Can a pistol have two magazines?

[Stargazer65]

I know this may be way out there. But, could a pistol feasibly be made with two magazines? What I'm imagining is something like a 9mm pistol with two side by side single stack magazines. You would be able to shoot until one was empty and it would switch over automatically to the other. Then you could change out the empty with a full one, while still shooting from the other one. Theoretically you could keep going like that until you ran out of magazines.

Maybe it's mechanically impossible, maybe it's not ergonomically feasible. I don't know, any thoughts?

 

[ATLDave]

Why in the world would anyone even want such a feature? So they could blast inaccurately using one hand while the other hand reloads... notwithstanding the fact that reloading requires significant movement of the gun and would make any kind of aim impossible during the process?

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with just how quickly a practiced shooter can reload a pistol.

 

[S&W629]

sounds like the basis for the "spray and pray"...style of shooting..

 

[Sam1911]

sounds like the basis for the "spray and pray"...style of shooting..

Ahh, that's reassuring.

Every time I think some of the oldest, most tired, hackneyed, most self-injurious, blinkered, and insulting old tropes from the ignorant dark days of the '70s and '80s have finally died out, one of "us" manages to dredge one back up and bludgeon it back into pale and sickly life.

Good to see my faith in the worst of human nature remains well-founded.

 

[Deanimator]

The Germans tried that with a version of the MP40 submachine gun.

It was a lousy idea that went nowhere.

 

[unclenunzie]

I get it - sort of like the dual gas-tank idea, keeping you running and theoretically not ever running dry. In practice it is why double-stack magazines exist. But by going dual single-stack, you add greater frequency of mag changes, greater weight because you need 8 magazine tube walls instead of 4, etc. I think the disadvantages are clear, and the potential benefits? I don't know that there are any by comparison.....

It would be an interesting experimental idea, but unlikely to yield anything practical.

 

[ATLDave]

Every time I think some of the oldest, most tired, hackneyed, most self-injurious, blinkered, and insulting old tropes from the ignorant dark days of the '70s and '80s have finally died out, one of "us" manages to dredge one back up and bludgeon it back into pale and sickly life.

The phrase is, indeed, hackneyed, and misapplied much more often than it is used in any kind of constructive manner. However, if one thinks about what actually continuing to fire a handgun while going through the reloading process would involve (and result in), this may be one of those times when there is some validity to its use.

 

[ATLDave]

I get it - sort of like the dual gas-tank idea, keeping you running and theoretically not ever running dry.

Except while an engine can remain running effectively while someone fuels a different gas tank than it is using, it's nigh-impossible to keep effectively firing a handgun while reloading it. The gun simply has to move and be jostled far too much.

Fortunately, since decent technique can get the last-shot-to-first-shot reload gap down below 2 seconds pretty easily, there's no need for worrying about it.

 

[X-Rap]

The cut off for spray and pray is either 5 or 8, anything beyond is strictly spray and pray wasting ammo and endangering small children and puppies.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I can't imagine it working with an in-the-grip magazine system.
I can't see it having much advantage over a double stack magazine.
Industrially though, as a fixture it could help automate testing magazines or torture testing an action design.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

The Germans tried that with a version of the MP40 submachine gun.
It was a lousy idea that went nowhere.

Apparently an idea that sounded good til they tried and realized it was lousy.

 

[usp9]

That's the same as a double stack mag but without the extra weight and buttons. Even with two separate mags, you'd still have to pause to load. I see no value in separate mags.

 

[Sam1911]

 

[Jim Watson]

Reminds me of several science fictional guns. The scout's gun by Schmitz, the dally gun (dial a gun) by Dickinson, and the Wardhaven sidearm with lethal and nonlethal magazines by Shepherd. Emphasis on fictional, the authors are not gunsmiths.

 

[MedWheeler]

If, for some reason, I was asked to come up with such a concept as a gag, I'd have the magazines sticking out of either side, like wings, just below the slide. At the top of the grip's rear would be a selector lever that would operate a block toggling from one side of the feed chamber to the other. Each side of the frame would have its own magazine release.

Then, just to further mess people up, I'd include a magazine-disconnect safety.

Someone else step up here and design the holster.

 

[Tallball]

"The Germans tried that with a version of the MP40 submachine gun."

That was the first thing I thought of. IIRC, they were side by side and you just had to shove it to the right or left after the first magazine was empty. Again, IIRC, it was so that the German soldiers wouldn't feel as inferior when they compared their SMG to the Russian PPS that had a big drum magazine.

 

[danez71]

You guys are sooo short sighted and stuck in an old box way of thinking.

There is one big advantage to this set up if it had a selector switch.

