive. Magazines haven't been banned yet. The manufactures are making them as fast as they can. They will start showing up in the system again. I would suggest to the PO to obtain some more. I wouldn't pay scalpers or panic prices yet, but be on the look out for more. My local gun shop just got in 2 cases of 100 mags per case. They are selling, but I could have doubled the amount of the OP's magazine count easily. I ordered 12 PMAGs from Brownells a week after the election. They were out of stock, but I back ordered them. Ordered them on a Monday, they showed up the following Saturday. |
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I have about 20 ar15 mags that I bought in 1988 that have seen close to 100k rds fired.
They haven't failed yet, I'm pretty sure they will someday, but the other 100 new mags will take their place. I doubt I will ever wear out most of my mags, especially fal and ak mags. |
I am sure that mags can wear out through normal use and I know I don't shoot enough  but most of the mil 30rd's I have have extensive use on them and are as reliable as the day they came off the line!
I would buy retro-fit kits (spring/followers) for 50% of them and call it good myself... |
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I keep one loadout of magazines full at all times. That's about a third of the mags on hand for each weapon. That third rotates with every range trip or every three months if I don't shoot that weapon.
In 7.62 or 5.56, that's 7 magazines full, 14 empty, and 1 or 2 spares. In .45 ACP, that's 3 full, 6 empty and no spares. (Note to self, buy more G-21 and 1911 mags.) When the global or local situation looks dire, like last week when AQ might have had a second operation going on here, a second third of my magazines gets a full load of ammunition. In a running firefight, we'll just see what happens, I haven't had to deal with that yet. The firearms overwhelming reason for existance is defense. I'd rather be ready to fight, and lose some magazines to spring wear, than hoarding equipment and not ready when a situation develops. If it comes to a comprehensive weapons and magazine ban, whixch would be intrinsically un-constitutional, I suspect there will be both a black market in magazines and parts, and additional sources for spares as well. Might find some just laying in the street. 
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I simply replace or repair my mags when they need it. Some get more use than others, but I've never seen a problem trend.
I do suggest you buy springs and followers if possible for that purpose. I've got a big box of springs from Wolff that will last longer than I will to keep my stuff running. |
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Fire can destroy your guns and magazines.
During the last ban I kept stuff in seperate buildings so a house fire would not cause me to have to pay silly prices to replace stuff. I recomend getting as many mags as you can. You can lose them, you can damage them, you might wear them out as well. |
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12 to 15 magazines is not going to last you very long if you do any serious amount of shooting.
What? Not following you there. What are you calling serious amount of shooting? I have done a LOT of shooting compared to most and can't say I've ever worn out a mag. I could also count the ones that were truly damaged on one hand. I have a feeling you are confusing "serious shooting" with abuse. Mags simply aren't that delicate. |
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i'm not going to lie, I've got well over 300 AR-15 mags... I really don't know what to tell you... my great grand kids won't need AR mags....
not too mention that should Osama ban firearms, this country will be in such an up roar that it will be civil war... so I figure it won't be anything to pick new ones up off the fallen... but that is just me and my way too tight tin foil.... |
| I have seven that have been tested and are keeped loaded and ready to go. I have another eight that I use for the range\training etc. The rest are keep as replacements. As the range\training mags get worn out, they are replaced with the already loaded\go-to mags. Those are replaced with news one from storage (after testing). |
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Quoted:
i have as many safe queen magazines as i have safe queen guns = zero...i use all my mags a range visit or two depending how many rounds i go through before i put them into circulation...if they dont make it without any problems i get rid of them... i would just use the 10 round mags and keep the hi-caps at home. 
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Quoted:
OK, with all these new rifle purchases people are making, lets assume you have 12-15 new magazines for your new rifle. Now with the hostile potential political climate, what would be your plan to maximize the life of said magazines. Would you use them all evenly so that they each age as slowly as possible? Would you test all of them and then use 2 or 3 at a time until they are completely worn out before starting on the next 2 or 3? Would you keep all new in wrap except the 2 or 3 you are using? Something else? Assume you have no promise of being able to obtain more. We all assume if the opportunity presented itself, it would be prudent to take advantage of that. Doc |
| I test all of my mags prior to them being "stashed". What good is a brand new mag to me if I happened to order one that is out of spec and when all my "good" mags are gone I reach for my pile of NIW mags to find only a few of them actually work properly? I've heard of out of spec mags coming from just about every big name there is be it CMI for my M14 or PMAG's or whoever. Sometimes the distributor or the manufacturer will replace them and sometimes they wont either way I wont keep a mag that not up to 100% around. Mags and mag rebuild kits are cheep there is not reason not to have a healthy supply on hand. |
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I pull one from every batch to make sure they function, but for the most part have a pile of 20 that I rotate / use on a regular basis. The remaining 9 (I typically buy in groups of 10) for each new group get boxed away, remaining in their wrapper.
Maybe I'll need them, maybe I'll sell them when they are banned, but they are there safe and sound until such time. |