How long can a Semi-Auto Pistol be stored in Condition 1?

[N3uka]

Does fatigue on seeing posts about springs count?

 

[JohnnyE]

My brother's 1935 Dodge has never been parked or stored on blocks or jackstands and it still sits at the same height as when it rolled off the assembly line 88 years ago, and the valve springs still do their job just fine. These are all correctly designed and manufactured springs.

OTOH, I had a mag spring fail on its first use just after I took it out of the package. I loaded it up at the range and could not even get through the entire mag. There wasn't enough oomph in the spring to lift the final five rounds up to the feed lips. In one other mag (different make) the spring fractured into four or five pieces when I loaded it, and it was never stored loaded. Both were likely due to problems with the alloy or heat treat. These are my only two mag spring failures in my collective experience with perhaps 3 or 4 hundred mags.

 

[RFBfromDE]

Does fatigue on seeing posts about springs count?

I speaking to the management about improving the search feature.

Will you sign my petition?

 

[RFBfromDE]

Some like redheads...

Others look for redheads they can like!

 

[fauxknee]

For those that have enjoyed the Jack Reacher Book series, there was one where he actually talked about stale mags and actually risked his life on that assumption. Basically rushing a perp that had a gun that he knew to have a "stale" mag and hoping it misfired on the second round. It did, ain't fantasy great...

I'm thinking gun fiction occurs because the majority of people actually know nothing about firearms except what they garner from books, movies, tv, and liberal politicians and news outlets. Knowing a magazine will fail is just like how actors can shoot guns that seem to have infinite rounds and only the bad guys get shot. But always fun to watch a good shoot 'em up lol!

 

[TI-tick]

You crap in a magazine spring thread with your revolver drivel
War!

No war until debts are collected!

 

[eruby]

No war until debts are collected!

 

[Biggfoot44]

Forever

In human terms it rounds off that way . More than one person's lifetime .


They've slowed down in recent years , but for a while there , seem like several times a year saw a small piece in a gun rag, or the internet to the effect of :

" After Grandma passed away/ moved to nursing home we were packing up the stuff from the old home place .
Lo & Behold we found Grandpa's 1911 he brought home from WW One , in either sock drawer or attic . Fully loaded , complete with holster ,mag holder,.and more loaded mags in the pouches .

Hey , let's test this to see if it will still work . "

Sometimes they lubed or field stripped first , sometimes just used as- is .
Sometimes just function tested , sometimes shot for group and/ or chronograph .

Up until 2000-ish , the reported results were always " Worked Fine " .

After that started seeing : pimers not igniting first hit > differing audible reports > sluggish cycling . When the erstwhile correspondents would then try fresh ammunition , went back to " works fine " .

Ammunition is the limiting factor , not the gun .

Up to 75 years is as good as brand new . ***

75- 100 years test periodically , and be on the lookout.

100yrs plus ? Dude ! What are you thinking ? It's worth waaay more as a collectible than as mere ammunition . Original packaging in good shape even more than the ammo .

********** This is ammo from early 1900's aged until today , using mercuric primers and 1st generation single base powders . Not yet known how modern-ish ammo will perform at similar ages . We'll have to wait for our kids and grandkids to discover stashes of Vietnam era ammunition in the 2040's and 2050's .

******************

After that sort of digression , notice that no issues with 75- 100 yr old springs that weren't being fired .

Spring deterioration comes almost entirely from the number of compression cycles , not from sitting still .

 

[Biggfoot44]

A human lifetime now that I'm 60? Probably.

Maybe not the rest of my lifetime when I was 20.

Actually . yes even if you're just turning 21 . Rotating fresh ammunition about the time you collect social security would be a wise precaution .

 

[Biggfoot44]

Are you saying that mags shouldn't be stored loaded with compressed mags for extended periods of time? What's a stale mag?

https://www.mdshooters.com/threads/magazine-spring-compression-test.250633/

Magazines can be a more complex subject . Sometimes other design factors can push spring technology beyond their optimal range .

For example , 1911 mags . JMB designed 7rd mags will last forever . Flush fit 8 rd mags are pushing the design and materials limits . In their early days , lots of accounts of them working fine , when loaded at a range session or match , but occasional malfunctions if left loaded for months .

