A friend of mine inherited a Colt 1911 with a serial number that dates it to 1913. It's magazine was loaded with ammo headstamped 1915. It not only shot just fine, there was no problem with feeding from a magazine that had been left loaded for only God knows how long.
I remember reading somewhere that loading and unloading magazines affected the springs more than just leaving them loaded. I found a couple of magazines for my 1911 that I'd misplaced years ago a while back that were filled with some of my handloads from the mid 1960's. I know they were that old because the bullets I used then, Lyman #452460 IIRC never shot worth spit in my gun. Now those were loaded before I left California for good and that was in 1970 and I'd quit that bullet some time before the move. I shot them up just to get the brass back and those two magazines functioned just fine.
Paul B.
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