This question has been answered before, I can't find the thread but I believe the general consensus was that as long as you don't keep putting ammo in and taking it out time after time after time, you should be okay.

Kyle is right. Here's a thread where I asked a very similar question.

How often do you have to buy a mag?

Originally Posted by Kyle1337

This question has been answered many, many times before, I can't find the numerous threads but I believe the general consensus was that as long as you don't keep putting ammo in and taking it out time after time after time, you should be okay.

Fixed it for you.

Springs weaken from constant compression AND decompression. Leaving a spring compressed/in a static position will not cause it to wear.

I will back up Todd on this. Springs wear from cycling (loaded then unloaded) not from sitting in a compressed state. I think all of us have pondered that question, at one time or another.
Do a search on the subject and you will find more than you care to read.

That would be FALSE rosie22lr

Thanks y'all for your answers. Sorry for a repeat question--guess I did not look long and hard in the "search" for an equivalent answer and for that I apologize.The Kel Tec P3AT is now sitting with its full 6 cartridges and one in the oven. Outside of range shooting every so often, my fervent hope is I never look at the pistol again.
PS: I have been on other sites where I asked a question that apparently had been asked before. At that time I did not even realize what the "search" was really for. Responses that I got back were truly rude and crude. It is nice to apologize to y'all---a group of nice fellow forum members.

I was in a LGS today. A customer had just purchased his first pistol and the clerk was spouting off about not leaving the mags loaded for too long or the spring would weaken. I almost bit my tongue off in a effort to not tell the clerk how off base he was. Sayiing anything could have ruined my chances of getting any type of discount on a pistol I was interested in. Didn't purchase the pistol (G29). The clerks in that particular store are not very customer friendly and I could not negotiate even a tiny bit with them on a used gun that was, in my mind, way overpriced.