Keeping GBB mags warm

[Wesman]

We all know that the cold weather doesn't exactly do wonders for GBBs. I'm just wondering if there's anything potentially hazardous with keeping mags warm with those adhesive toe warmers sold at sporting goods stores. I was thinking of putting a strip of the warmer inside the mag pouch next to the mag. I don't think the temperatures would ever get high enough to cause anything to burst, but your opinions/experiences may vary.

Anybody care to comment?

Thanks

[Ilya_7]

i've never been impressed with the heat that they generate. i doubt that they would help much either, considering by the time you want to fire your GBB you may have had a mag loaded for some time - maybe it would help with the extra in the mag pouch but the loaded one? probably the same as usual right? the anal cavity, though, for instance, may indeed generate some better temperatures.

try it out - see what the outcome is. (not the anal one though)

[takatorikku]

i wonder if they make heat generating tape strips? since some people use electrical tape on the sides of their mags to prevent wobble, a tape that heats them up would work as well wouldn't it?

just my .02c

[Wesman]

I'm not sure if I would use such heat generating tape strips (if they do in fact exist) directly on the mags themselves, but I'd probably attach some around the grips of my pistol to have a continuous warming effect for any mag currently in the gun.

I'll try it out this weekend if I go to the game. Even if the heat generated isn't all that high, any temperature above outside ambient temperature would be an improvement, I suppose.

[The Saint]

Do get back to us about it, I've been thinking about trying the same thing but don't currently have a GBB. I did once use heat packs to keep my GBB running in below freezing temperature, though, but only for a dozen shots or so.

[Wesman]

I haven't tried using the toe warmers to keep my mags warm just yet, and now I doubt I will. Upon further reading of the caution sign on the back of the package, I learned that prolonged exposure to air can cause the packs to heat up to 70 C, which is potentially harmful to everyone (especially me, if my mags explode in my mag pouch...on my waist...relatively close to my man-parts).

Thus I have decided to err on the side of caution and hold off on this little experiment.

Bolder folk may try at their own risk.

[-=]MH[=-RaiDen]

Originally Posted by Wesman

I haven't tried using the toe warmers to keep my mags warm just yet, and now I doubt I will. Upon further reading of the caution sign on the back of the package, I learned that prolonged exposure to air can cause the packs to heat up to 70 C, which is potentially harmful to everyone (especially me, if my mags explode in my mag pouch...on my waist...relatively close to my man-parts).

Thus I have decided to err on the side of caution and hold off on this little experiment.

Bolder folk may try at their own risk.

Yea... and lose chunks of flesh... I don't think so...
To whoever wants to try, I hope you win the Darwin award =P

Btw... 0.02 cents? you still owe me 1.98 cents buddy.

[bladewalker]

ok I have to ask, which would you find more valuable? keeping the mag in the pistol warm, or the mags in your mag pouch? personaly I think the one in the pistol is more important, becuase if you have droped your empty aeg to go to a pistol and then have to reload, warm mags won't help you very much.

Just my teammates and my self have been discusing this for a while. becuase of this we have tryed many things, handwarmers on the backside of the mag pouch (worked but not very good), IC heater in the pouch (bulky and fell out when you pulled the mag), ect. oh and 70 degrees C is not dangerous to your mags, most mags I have seen will release pressure if it starts to rise too high. the only problem that I can forsee is an open flame near the mag, or if the temp in the mag is rising more than 3 C/sec? don't take my word for it though, I just know from our tests, we could have just been lucky.

oh and as for the coment above a darwin award only comes into play if you haven't done your research or forethought before you do something stupid.

[Wesman]

The original idea I had involved taping some of those heating strips to the pistol grips as well as storing some inside the mag pouches. Seeing as the strips may heat up quite a bit with prolonged exposure to air, I'm not sure I want to tape them to my pistol grips. I doubt they'd melt the plastic, but they could cause me to burn myself once I grabbed the gun.

Even though over-pressurized mags may only vent in a worst case scenario, I'd still rather not take the risk, because even if they didn't vent, handling the hot mags could hurt, and having gas at such high pressures can't be too great for a gun, or the person you'll be shooting.

Of course, if someone can prove otherwise, go right ahead.

[bladewalker]

I think I know the heating strips your talking about, they look like double sided tape coming in white and red. we considered those but we found the same problem you did. we ended up using a closed system heater, basicly one of those chemical heater packs you buy at MEC which you shake up and put in your gloves. We tested it first its hard to break and the one which we tryed had no corrosives in it (though one did ruin a set of bdus by changing the color), we also liked that it almost always stayed at 22 degrees. just in case we set it up on a shake table (basicly flat paintshaker), made it to 44 degrees but lasted for only 3 hrs before dieing out. so its safe but not effecient.

as for over heating the mags yea you have to keep an eye on that for any system because the cold may suck, but being burned isn't any better. as for having the gas at such high pressures I fully agree, we found that above ~40 degrees it started to do damage to all our GBBs, though it gave new meaning to "hard-kick" on the Degeale.