Gas mags and pistols

[emilianoksa]

Received wisdom is the it is better to lock the slide back before inserting a full magazine, to avoid the fully compressed spring under the top bb from putting strain on  the blow back nozzle. I have tended to do this, although I know that many don't.

 

However I have never used my pistols for skirmishing or competition shooting. This means I have rarely ever filled my magazines to anything like their full capacity of bbs.

 

I normally put only about 10 or 12 bbs in magazines that will take 25+.

 

So do I really need to lock back the slide before inserting magazines which only contain half or even a third of their full capacity of bbs? 

[BigStew]

22ish years of playing never heard of racking the slide with a fully loaded mag causing damage (other than a KWA M11A1 but that was design to only insert a mag on an open bolt). most likely points on failure on GBBs is mag seals, hammer/trigger mech breaking, slide warping/cracking. The loading nozzle is more likely to be broken by a BB getting jammed in the slide ( double feeding or slide not fully cycling).  

[WarriorTed]

It only causes damage if the mag is fully loaded with bbs to the point where the spring is fully conpressed. As long as there is a one or two BBs of compression left it is a ok to insert the mag with the slide forward.

[Cannonfodder]

Never had that problem and tbh this is the first time I've heard of it 

[Tackle]

I've had it happed a few times, likely caused by overloading mags when I've been in a rush. 

Thankfully never caused any damage when doing so?

[DestrO]

On the TM MP7 GBB there’s definitely somewhat significant resistance putting a mag in with the bolt in battery; which is annoying because you can’t manually lock the bolt back

 

Actually causing damage though? Long as you’re not slamming it in with insane amounts of force, can’t see it being an issue 

[emilianoksa]

Thanks for all the replies.

[EDcase]

I think this issue was related to the Mac11 (Duno which make but likely ASG)

Apparently it does say in the instructions that the bolt should be retracted before inserting a full mag otherwise the feed bar can be broken.

 

As above, I've not heard of this being a problem with pistols but I would be wary of overfilling the mag with BBs and always test how much pressure there is on the top BB.