( Most of today's 8rd 1911 mags are not true flush fit , but the mag tube is 0.25 - ish longer , disguised by an ersatz bumper pad this splits the difference between JMB , and flush. 8 . )

 

[Art3]

Now can someone explain why my 13 rounds Shield Plus magazine can only take 10 rounds no matter how hard I try?

Could it have been made MD legal?

 

[rbird7282]

Now can someone explain why my 13 rounds Shield Plus magazine can only take 10 rounds no matter how hard I try?

Because it's been blocked to comply with MD law. Take it into VA, PA, or WV, disassemble it, and see if there's a dowel glued in there to block it. Remove dowel, reassemble, and return to Maryland with a 13 round Shield mag.

 

[Michigander08]

Could it have been made MD legal?

I'm in Delaware.

 

[rbird7282]

I'm in Delaware.

Is it possible you got a 10 round compliant pistol by accident? Many manufacturers sell them and the only difference would be the magazine.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Revolvers have springs. They fatigue just like magazine springs.

Yes , they have springs , including fiddley little ones inside the lockwork , that can break , and be a pia to replace .

That said , a fully loaded and ready to go Revolver hibernating in a sock drawer " just in case " , has essentially no load on the springs .

If the debate is framed as : Which family of handguns is best suited to be stored loaded and ready to go , and then sit there untouched and unmaintained for 20 years , then grabbed at need to fire in less than one second , the Answer is Revolver .

Fewer potential failure points , and more. Resilience to deal with potential environmental factors .

Lubrication dried up ? Just pull trigger harder if need be .
Lubrication partly congealed ? Just pull trigger harder if need be .
Light to medium rust on bearing surfaces ? Just pull trigger harder if need be.
Covered in dust bunnies ? Just pull trigger if need be .
Failure to feed ? Ha Ha Gotcha !

I might seem humorous or unrealistic parameters , but I'm not . Recently I made the aquaintce of a " sock drawer just in case gun " , after being helpful when a " just in case " potentially came up . ( It didn't , but being prepared at the time was prudent ).

Until that night , it had spent 18. Years. In a drawer ! And it was in excellent shape , functioned more smoothly than most new mfg revolvers of its type .

When our schedules mesh , I will be giving it a courtesy cleaning . and fresh suitable HD ammo .

( What was it ? A Taraus M85 , from the era shortly after the actually pretty good Detective Special - esque wood grips were superceeded by similar shaped rubber grips . Circa 1990 . )

 

[Biggfoot44]

OTOH, I had a mag spring fail on its first use just after I took it out of the package. I loaded it up at the range and could not even get through the entire mag. There wasn't enough oomph in the spring to lift the final five rounds up to the feed lips. In one other mag (different make) the spring fractured into four or five pieces when I loaded it, and it was never stored loaded. Both were likely due to problems with the alloy or heat treat. These are my only two mag spring failures in my collective experience with perhaps 3 or 4 hundred mags.

To be fair , those were Defective Springs , not fatigued .

 

[JohnnyE]

To be fair , those were Defective Springs , not fatigued .

That's right. Bad steel alloy and/or bad heat treat = defective (error on the manufacturer's part), not anything a user does.

 

[Pale Ryder]

DA Revolvers solve everything, don’t they?

If I were a magazine spring, I’d fold under pressure!

Well, until the cylinder doesn’t revolve, or revolves to freely.
Replacing springs is usually easier than doing a timing job.

 

[joppaj]

Consider that a police officer carries a handgun in condition one every day. Barring a use of force, it's probably fired twice a year and then immediately returned to condition one. That weapon may be carried for 20 years and MAYBE at a big agency a trained armorer will do an inspection every few years.

 

[Crazytrain]

IIRC it was a Beretta 92 that was stashed in a kitchen drawer of the gal he was banging in the book - he almost always hooks up with someone in those books. I rolled my eyes when I read that. There have been several things in the Reacher books regarding guns that are factually inaccurate, and for no real reason that I can see because most of the time they don't further the plot.

Lee Child, the author, is British. Not sure why he chose and American protagonist wandering the USA. Fun books but he gets a lot wrong.