10 Round Mag is it good enough

I am OK with fewer rounds to a point, but only if the gun has a smaller (more concealable) grip because of it. Having a full size grip with compact ammo capacity, ie: wasted space, is just silly.

TimM, because a magazine that acheives 15 round capacity by crushing the spring and follower into the bottom of the mag until the spring is now overcompressed and over loaded is not going to be as reliable as the same magazine with fewer rounds and not overcompressing the spring. Leaving the overcompressed spring and follower in the magazine with it fully loaded for long periods of time can lead to problems. Any magazine that is so hard to fully load that guys will buy and use a "mag loader" to get the last few rounds in is being overstressed. There is a reason that the original Browning 1911 design holds 7 rounds. Is it possible to get an 8th round into the mag? Sure. Think there was a reason Browning decided not to do that and leave some empty space in the mag. You betcha.

Yes, most people would like to think they will end a fight with 2 rounds per assailant, but realistically, when you're drawing your gun to defend yourself against an unknown number of attackers, why not have the extra rounds? I hear the MecGar mags (15 rounds with the adapter) are very reliable.

Honestly though, as a former police officer said to me, "Which gun (or magazine) is the best for self-defense? The one you have in your hand."

Wow, this brings smile to my face as us Californians have dealt with this horrible/unfair issue.

For me, I use 10 round mags for my M&P45. For carry G27, 10 round (factory 9 +1 pearce grip extension) mags, but have "legal" 15 round high-cap pre-ban mags for G22 for HD.

What the 10 round mag ultimately resulted is that law abiding tax payers now use 3 10 round mags instead of 2 15 round mags while the criminals/gang bangers use whatever they can.

I believe the law abiding tax payers should have all the advantage we have access to for justified self-defense and hope this hi-cap ban gets reversed in the future (or I'll be leaving the state after retirement for more 2A friendly state).

In response to Drail;
Beretta and Glock 9mm mags that are restricted to 10 rounds accomplish the restriction by reducing the internal width of the column of shells, thus a 10 round mag will compress it's spring just as much as a 15 rounder. The only result for the spring will be more cycles per X quantity of ammo as they are fully cycled every 10 rounds.
I'm not sure about 40cal beretta mags, perhaps someone else knows how the restriction is accomplished.

You never know how much you'll need. More is better.

Just stay legal in your state. If someone is trying to kill you, and you are justified using lethal force under your state's law, it shouldn't matter how many you hold in your gun - if anything, it may matter how many you actually fire.

Chance says you will never pull on any one anyway, but if you do..... you sure wouldn't want to be black on ammo with a very pissed of assailant that still has five rounds left in his blaster would you?

I am OK with fewer rounds to a point, but only if the gun has a smaller (more concealable) grip because of it. Having a full size grip with compact ammo capacity, ie: wasted space, is just silly.

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I agree.

The Beretta 96A1 is a mighty big pistol for just 10 rounds.

Heck, my sub-compact Glock 27 holds 9 rounds, and 10 rounds with a Pearce mag extender.

Drail said:

David E - for all I know you may be an A class IPSC GrandMaster, but you post sounded like classic mall ninja nonsense to me. No offense.

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Then read it again.

Or do you think you'll get to choose the time, place, distance, lighting conditions in addition to exactly how many rounds it'll take to hit/stop your badguy(s)?

My main point remains: if _I_ decide I only need or want 10 rds, that's one thing. It's quite another if some bedwetting politician decides FOR me.

The first is my option, the second is totally unacceptable.

What the 10 round mag ultimately resulted is that law abiding tax payers now use 3 10 round mags instead of 2 15 round mags while the criminals/gang bangers use whatever they can.

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I carry an M1911 with an 8-round magazine, plus one up the spout. With two 10-round mags on the belt, that's 29 rounds.

Or I could carry a Para-Ord P14, plus one up the spout and a spare mag for -- 29 rounds!!

Extra weight?
I dunno. If someone wants a 15rd, 20 rd, 30 rd magazine, why not? I often carry a 5-shot snub and really don't feel under-armed. Someone would have to show a bunch of examples where private citizens felt compelled to fire more than 10 rounds for me to believe in the utility of "hi cap" mags.

Or do you think you'll get to choose the time, place, distance, lighting conditions in addition to exactly how many rounds it'll take to hit/stop your badguy(s)?

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Yes, people daily face multitudes of armed bad guys

There is a lot of truth to the statement that if you need to reload (or need mroe than 10 rounds) you're either missing a lot or brought the wrong weapon. The 5-5-5 rule is a time-honored truth, mainly because it has been true.

Bubba613 said:

Yes, people daily face multitudes of armed bad guys[\quote]

Oh so only cops need full cap mags?

I hope your crystal ball doesn't crack when you need it.....

There is a lot of truth to the statement that if you need to reload (or need mroe than 10 rounds) you're either missing a lot or brought the wrong weapon.

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Says who? The guy that predicts how many rounds will suffice for any and all lethal encounters? If so, then why hasn't that same guy won the Powerball ten times in a row?

[quotes]The 5-5-5 rule is a time-honored truth, mainly because it has been true.

