how many is enough?

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icebones

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these days most handguns you buy come with 1 spare mag, maybe 2, most rifles come with one. im just wondering just how many mags are enough?
i have 8 mags for my AR, 5 for my glock 45 and 4 for my 10/22. among others
just how many mags do yall have?

i just though it would be intersiting to knwo hwo many mags you think you would need if the worst happened (zombies attacked, aliens invaded, rabid weasels in your basement, whatever comes along)
 
My goal is to have at least 10 for each gun/rifle. If I see a "large" capacity (what we would call standard capacity) magazine ban coming down the road, I might buy even more.
 
For a dedicated carry gun I'd say no more than 2 or 3 considering you're most likely going to carry it alone or at most with a single spare mag. For others I'd think maybe 4-5 depending on the layout of your favorite range as well as in a SHTF situation, you want to be mobile and 4-5 mags is easily carried in mags on a gun belt.
 
I feel better if I have five mags for each handgun. I have a few more for my Ruger Mark 2 as I have had three now and bullseye shooters just seem to accumulate mags.

I tend to have at least nine each for rifles. That's an old, GI habit: four each in two (modified) mag carriers plus the one in the rifle. With two M-1As on hand, I'd have to tote all the spares in a small rucksack!:p
 
eleventy thousand. 'cause loading mags at the range just ain't a good use of time. When I run across a really good deal on mags, I buy them. Don't matter if I've got anything to use them in, because someday I will, or I'll sell them at a profit.
 
Consider that the mag is one of the more fragile parts of your gun, that even small defects can lead to failures to feed, and since they are removable they can also get lost. Without a working mag your semi-auto is a cumbersome single shot.

I would apply the adage, "One is none and two is one." Have twice as many on hand as you would want to actually use for either range or especially defense.

In a worst case scenario for prolonged home defense I would want about five mags per handgun and ten per rifle, meaning I would want to have on hand 10 mags per handgun and 20 mags per rifle. Chances are I would never need even one full mag, but hey, they are relatively cheap so why not?

The 10/20 would be for my primary defensive arms. For secondary ones I would cut that in half if I had to.
 
I like to have 8-10 for hand guns and my goal is 20 for the AK's. I think it might be a good idea to get them while you can.

As Run&Shoot pointed out magazines do fail and it is good to have an adequate amount on hand to replace as needed.

The minimum for any hand gun though is 6; 3 for carry, 3 for range abuse.

There is no such thing as overkill!
 
It is not enough to have bunch of mags for your rifles and pistols. You must also make sure they work reliably. What is the use in having ten AR mags when only two will work properly all the time. Spend some money on good reliable factory mags and test every mag you have.
 
right now I have 15 30 rounders and a single 20 rounder for my AR, will have 7 more when they decide to ship our conex back from Kuwait. 7 for the beretta 92/96 that i don't own, 4 for my 10/22, 4 7 rounders and 2 10 rounders for my 1911, but I've seemed to misplace one of the 10/22s and 1911 mags, probably in a corner collecting dust at my buddies house. and enough en blocs for my M1 to load up pretty much a whole spam can of 240 rounds. and 4 mags for the CX Storm.

is that enough? heck no, I'd like 10 times the amount of mags
 
I cant say what's enough or too many for others. I have 3 to 5 mags for each gun. Maybe 7 1911 mags. Sure, maybe Id like to have more, maybe I should have more.. but I'm fairly confident that 3 is even is enough. Mag springs on the other hand.. thats what I stock up on.

Also, about a third of my guns are revolvers. I keep 2 or three speedloaders available, each marked for a specific gun.

My 'gun stuff' funds are quite limited, and I'd rather have more ammo than more mags if I have to choose.
 
Just something I noticed, all senior members say get as many as you can and then get some more. The new members are saying 3 to 4 and any more is a waste.

If you plan on keeping the gun for over a year or two, I would get at least 5 per gun and 7 for carry weapons. Then buy all the extra's you can afford.
 
I have 40 mags for a AK-74 type rifle I haven't even bought yet. I have 13 rifles for my WASR, I will be buying more as soon as I can scrape enough money togethers.

I have about 30 mags for my AR-15 and I will be buying more as soon as funds allow.

Same with my handguns.

K-3
 
i think you can never have to manny magazines. i do alot of shooting and trainning so i have more than the average weekend sunny day shooter. if i am at a course and my mags fail then i need to drop them and stay in the game, i don't have time so slow down for bad mags. they get replaced/repaired when i get back home or done for the day of training.

for my ar i have 30 30rd mags, 60-20rd mags.
i carrry 12-14 on patrol in the sandbox

for my 1911 i have 6-7rd mags, and 4-10rd mags

for my xd models i have 11-12rd mags.
 
4 for the ones that need them. I prefer the ones that we see in the movies, but until then 4 is sufficient.
 
S&W 1911 - It came with two mags, I bought 5 WIlson
COmbat ETM mags for it, I want more

S&W 625 .45 ACP - 25 approx. full moon clips
for .45 AUto RIm - 4 HKS 25M Speedloaders

S&W 686P 4 - HKS 587 Speedloaders

S&W Model 60 - Need some Safariland COMP-I

S&W 617 - need DS-10 for this 10 shooter.

Next pistol will be a CZ 75 so I'm gathering info.
as to which are the best aftermarket mags to get.
 
I have 32 magazines for my AR-15, although 6 of these are cheap Asian crappy ones that are "reserve" mags, while the rest are high-quality US production, British production, or those great new ones with the Magpul orange no-tilt follower of C-Products.

I have about 24 magazines for my AK-47...

I have about 32 magazines for the AK-74 although I do not have one since I dumped the two I previously had (century crap).

I have 11 of the 25 round magazines for my UZI and 3 of the 32 rounders...

I probably have about 50-60 odd pistol magazines for my various pistols, and I plan to get more...

I will probably triple the number of AR-15 magazines and double the number of AK-47 and AK-74 magazines I have over the next year...

I only have 5 30 round pro-mag magazines for my Mini-14, and 2 Ruger factory 20 round magazines, and I want to double both the number of Pro-Mag and factory-mags in the next year.


Note that I keep my magazines loaded. I also have about 20 of the .30 caliber ammo cans and a few .50 caliber ammo cans, loaded with boxes of factory new production ammo, with oxygen absorbers tossed in. I keep a few ammo cans loaded with mags (three of my ammo cans have 160 rounds of 7.62x51mm loaded into 8 HK-91 20 rounded magazines), another of my ammo cans has 210 rounds of 5.56mm NATO loaded into seven AR-15 magazines...

I am never going to go down for lack of shooting back... That is one thing I will say for now and all time... If it comes to it, I won't be taken out by anybody for lack of being able to shoot back.


Buy as much ammo as you can afford and as many quality magazines as you can afford... Snag them when they are on sale...
 
How many do you think is enough? how much are you willing to spend on mags alone? everyone will have a diffrent opinion on it.

The answer is what ever amount you see practical, for your firearms. I have over 100 AR mags. some are spares/range time. also, when my feed lips get dented I just strip the mag. And I throw away the mag body. and have spare parts if need be.
 
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