I break down all my magazines and clean them not regularly, but I do it enough to know it gets pretty dirty. The follower is always filthy, and the Magazine body and base plate I find those need love. Spring needs a little wipe down.
I feel good knowing I do Maintenance - I have less chance of a malfunction. In my daily life
More often when Iām dropping the mags in the dirt at an outdoor range, or shooting really dirty ammo.
Less often when Iām not.
When I hear-feel or see grit when Iām loading them, I take that as a cue they need attention.
I have carry/HD/SD magazines that I use enough to prove their function, and then I stop actively using them (other than cycling carry ammo through carry gun on occasion). Contrary to myth, springs in quality magazines wear out primarily from use, from being cycled, not from sitting loaded. And of course using mags means getting āstuffā in them and probably dropping them on the ground/concrete as well.
So I then have ārange magsā that get used and maybe abused. I donāt take them apart to clean them either unless I literally dropped them in mud or something like that.
I disassemble my mags maybe once every 5 years if even so. They donāt get any abuse though. I do use a compressed air canister when I can to make sure they donāt accumulate grit/lint.
It really depends. I donāt do it often, but certainly, I advise my students after an outdoor defensive pistol class, itās a really good idea. The magazines get much dirtier from outdoor shooting activities, such as dropping them in the dirt for emergency reloads, than from being gentle on a static indoor range. It wouldnāt be a bad idea to occasionally clean your carry magazine since lint and dust have a tendency to find all the small cracks.
Mostlyā¦ it depends.
I always clean the follower and outside body.
Detail cleaningā¦ I would say every other month.
I shoot a lot and never found single problem with magazine that didnāt get detail cleaning for 2 monthsā¦ but it may depend on the manufacturer.
Once in awhile, when I feel like major āspringā cleaning ā probably not more often than annually. Never have found any surprises.
Wipe grime off top of followers after use, and shake loose dirt out after theyāve been on the ground. I find soil particles will get between the follower and the magazine body pretty often. Before refilling, I will push the follower around with my finger and shake until thereās nothing rattling around inside ā donāt get accumulations.
I use EDC magazines only when swapping out old ammo, to verify function. Practice is all with separate magazines, which seem to be functioning indefinitely. I donāt find pocket lint or such accumulating inside a magazine which is full of cartridges and inside a gun all the time.
There are instructions elsewhere on the web, depending on if your mags have detachable floor plates or not.
With fixed floor plates press the follower down and insert a small screwdriver or brazing rod through the witness holes to release pressure on the follower.
The follower should come out followed by the spring.
Reverse the process to reassemble.
Any and all magazines I have, new or old, are thoroughly cleaned, very lightly lubricated with a non-oily, non-dirt attracting protectant, function checked, and are then kept clean so I know they are ready to go at a moments notice. I can appreciate the training aspect of dropping the magazine to the ground for a fast reload however I cannot bring myself to do it for several reasons. Plus, itās more work to disassemble and re-clean them. Should the time come that I have to drop my magazine to the ground to re-load I will and have no problem doing so because the last thing I will be worrying about at that point is getting my magazine dirty.
I should add that I donāt make a habit of regularly taking apart my magazines on a schedule, but only when they actually need it. Weāre dealing with stamped sheet metal and a spring, which are possible to inadvertantly damage.