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People still cite the "3 shots fired" stat, too, even tho it's wrong.

Yes, people daily face multitudes of armed bad guys

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Yes, people daily have their houses burn down. (And there's truth to both statements -- which is why we have homeowner's insurance and carry guns.)

There is a lot of truth to the statement that if you need to reload (or need mroe than 10 rounds) you're either missing a lot or brought the wrong weapon. The 5-5-5 rule is a time-honored truth, mainly because it has been true.

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There is a lot of truth to the statement that most rounds fired in actual gunfights miss, too.

As John Farnham said (in The Farnham Method of Defensive Handgunning) "The most common stoppage in the revolver . . . (and) in the autoloader is running out of ammunition."

If we are talking about a handgun that normally comes with 15 round magazines then those are not "hi-caps" but are standard capacity magazines. The one's that stick way out the bottom of the frame are the hi-caps.

In this case with the 96 the standard mag holds 11 with one in the pipe which is where Beretta's website is getting their 12 from. With the high cost of factory Beretta mags do you really see 1 extra round as a significant enough reason to offset that cost?

If your revolver holds 5 rds but you were federally mandated to only load 4, then it would be the same as requiring 10 rd mags for guns that were/are designed to hold more.

The gun is the same size, no matter how many rds are loaded, so why not go with the capacity it was designed for?

Chance says you will never pull on any one anyway, but if you do..... you sure wouldn't want to be black on ammo with a very pissed of assailant that still has five rounds left in his blaster would you?

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Chance just paid me a visit a few weeks ago. I had to draw (not fire) my weapon when a couple of gangpunks tried to rob me.

What was that weapon and how many rounds did I have on board, you ask???

Glock 26 10 in the butt, one in the pipe.

BTW, the punks ran off as soon as they saw the gun.

No it's not if you need 11 rounds and that's your only magazine. That's why I'm looking for a high capacity 9mm or 45ACP. My Norinco Tokerev is a tough reliable pistol if you keep it clean and lubed but 8 rounds isn't enough. The mags are expensive, compared to Glocks. That's one reason a Glock is close to the top of my choice list. Lots of mags available at a fairly cheap price.
JT

10 rounds are enough. You will rarely need more than 2 or 3. If you can't solve the problem with 10 rounds you need instruction and practice. Magazine springs also last longer in lower capacity mags.

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BS --If you can't solve the problem with 10 rounds you are going to need more rounds! It's tough for a dead guy to get more training and practice. What could it possibly hurt to have the option of pulling the trigger one more time? Its easy for keyboard commandos to puff out their chests and say what should happen most of the time, however, if you are ever involved in a potentially deadly confrontation, extra ammo just may save your life...no matter what your training. BTW Quoting cliche's does little to add to the value of content on these threads.

The old 45 worked fine for me in combat but if I could have had a 20rd mag I would have bought my own. I don't carry a high cap 45 but carry a couple of spare mags. If you want to get a high cap mag I think it is up to the individual. I don't care for some stupid politician that doesn't know which end the slug comes out to be allowed to dictate the number of rounds a person wishes to carry. I did notice that the number of mags decreased or other items were dumped to make room for a few more. Individual choice, no argument either way.

How many square feet in your house is good enough?

If you have too many, you are unjustifiably placing a burden on all of us.

You didn't do any harm, and you certainly didn't mean any harm, but we should be allowed to place whatever restrictions on you we might be able to justify by myopic logic.

You probably own too many pairs of shoes too.
...and we will need to check where they were made, or there will be a penalty.

Against one attacker with a small knife, 10 rounds might do. But what if you get attacked by 3 or 4 guys with guns? Is 10 rounds going to suffice? Who knows?

The real issue is that you might as well carry as much capacity as a given gun permits. I mean, a 10 round mag takes up as much space as a 15 round mag does. So, I have to ask, why would you not use the mag with more capacity?

If we are talking about a handgun that normally comes with 15 round magazines then those are not "hi-caps" but are standard capacity magazines.

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DITTO... I get sick of hearing the words "hi-capacity magazine". A Glock 17 is designed to hold 17+1 rounds... the standard factory mags holding 17 rounds are "standard capacity". The 10 round mags are "restricted capacity" or better yet "neutered". Same goes for rifles. AK's and AR's are generally issued with 30 round mags... not 10 round "restricted capacity mags". IMO, the only "hi-cap mag" is the box of linked ammo on a SAW.

I don't think anyone ever came away from a gunfight saying, "Man, I wish I didn't have so much ammo in my gun...."

Fact is, you don't know ahead of time even IF you'll need a gun at all, and if you do, you don't know how many assailants you'll face or how many rounds it will take to put them out of the fight. If you DID know ahead of time you'd need the gun at all, I'd bet you'd decide to be somewhere else at that particular time...

THEN go buy your Power Ball ticket!

Yes, people daily have their houses burn down. (And there's truth to both statements -- which is why we have homeowner's insurance and carry guns.)

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How often do people face multiple (3 or more) attackers vs how often do houses burn down.
I see why lotteries do well: create a low barrier to play and astronomical odds and they will come flocking. The gun business must have learned from lotteries.

It may have to be.