Carl,
It's too hard to determine what the various manufactures dictate regarding magazine loads. For that matter, we have no real idea who makes their magazines, springs, etc.
What I was taught at Bragg's Anti-Terrorism shooting course (1984), was just what you heard while working as an LE., one or two less rounds from the magazine's max cap. But the instructor also followed with "On the other hand, if ammunition quantity is paramount (like where you folks are going), that one extra round may end up saving your skin."
I like Slapout's idea using tracers to give you a visual of 'out of ammo', but the Army tends to want every 3rd round to be a tracer. So, while you've got all those M4 mags unloaded and cleaned up, check for tracer rounds.
Since the day I was big enough to fire the old man's 1911 and 30.06, I have frequently unloaded my mags and cleaned them up. I often load my hi-capacity mags with one round less. Magazine PM is very important, and one cannot adequately clean a fully-loaded magazine. Eventually, all the magazine rotations in the world will still require the magazines to be disassembled, cleaned and the previous 'top round' rotated.
Regards, Stan
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