Are mags meant to be disposable?

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Keep them if you have time. Like if you're firing from a vehicle, make sure to drop them in the vehicle, not outside. But if you're running and gunning house to house on foot, no one is going to rip you a new one for losing a few mags while you're being shot at. No one who isn't a fobbit anyways.

 

[Titan6]

Dump pouches are standard issue for Marines but not soldiers. A well resourced US Army Soldier may have 20 magazines and access to plenty more while an insurgent might only have one or two.

Disposable depends upon your situation and logistics more than the utility of the magazine. Since the magazine is reusable it is not meant to be thrown away after a single use so it is not disposable in that sense. But it is just another piece of gear that is normally easily replaceable so it if the situation dictates dropping it and not worrying about where it lands then so be it.

 

[Kharn]

Bruss01:
While the Garand was in service, .30-06 was loaded into the clips at the factory, so there was no need to collect the clips for reuse. You'll see a stencil on those crates similar to [::::] (but the dots rotated 90deg) to show that the ammo inside is on clips.

Kharn

 

[Good Shot Group]

The Army didn't give me my dump pouch. I had to buy all my own tac gear because they didn't give me the tools necessary for survival.

 

[sacp81170a]

they didn't give me the tools necessary for survival

It wasn't the Army, it was your Supply NCO, who sometimes think they are the ones in charge of every service. Only God or a Senior NCO has any sway with such a creature.

 

[Acera]

We used the cargo pockets on our BDU trousers. The few lost ones, and a few other things (like a bayonet ) were recorded as a "combat loss". I tried to keep track of everything like that. Might even still have some of it

 

[Good Shot Group]

Quote: "It wasn't the Army, it was your Supply NCO, who sometimes think they are the ones in charge of every service."

I must disagree. I was one of those Army National Guard units you heard about that deployed with barely the clothes on our backs. No body armor, soft skinned hummvees, no extra ammo, etc. If the Army doesn't see fit to equip you with the tools necessary for survival, buy it yourself. Dump pouches are a must.

 

[peter_mn]

It wasn't the Army, it was your Supply NCO, who sometimes think they are the ones in charge of every service.

I’m going apologize for taking us a little farther off topic.

-Start rant-
I doubt that your supply NCO was sitting in the rear with the gear using piles of your dump pouches as a soft place to sleep on. I’ll admit that there are a small number of supply guys who are total *censored*; but at best the ratio isn’t any higher in the Quartermaster Corps than in the rest of the army as a whole. I like to believe that the ratio is a little lower in the QM Corps.

To answer the magazine question:
You can order as many magazines as they will let you get away with, but there are usually 5-7 people in the chain of events required to get the order in and approved that can kill/questions or requests. And, any or all persons in this chain of events may require: a personal memorandum for record from your commander, a monthly report and spreadsheet detailing where the magazines are being used accompanied by sworn statements, and a personal PowerPoint presentation on how magazines function; in order for them to process your request. :banghead:

-End rant-

All that aside; I believe that I work with some of the best people this country has and wouldn’t trade it for the world.

"Keep the best, issue the rest"

 

[bogie]

Guys, just an aside here...

When I shoot handgun, I put a tarp down. The mags hit the tarp (along with a bunch of brass, which is now easier to pick up). Same with brass and speedloaders from the .357. Yeah. I drop 'em when they're empty. How else am I gonna shoot the boomstick?

If I have a mag in the pistol, and two in the pocket, I'm not worrying about "is it disposable?" I'm worrying about putting as many rounds into the bad guy(s) as possible, until they stop moving toward me. Hence, that sucker hits the ground, and hopefully while it's still in the air I've got another round in the pipe.

If you -train- being careful, you'll -fight- being careful. Magazines are not disposable, but they are consumables.

Remember - I think there was at least one cop in that Miami shootout who died with brass in his pocket, because he didn't dump and speedload - he'd been taught to carefully pocket the brass.

 

[Onmilo]

What's a PowerPoint Presentation!!??
Back in my day, we had flip pads and your illustrations had better been in color!

 

[22-rimfire]

Power Point is a Microsoft software package designed to put together slide presentations such as you may have seen with an overhead projector. Overheads are still used, but not as much as years ago. PP is all electronic. Quite useful program.

 

[Harley Man]

retaining Mags

I have a WW II question for the knowledgeable...As I understand it (I'm 60) a lot of officers in WW II carried Thompsons 45 Cal. with I'm guessing 30 round mags which look large and bulky. Do you think these guys collected there mags, and did they have some sort of drop pouch, or just replaced them into the original mag holder belt? Just wondering?

One Riot ...One Ranger

 

[possum]

in a fight for your life you don't think about expended mags, if we drop them and aren't able to retrieve them then we leave em, and we get more later, we have tons of mags, many still in cases just waiting to be loaded up and used. each solider normally has a few extra as well back at the fob, cop, jss etc. i carry 12 normally and have many more back at the jss that i could restock on after a mission if i need to.

dump pouches are awesome, but if you have time to put a mag in a dump pouch then that is valuable time that you could be shooting, moving or comunicating. if there is a lul in the fight then yes that makes sense, but otherwise i don't mind loosing mags. they are empty anyway and they will do me no good to worry about them at the current time.

 

[ctdonath]

IIRC, Stoner designed AR mags to be disposable (cheap stamped metal with few parts). That doesn't necessarily mean one truly expects to always throw 'em away when emptied, but does make it easy to discard (and replace) if warranted by the situation.

Ironically, it seems the paramount issue for retiring the M16 is that any replacement shall accept standard AR mags.

 

[sacp81170a]

I doubt that your supply NCO was sitting in the rear with the gear using piles of your dump pouches as a soft place to sleep on.

Oh boy! I was just poking a little gentle fun. Didn't realize I was gonna hit such a sensitive nerve!

You can order as many magazines as they will let you get away with, but there are usually 5-7 people in the chain of events required to get the order in and approved that can kill/questions or requests. And, any or all persons in this chain of events may require: a personal memorandum for record from your commander, a monthly report and spreadsheet detailing where the magazines are being used accompanied by sworn statements, and a personal PowerPoint presentation on how magazines function; in order for them to process your request.

Okay, so it isn't the supply NCO, it's the supply system. I thought the new system on the battlefield was a "push" instead of the "pull" that it used to be. That would mean that instead of having to requisition ammo, mags, etc., it's just assumed that they're going to be consumed so that an active unit will get those supplies "pushed" out to them. If they ask for more, they get more. Is this not the case? It would make a huge difference in whether you didn't worry too much about dumping empty mags(besides leaving them around for the enemy to use). possum seems to be having a very different experience than peter_mn.

 

[UKarmourer]

I carry 6, plus a bandolier of 120 in 10 rd stripper clips in my webbing.

normally on the range they go back in the pouches, normally thought they go down the front of my smock (webbing waist belt stops them falling out)

our theory is not to lose mags, as they can be used in any weapon with a STANAG mag well.

and at the end of the day its all about personal admin.

I am however getting a dump pouch for my next tour!

 

[DWARREN123]

You police them up when you can but a fire fight is not the time to worry about mags. I always carried more than issued and was always on the look out for more. Hard to reload during trigger time.