Magazine Cycles?

[ChrisMcCracken]

How many cycles is reasonable for the life of a magazine spring?

I ask because I'm trying to work out a design or at least a concept in my head for how to power a magazine follower with a different type of spring. Imagine rather than a coil of wire that compresses logitudinally between the follower and base pad, a flat coil spring that is attached to the follower and unwinds as the follower approaches the basepad. This spring should take up zero space in a full magazine if it completely unwinds as the follower approaches the basepad.

Then the question is, how much space does a typical spring take up in the base of a fully loaded magazine? How many more bullets could you fit in that magazine if the follower were allowed to completely reach the basepad?

[bbbean]

How many cycles is reasonable for the life of a magazine spring?

I ask because I'm trying to work out a design or at least a concept in my head for how to power a magazine follower with a different type of spring. Imagine rather than a coil of wire that compresses logitudinally between the follower and base pad, a flat coil spring that is attached to the follower and unwinds as the follower approaches the basepad. This spring should take up zero space in a full magazine if it completely unwinds as the follower approaches the basepad.

Then the question is, how much space does a typical spring take up in the base of a fully loaded magazine? How many more bullets could you fit in that magazine if the follower were allowed to completely reach the basepad?

You could check this yourself by simply taking the spring out of a mag and loading it up.

That said, the Grams springs and followers are pretty close to what you're describing (except for spring shape). The conpressed spring and follower take up very little space at the bottom of the mag.

[Alan Meek]

How many cycles is reasonable for the life of a magazine spring?

I ask because I'm trying to work out a design or at least a concept in my head for how to power a magazine follower with a different type of spring. Imagine rather than a coil of wire that compresses logitudinally between the follower and base pad, a flat coil spring that is attached to the follower and unwinds as the follower approaches the basepad. This spring should take up zero space in a full magazine if it completely unwinds as the follower approaches the basepad.

Then the question is, how much space does a typical spring take up in the base of a fully loaded magazine? How many more bullets could you fit in that magazine if the follower were allowed to completely reach the basepad?

Ramline had a magazine years ago that had a flat spring in it.

Alan

[h2osport]

The problem with a flat/ribbon spring is they do not like dirt. If anything gets between the spring and while coiling up, it distorts the spring. Not sure as to the longevity of the ribbon springs. I see lots of them break in nail guns/staplers. Durability would probably be related to how tight of a radius they were wound on, which in turn affects the space needed under the follower.

Randy

[ChrisMcCracken]

I was looking at specs for one spring supplier. They list them by minimum cycles that can be expected. The lowest is 12k, some start at 20k. Depending on the use and strain, they report the upper end of use in the millions of cycles. If you buy the design babble, these seem to be more advanced than regular clock type springs that have been around for hundreds of years. I can certainly imagine dirt large debris being an issue. Maybe without having to put pressure on the basepad, you could leave it more open. If the ribbon passed through a slot on the front of the follower this might have the effect of clearing the ribbon of larger bits.

If you think about mags. A barrel can go through lets say 100k rounds (?). At 10rds for L10, thats 10k cycles if you only use one mag. At 30rds, thats 3k cycles.

Edited March 27, 2009 by Erucolindon

[Dan Sierpina]

Ramline had a magazine years ago that had a flat spring in it.

Alan

I had those Ramline mags. Used them in a Tanfoglio 9X21. They held a few extra rounds, but, drop them in the sand, and they were done for the rest of the match. That style spring doesn't lend itself well for our style of shooting.

[John Tuley]

I had those Ramline mags. Used them in a Tanfoglio 9X21. They held a few extra rounds, but, drop them in the sand, and they were done for the rest of the match. That style spring doesn't lend itself well for our style of shooting.

I just discovered that I've got some of those too. (Dad gave me a "grab bag" of Beretta 92 mags with some Ramlines in there.) How did you get them clean? Maybe run a mag brush in from the lips, and just push the follower as you go?

Thanks,

-- John.

[uscbigdawg]

Talk it over with Beven Grams and I'm sure he'll get you all the info you could ever want/need.

Rich

[notasccrmom]

A conical compression spring if designed correctly could have a pretty small solid height under a follower compared to standard coil spring and retain all of the reliability. No reason to over complicate things.