My general rule of thumb, taken for what it is worth
, is to carry twice as many rounds
in twice as many feeding devices as I need for a given stage. Having both watched top shooters dump their spare ammo as a unit and having done it myself, I learned
There is no need to tote all your gear all the time, unless you are one of those cool Trooper Class guys from Cav Arms or you are at some freaky match that requires it (which I haven't seen yet, but it sounds like fun. But I'm nuts
).
My (Bladetech) AR mag pouches (I keep two in my 3GunCrap(tm) bag) have TecLock clips on 'em. For, say, a 25 round rifle stage I'll put a 40 round mag in the rifle and another 40 on my belt. Big stages, I make like Chris and go Beta (with a spare 40 or two) unless the on-gun weight savings gained by reloading would make a difference.
My shotgun...well, at non-limited (read: non-USPSA) matches, the 20 round drum is usually on the shotgun unless, again, weight or reloads makes a difference. My (Bladetech, see a trend there?) shotgun mag pouches also have Techlock clips, and I keep two pouches on hand too. If I expect a long stage, extra mags go in my back pocket. If I need 'em, the extra time has already dumped me off the top of the page
If I'm running one of those antique "tube fed" (how quaint
) shotguns, my spare ammo is on the side of the gun (ten rounds) and in six-round clip-backed skeleton holders on my belt.
My pistol...I've taken to running a Bladetech (lol) DOH for my STI Open gun in most three gun matches, with a dual mag carrier. That only gives me 82 rounds (28 in the gun, 54 in the carrier, unless I need to drag out ExcaliberMag(tm) and go 30 in the gun). If the extra tenth of a second from a speed holster would be in order, the gun belt comes out with the Limcat holster and the three Safariland 771 pouches. Since Safariland pouches ALSO hold AR magazines nicely, that leaves my shotgun mags getting locked on as necessary.
Actual milage may vary, not for the other use, keep out of children.
Alex