Magazine Care

[Luckyforward]

I would appreciate feedback about how you clean and care for pistol magazines.  How do you clean, oil, or not clean and oil.

As always, I am thankful for all the help I get from the great folks on TGO.

[Garufa]

For plastic mags I just wipe the powder residue off the follower and lips with a rag infused with a little CLP.

Blued and stainless mags the same but I wipe the entire mag down with CLP, generously if they’re not it going to be used for a while.

Rarely, if ever, do I go to the trouble of disassembling and cleaning the innards.  It’s just not necessary unless you’re having magazine problems.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2019 by Garufa

[peejman]

Basically the same. Wipe off residue with a minimal amount of solvent on a patch, wipe with a very lightly oiled patch, then dry with a clean patch.  I like them clean and dry. Plastic followers shouldn't need any lubricant and it tends to attract grit. I've never had issues with corrosion.  

[DaveTN]

 I have been shooting and collecting guns for over 50 years. I can only remember one magazine issue; it was with a M1 Carbine. Other than that, magazines have never been an issue for me, and I don’t do anything but use them. But I also don't generally drop magazines on the ground. If you do, you may need to clean them and check them for damage.

Now, I have had failures to feed and failures to eject; but they were problems with the guns and not the mags. I immediately sent the guns back to the manufacturer and they fixed them. It’s my opinion from what I see, too many people will troubleshoot magazines for a long time and seem reluctant to acknowledge something is wrong with the firearm. I want the manufacturer to go through the gun and make it right.

Sure, I guess if you had magazines loaded for a lot of years, they might need the springs replaced. But I’ve never had that happen, and I don’t usually keep carry guns that long.

[Jeb48]

I had some magazines from a Ruger SR-22 that were not feeding well after using them with some particularly waxy rounds. I cleaned them with some water based gun solvent/cleaner and stopped using that brand of ammo.

When I moved to NY after college Ieft most of my guns with my father including a Hi Standard .22 that was  my first handgun (bought while I was in college). I finally retrieved it after I got my carry permit in NY 35 years later. It sat with 2 loaded magazines all that time. Still feed and worked perfect when I started shooting it again and still does now 50 years after I bought it.

[DWARREN123]

New mags I disassemble and inspect/wipe down. When shooting I just wipe them down. 

[swiley383]

The only mag I have had trouble with is a MFT AR mag. It still feeds just fine but if you shake the mag or squeeze it the rounds will shoot out of it. What’s crazy it still works I got to the range and had some loose rounds in my bag. I did not think too much of it until I got home and loaded all my mags back up. Looks like the feed lips are too far apart when compared to a different mag. I have several MFT AR mags and this is the only one like that.

[Garufa]

2 hours ago, swiley383 said:

The only mag I have had trouble with is a MFT AR mag. It still feeds just fine but if you shake the mag or squeeze it the rounds will shoot out of it. What’s crazy it still works I got to the range and had some loose rounds in my bag. I did not think too much of it until I got home and loaded all my mags back up. Looks like the feed lips are too far apart when compared to a different mag. I have several MFT AR mags and this is the only one like that.

What is MFT?  Throw it out and get USGI or Magpul clips.

[swiley383]

Mission first tactical 

[chances R]

I have had Wilson mags fail to function properly due to routine fouling of the follower in my Dan Wesson Specialist 45..  Baffled even a couple of seasoned gunsmiths.....and they figured it out.

I frequently drop mags shooting IDPA.  I don't routinely break them down but if heavily blackened will wipe them off.  I keep a record of changing the springs out periodically.  I use the Hornady clean and lube spray which leaves a dry lubricant.  Has always worked great for me without attracting or holding grit, dirt, etc.

 

 

[GNfromTN]

Just returned from Gunsite Academy in AZ (250 Pistol Class). Had a classroom session with the Gunsmith regarding cleaning and lubing.

Very experienced Gunsmith. He recommended getting a small hobby type air compressor to clean mags as well as finish cleaning pistols before lubing. He said he just cleans the mags out with air. Wipes down the outside but blows the inside of the mags clean with air. Does not take them apart nor lubes the spring, just compressed air. Very useful after doing speed reloading in the dry, sandy, conditions in Arizona.

[TGO David]

As a general routine, once a year I'll take my carry mags apart and run dry strips of an old t-shirt through them just to clean out any dust that may have accumulated inside of them.

I have mags designated for use on the range/classes that I clean more frequently and sometimes more thoroughly, depending on the conditions of the range that session.  I keep these mags separate since they get dropped, stepped on, mashed into the dirt, etc.  They take more abuse than my carry mags and are going to fail sooner than my carry mags.

Since the mean time between failure (MBTF) is going to be shorter for them, I don't want them in my carry rotation.  They are of the same make/model/configuration as what is actually in my carry rotation, though, so I can extrapolate from their use how the carry gear is going to perform and hold up. 

 

[xtriggerman]

I like Eezox dry lube. I had a full service gunshop 82-96 after PA gunsmith school and one day before I knew about that stuff, A customer ordered a Win M70 in 300 H&H. It was the absolutely roughest action I'v ever felt on a 70. I wanted to send it back to Winchester but the new owner Eugene, said let me play with it for a while. A couple weeks latter he comes in with the 300 H&H and hands it to me and says try the action. I was shocked.... it was like a completely different gun. the action was silky smooth with ZERO wash board effect in its movement. All Eugene did with it was watch TV while hand working the Eezox into the bolt body and rails. I ordered a case of it and never looked back. When the Gulf war was going on, I called Eezox for another case to ship to a co worker's outfit who was in Iraq. The CS guy at Eezox told me they sell the stuff by the 55 gallons to the Saudis. Back then it was primarily used inside magazines to keep the middle eastern dirt from sticking. The formulation has changed since those days but it is quality stuff. I still use it on actions, mostly 22 autos since that's what gets used most. https://www.eezox.com/