This is sort of an elementary question, but I'm still making the transition from revolvers-only. Can I Glock be kept loaded with a full magazine and one in the chamber for months at a time? Does that cause any issues as far as spring compression, etc.? Obviously, I run some rounds through it once in a while, but it can be months between trips to the range (unfortunately). Thanks.
Welcome to the Glock Forum 1.4G !! Your question could cause a whirlwind of debate... but IMHO...keeping a Glock mag loaded for months at a time will not cause any irreputable damage to the spring.
How are you gonna develop proficiency if you dont shoot at least once a month? 'Jes kiddin' Welcome to the Forum!
You're go to go! Try to rotate the mags about every 90 days if you have a concern and it makes you feel better. MORE IMPORTANT though, be sure to clean out the barrel at least once a month or, more often depending on the level of cleanliness do to dust bunnies.... Might want to field strip and give it a general once over every 90 days too. Just be sure to NOT OVERLUBE the gun.
Here's good reason to not load and unload http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=551015 THE FOLLOWING TRAINING ADVISORY WAS FORWARDED FROM GWINETT COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT - LAWRENCEVILLE, GA In September of this year a GCPD officer was involved in a situation which quickly became a use of deadly force incident. When the officer made the decision to use deadly force, the chambered round in his duty pistol did not fire. Fortunately, the officer used good tactics, remembered his training and cleared the malfunction, successfully ending the encounter. The misfired round, which had a full firing pin strike, was collected and was later sent to the manufacturer for analysis. Their analysis showed the following: "...the cause of the misfire was determined to be from the primer mix being knocked out of the primer when the round was cycled through the firearm multiple times". We also sent an additional 2,000 rounds of the Winchester 9mm duty ammunition to the manufacturer. All 2,000 rounds were successfully fired. In discussions with the officer, we discovered that since he has small children at home, he unloads his duty weapon daily. His routine is to eject the chambered round to store the weapon. Prior to returning to duty he chambers the top round in his primary magazine, then takes the previously ejected round and puts in back in the magazine. Those two rounds were repeatedly cycled and had been since duty ammunition was issued in February or March of 2011, resulting in as many as 100 chambering and extracting cycles. This caused an internal failure of the primer, not discernible by external inspection. This advisory is to inform all sworn personnel that repeated cycling of duty rounds is to be avoided. As a reminder, when loading the weapon, load from the magazine and do not drop the round directly into the chamber. If an officer's only method of safe home storage is to unload the weapon, the Firearms Training Unit suggests that you unload an entire magazine and rotate those rounds. In addition, you should also rotate through all 3 duty magazines, so that all 52 duty rounds are cycled, not just a few rounds. A more practical method of home storage is probably to use a trigger lock or a locked storage box. FURTHER GUIDANCE FROM ATF FIREARMS TECHNOLOGY BRANCH: The primer compound separation is a risk of repeatedly chambering the same round. The more common issue is bullet setback, which increases the chamber pressures often resulting in more negative effects. SOD RECOMMENDATION: In addition to following the guidance provided above of constantly rotating duty ammunition that is removed during the unloading/reloading of the weapon, training ammunition utilized during firearm sustainment and weapon manipulation drills, should also be discarded if it has been inserted into the chamber more than twice. This practice lessens the likelihood of a failure to fire or more catastrophic results.
IMHO I would keep it loaded with one in the pipe at all times.... obviously, rotate it out every month or so, but if you learn good trigger discipline and have a holster that covers your trigger well enough, and dont have children at home, you should be just fine man
This has nothing to do with rotating magazines. The loaded round/chambered round can stay right there, in the chamber and does not have to be cycled to rotate a magazine. However, it is good practice to clear the bore of a Every Day Carry (EDC) weapon of lint and dustballs or, inspect the weapon for operational conditions periodicly. If the chambered round is going to be removed, it can be cycled thru the existing ammo without problems.
