Rifle Magazine Maintenance: What You Need to Know

The vast majority of modern repeaters, and virtually all autoloading rifles, feed from detachable box magazines.

The odd thing is, most if not all shooters know they need to keep their guns clean. This involves cleaning the action to ensure reliability and keeping the bore clean to maintain accuracy.

Why is it, then, that so many of us just look the other way when it comes to cleaning our rifle magazines? Or just forget entirely?

The truth is, the rifle magazine, like any other part of the rifle, is a vital component the operation of which is central to the functionality of the platform.

Failing to properly maintain (and clean, specifically) a rifle magazine is going to cause jams and premature wear.

Here’s what to know.

Basic Box Mag Maintenance

Most rifles, including many bolt action repeaters and gas-impingement rifles like AR15 and M16 platforms, feed from detachable box magazines.

Over time, fouling, grime, oil, dust, dirt, and other unwelcome debris can coat the body of the mag and work its way into the mag’s interior.

And, over time, these things will cause seating and feeding issues, possibly even accelerate corrosion on the rifle’s mag spring, causing premature fatigue and failure.

Keeping the thing clean is the way to go. When you’re cleaning your rifle, here’s how to make sure your magazines stay in working order.

First, clear the weapon, then drop the mag and strip out any rounds that are in the mag. Safety first, make sure you’re working with an empty mag.

For the purpose of this illustration, we’ll use a standard steel AR-15 box mag as an example.

The first thing you need to do is remove the floorplate. To do so you’ll need a small screwdriver or an appropriately-sized pin punch. Depress the floor plate retainer, then slide the floor plate off the bottom and place to the side.

Now you need to remove the spring and follower. You will need to grab the follower and pull it free from the magazine tube. Make sure that you have a good grip on the spring/follower, as the spring will be compressed and difficult to control.

With the floor plate, spring and follower removed, you can go ahead and clean the mag body. Since it’s a steel AR15 rifle magazine, you can use fouling solvent on it. If it were a plastic mag, make sure to use a solvent/cleaner that’s appropriate for (and will not damage) the plastic.

Wipe down the exterior with a damp rag and apply cleaner as necessary to loosen or remove oil, grime, grease and fouling. For the interior of the mag, repeat the same process. You can use a nylon brush (or brass) to scrub away fouling.

After cleaning, you can apply a very thin coat of protectant (like Rem Oil) to the inside and outside of the mag. Just wipe it down; too much will attract dust, sand, and other particulate matter.

Then, repeat the process on the follower and spring. Pay particular attention to the top of the follower as well as to the spring. You will want to make sure that both are spotless; when complete, make sure the spring is completely dry before reinstalling. You don’t want to oil it but it must be completely dry before reinstallation so as to prevent corrosion.

When you’re done, make sure all components are dry and then reassemble the rifle magazine in the reverse order.

Special Notes for Tubular Rifle Magazines

Some rifles, particularly lever action repeaters, have tube rifle magazines. These cannot be disassembled in the manner described here but must still be kept clean and free of debris to ensure smooth feeding.

If your rifle has a tube mag and the end cap can be removed, you can clean the mag in a manner similar to that which you’d use to clean the bore. Remove the cap, pull out the follower and spring, and get a cleaning rod with a mop installed, soak in cleaner/solvent, and swab out the tube mag.

Afterwards, run clean patches through. They’ll come out dirty; replace with fresh patches and repeat till the patches come out clean.

Then clean the spring and follower in the same manner as you would for a box rifle magazine, allow everything to dry, and reassemble in the reverse order.

Why You Need to Keep Your Rifle Magazines Clean

Whether you’re looking at cleaning a box or a tube rifle mag, keeping the magazine clean is as critical to ensuring smooth feeding and reliability as cleaning the action and barrel.

Magazines that are dirty may not seat reliably, may not drop feeling, and worst of all, may not smoothly feed rounds into the chamber, and that can result in jams, failures to feed, failures to extract and eject, and worse.

All in all, cleaning your rifle’s magazine is as important as cleaning any other gun part. Make sure you clean your mags whenever you clean the gun.

Here for a New Rifle Magazine?

In the event you’re here for a new rifle mag, take a look through our catalog. We carry replacement magazines, springs, and other rifle parts for popular and historically significant rifles. We also carry M1 Garand clips. Take a look through our collection and contact us at 610-250-3960 if you have any questions about gun parts, availability or compatibility.