You could load one mag with solids for when you need better penetration and the other with hollow points for when you want better expansion. This would prevent you from having to load every other in one mag and also allow you to select which type of round you shoot and not need to time your shooting of every other round to the purpose of the shot.

So if the BG is running with-out cover, flip the switch and you're shooting HP's. When the BG is behind cover, flip the switch to FMJ for better penetration thru his cover.











Consider this my early Aprils Fools post.

 

[Jim Watson]

Other than the German gimmick, the closest thing I have seen was an obscure Latin American PCC with what looked like a four column magazine.
But it really wasn't, it was two double stack magazines in the same housing. Shoot one side, rock the bolt across, and shoot the other side.

Found it: HAFDASA C4
http://www.guns.com/2014/03/07/hafdasa-carbines-odd-twist-argentina/

 

[Gottcha]

Drum mag.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

As someone else has noted, if you're doing this (two mags) with a semi-auto handgun, the grip is likely to be too wide for most hand, or the magazines have to stick out in ways that make for difficult carry (or quick reloads), or present some other type of awkwardness will arise. Reloading would be more complicated, too. A higher cap magazine makes much more sense and need not stick out all that far.

 

[Merle1]

Forgotten Firearms had a video of a WW 1 vintage light machine gun/sub gun that used two mags in a "V" installation. IIRC it was Italian.

 

[CapnMac]

Forgotten Firearms had a video of a WW 1 vintage light machine gun/sub gun that used two mags in a "V" installation. IIRC it was Italian.

It was American.
Theory was that aerial gunners ought not be fumbling about aircraft for a quick mag change. So, one was locked in one was locked out. The change required two motions, one to unlatch the empty, the other to load the standby. At the time, it was much easier to just use something like a Lewis with a big drum mag (or the double-stack drum).

The reality of the excess weight needed for the two magazines creates more problems than having a choice of ammo "solves". Which is yet another problem, defining when additional ammo types is really needful.
Which might (only might) have some utility in a shotgun, but probably not enough.

 

[SlowFuse]

I know this is a handgun discussion but doesn't the keltec ksg have two tubes with a selector switch?

So you could load slugs on one side and shot on the other for targets of varying distances? Never shot one but seems like the same logic.

 

[ATLDave]

I know this is a handgun discussion but doesn't the keltec ksg have two tubes with a selector switch? Never shot one but seems like the same logic.

No, not the same logic. Shotguns with tube magazines don't hold many rounds compared to a modern double-stack pistol design and are painfully slow to reload. The KelTec design is primarily an effort to simply make the magazine larger.

 

[Tirod]

Could it be made, yes. Would it be practical, ie something more than a collector's fantasy range gun? Not likely.

IIRC connecting two separate guns to achieve it will require the ATF's oversight and approval. Nope, we are talking having two separate mag feeds - which then asks how do they feed, if alternately, and what engineering will get the separate feeds to chamber left and right into one barrel reliably. We are also talking how to latch them on opposite sides, which then complicates a simple mag release push button by reversing the opposite side's motion. Each mag is to remain in the gun while it's functioning, right? That means it's not moving from one side to the other easily.

Taking a look at the barrel it will need two feed ramps, and they won't work as part of the barrel lug assembly as it typically cuts away the rear of the chamber in a 1911 style. So you have to use a S&W separate feed ramp system which starts creating more barrel over grip height which tends to increase recoil affects, and pushes the chamber further forward on the receiver to slight degree.

Now we address the chamber face on the slide, extractor, and which way the bullet comes out on ejection. Straight up and out will definitely cause empties to bang on your forehead or into your eyes while shooting. Not good. Considering the mag centerlines are outside the barrel diameter it's going to require a feed pawl and it has to be able to strip either one mag or the other while the feed lips - which have to point toward the centerline of the bore - aim the nose of the bullet at it's appropriate ramp. Said feed pawl has to flip back and forth under the slide, and the mags become either a left hand or right hand for reliable feeding. And what happens if you insert one on the wrong side? Disaster, it feeds away from the chamber, so the directional left or right hand mag has to be keywayed to fit only on the one side it functions on.

That destroys any hope of just using some stock single stack mags for a 9 or .45. They would be proprietary to the gun and handed. Might as well machine them from aluminum bar stock or something, they won't be cheap regardless.

We still have to wrap our hand around the doubled single stack mag columns to grip it. And some say Glocks are too blocky, instead of one alternating stack of ammo we now have two separate ones with their own mag body surrounding the stack making the total width extremely inefficient and fat. Even the Arsenal dual barrel .45 uses the conventional double stack mag body to reduce the grip diameter.

But, could it be done? Sure. Has it? Can't think of a single commercial example, maybe the guy at Forgotten Weapons could chime in.