Ours were brand new had to take them out of the wrapper but the genius that decided they had to be parkerized should have been shot
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Just so I can check and clean them, I have 6 mags at least for all my pistoles I donāt want 2 used mags and 4 new in box I want them all broken in. If we travel further from home, I will load extra mags for the ride. I carry an extra .32 mag in my left back pocket with my comb and to my surprise when I thumbed the rounds out, I found a little ball of hair in the mag. 
Besides, Iām just a bit anal about checking my equipment and keeping it in top shape. 
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Nice thing about guns is that once you field strip them you can pretty much tell where and how much cleaning is needed. Not so with magazines. The evil lurks in the dark and hidden places.
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You see, this was my problem. I did not have any problems till I needed them at the training class and then it was too late.
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Actually, a training class is the best place to discover problems as opposed to having a problem in the wild.
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Good topic. Mine are kinda still new, as I sold mine, for different models.
I imagine taking a mag apart is best cleaning, but I donāt trust myself on being able to disassemble, reassemble, and fear Iāll lose a spring or a part. But I know they are able to disassemble.
Figure Iāll clean em when they age, but I was thinking of just wearing some leather gloves, and using a dull but strong tool and push a cleaning towel down into it, and wipe it out, being careful not to scratch or break anything, being careful that no threads or strings ever get caught in there as would cause a serious malfunction. IDK.
Yep.
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I actually have 1 out of 3 OEM magazineās that is a little sticky, doesnāt freely fall out in my Glock. Not sure why.
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Depress the spring and secure it then you can clean with Q-tips and a towel. That is how I managed to operate that day. They were still dirty bur it worked well enough to get through the class.
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My carry mags donāt really get dirty. I use them enough to prove them and then only use them on rare occasion to cycle through ammo.
My rifle mags on suppressed riflesā¦now those are filthy
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The price of silence!
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Also consider the relationship of dirty ammo being directly proportional to dirty magazines.
And the price of cheap ammo is inversely proportional to clean(er) magazines.
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My wife keeps finding my dirty magazines. She says they are disgusting!
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Well, most of the time, they get ignored. The only times that Iāve laid them all out to clean has been before going to a class where Iāll be shooting 500 rounds or more. But for normal range days and shorter classes, they mostly get ignored until thereās an issue. There have been times when one might feel a little gritty when Iām loading it or the follower might look dirty at which point Iāll set it aside to clean later. Or if Iām doing reloads at the range, Iāll use the same two that get dropped repeatedly and then those two get cleaned and inspected when I get home. So thereās some random cleanings in there.
Thereās also a factor of which magazines weāre talking about. For my 1911s, Iāve got a LOT of magazines, all with different amounts of use and wear, and different states of cleanliness. If I go to a class with a 1911 and have an issue, Iāve got plenty of mags to spare. But for some, Iāve only got two or three mags. If I was going to take even a small class with one of those, Iād make sure to carefully inspect and possibly clean those mags before the class. I donāt think Iāve ever cleaned my Beretta mags. 
But I donāt take it to any classes because I suck with that first DA shot so itās just a range gun anyway.
I should find a way to number my mags one of these days. I usually just use tape to identify any that give me problems or to identify which ones are going to take some abuse during training.
EDC mags are a different story of course. They get special treatment.
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Thanks, smart advice brother.
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Something I never thought of. Thank you.
Sharpies āpermanentā markers come in colors. I buy white or silver and mark the plate on every mag I own and keep all the mags that belong to a gun WITH the gun. I donāt like mix/match. Marking mags is also almost a requirement when you play/train with groups and you all have similar or same guns, or youāre almost guaranteed to come home ālightā.
BTW, if needed, Sharpie permanent ink comes off with rubbing alcohol. Most folks donāt know thatā¦
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I mark mine also 
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I use paint pens to mark mags
Like these
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Yep Used them. Started at # 1 on bottom plate.
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I havenāt bought Playboy or penthouse since I was in my thirties and that was three decades ago! 
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