How often, Why and what exactly do YOU do to it?

[ripley16]

I clean the mags of guns I shoot a lot maybe annually. Others can go years. I like to use Eezox on the spring and mag tube to keep them rust free and slick. Takes just a few minutes to run a cloth through the tube and a patch around the spring coils. I do it mainly for corrosion protection as much for function.

[JohnR]

Internet lore says with modern metallurgy there's no need to let springs "rest" by unloading them.

[Barth]

Only mags I've ever disassembled are Glock.
Reason = FTF.
Replaced springs with Wolff 10% Extra Power.
Still occasional FTF.
Really don't like Glocks

Full Disclosure:
Have cracked open my HK mags to go with flat base plates.
My Hks are bombproof.
No troubles with my MK40 Elite Stainless factory mags either
I'll wipe my mag bodies down with Ballistol and then wipe off the residual Ballistol.
All my mags never fail (except Glock).
Tripp Cobra, Wilson Combat ETM and Checkmate have been 100% too.

[Handy]

Internet lore says with modern metallurgy there's no need to let springs "rest" by unloading them.

Not-so-modern springs don't benefit from "rest" either.

[340pd]

Bored one day and disassembled a Ruger MKII mag. I was amazed at the gunk in that sucker. Lots of dry lube and Q-Tips. Now, I pay more attention to mags when cleaning the gun.

[Bawanna]

Some 22 ammo can be quite messy and I'm sure a lot of that nasty gets into the mags.

[Handy]

Some 22 ammo can be quite messy and I'm sure a lot of that nasty gets into the mags.

Especially in blowback operated guns.

[SgtStone]

I disassemble, clean, & polish new mags. Center-fire are good for a few years after that unless dropped in the gritty sand that passes for soil here in the desert. Sand usually means disassembly. Otherwise, I brush & wipe each mag before loading, using a nylon brush & soft cloth; sometimes compressed air.

Rim-fire mags, particularly for my favorite target rifles, get taken apart for cleaning around 1 to 2,000 rounds to remove powder residue & bullet wax (.22LR) when external methods fail to come clean.

Why? New mags come with protective coatings that interfere w/ correct function.

I prefer clean machinery. You'd be just as dead if I killed you w/ a rusty knife but that would disrespect the blade.

[pist]

"Gentle stretching" of a spring is only going to wear the spring out faster, because permanently deforming it like that damages the structure of the steel. It is no different than bending a wire back and forth - both directions contribute to the work hardening that makes the wire eventually crack.

The best things you can do for a spring are not cycle it, not cycle it fully or leave it as uncompressed as possible when not in use (as long as that doesn't involve more cycling). In other words, loading and unloading a carry magazine will not make it last as long as just leaving it loaded, and leaving it partially loaded will put less wear on it than fully loaded.

But you can't take the set out of spring by setting it in the other direction. The only thing you can do is re-heat treat the spring (which is not as practical as replacing the spring).

Everything said in this quote agrees with what I've come to understand about magazine springs. This is why I don't understand or necessarily agree with the advice I recently saw in a LuckyGunner.com article/video about unloading and rotating your magazines every 90 days. I think it's better to just leave them loaded. If you use them regularly, then sure, bring it home from the range unloaded and swap another one into rotation, but I don't think it makes sense to unload a magazine just to "rest" it.

I have a K9 that I bought in 1996. For a few years, I bought extra magazines and springs and used to rotate the springs regularly. Then I left 4 magazines fully loaded for about 18 years. I recently fired ~35 rounds with those magazines (which admittedly is not much), but they worked absolutely fine. I'd think if the springs were really worn out, I would have had at least some failures.

But I do think it makes good sense to clean magazines occasionally. If I look in the holes of my (unloaded) magazines after shooting, I can see debris particles in there. Kahr also advises cleaning magazines after each shooting session. And Kahr magazines (at least 9mm magazines) are super easy to disassemble--too easy, I think, since I can very easily do it with a finger in the magazine base lock, and the first time I used my new PM9, I had a magazine literally fall apart on me during preparation to fire.

[marshal kane]

Ditto what Handy said especially the part of "damages the structure of the steel". I see it as taking some of the spring our of the spring as once deformed (made longer) makes it weaker. YMMV