How many magazines to keep on hand?

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Monkeybear

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How many magazines should you own for each gun?

Here is the twist: Let us assume for this question that there is no impending magazine ban and that all magazines will remain available and easy to purchase.

Basically IF there was no reason to think that you would ever not be able to purchase magazines for your firearms how many would you keep on hand? How many do you actually use? How many do you store for future ues?
 
It is what you have on you that counts

It is what you have on you that counts.

Take the Trolley Square Shooting in Salt Lake City. The off-duty cop only had one mag in his 45. He almost ran out. The nut job had a backpack full of ammo.

So at least two mags or a backup gun until help arrives.

The off duty cop was able to keep him pinned down and stopped the carnage until swat arrived. (The swat team had practiced quick delpoyment training preparing for the Olympics.)
 
Eh, depends on the gun. A .22 pistol that you just plink with? No need to have more than a few mags. A hunting rifle that you use 3 weeks a year? About the same. For a carry gun, a few more than just a few. :)
 
Mags

I'll jump in on the side of the argument that you can never have too many mags. When I purchase a new rifle/pistol I'll always order extra mags. I don't have a formula for how many are needed but some have way more than others. Without a functioning mag all you have is a single shot club
Pat
 
For rifles I like about 10 per gun. For pistols, at least 3 considering in a defensive situation that would be a last resort, but the more the merrier. If you had 100 mags per gun that's just awesome.
 
SLCscottie has it right, the ones you have on you are the ones that really count.
I do have more then the 3 mags that are usually on me daily, but the others mags are more for range use than anything else.

Logically if I had to seriously think about taking more than a few sidearm mags with me somewhere other than the range, I should really think about packing a rifle along or chose to not go wherever it is to begin with.
Although I see no problem with having pallet loads of mags.
It is really up to your personal discretion, your money and your choice just how much personal property you want to buy.

.
 
Lots. I have ten or more for my glock, and plan on more. Enough money in wilson 47s to buy a Kimber. Around 20 AR mags, and plan on more. No telling how many tommygun mags. I only have a few for my 9mm AR, but two more are on the way. More as I can afford it. Dont really need more, its a range toy, but more wont hurt.

I dont want to say I'm hard on mags, but I aint easy on them either. With a quick flick of the wrist, pistol mags hit the floor/dirt/wall pretty hard, rifle mags get jerked out of magwells before they hit the dirt. Sometimes they get stepped on, kicked, filled with water, sand, or mud.

The only mags I take it easy with are my Ciener 1911 mags. I only have two, and with JAC's customer service, getting replacement parts would be impossable.
 
I only have the one mag for my .45 (my only gun atm) I want prolly 4 more, 2 for carry, one to keep in the car, and one to keep inteh house. And prolly 2-3 more to keep loaded with target rounds for the range so I am not constantly reloading or having to unload one of the mags loaded with hollows
 
Really depends a lot on the gun.

I have three primaries for my competition gun, but a total of five.

For carry guns I have three each, except for my .32 (one) and my Mod. 1917 S&W (counting moon clips as mags, 13).

For my AKs, um heck if I know but I do know I can load more than 500 rounds and stagger out the door with them.

Hard-to-find mags like CZ 32 and CZ 82 I have an overstock. Also have a whole slew of Tokarev mags.

AR, a big box full.

For carry guns it really isn't much of an issue. Mag tubes can be had pretty cheap. Followers and base plates are the issue.

If I were to ask the question I would ask "How many spare followers, springs and base plates do you have?"

Friday night I made two mags. Took tubes I had laying around, fitted followers to them, dug up base plates from my spare mag parts box and fitted them with springs.

They work great and I increased the inventory of mags for that gun from three to five without buying a thing.
 
How many magazines to keep on hand?
Click to expand...

Just two; Men's Health and American Rifleman... everything else has been rendered obsolete by the intertubes.

Or...

At least four mags and 1000 rounds of ammo for every gun and caliber, except for my 2 .380 BUGs, two and a couple hundred is enough for those.
 
How much do you shoot? If you shoot a box of ammo a week, then two or three for whatever weapon you have is plenty. If you shoot a couple of boxes a on a trip, than filling more magazines makes more sense and leads to less down time at the range. Or you can needlessly stockpile 20 magazines for every weapon in preparation for the hordes of Zombies that will be certain to appear if you do not have your magazines stockpilled....
 
Half the guns I own don't take mags, stripper clips, en blocs, or speedloaders.

That Said, my general rule is get the best possible quality mags I can, but only what I can carry on me within reason. IE, three (including one in the gun) for a pistol; and if a rifle has a corresponding magazine carrier, bandoleer, etc., what fills one or two of them.

There's a reason that a wheelbarrow is the tactical vehicle... :rolleyes:

Either way, I need replacements and a couple more as it is. :uhoh:
 
i have two guns that uses magazines...

they are twin sig p220st...i have a total of 13 mags...
 
Probably way too many, but still NOT enough!!

25----DPMS 308 19/20 rounders
37----AR 30 rounders
5-----AR 20 rounders
????--10/15/20/30 rounders for Beretta 92's and Beretta storm

UJ
 
Take what ever number you decide is enough mags per gun and have that number of mags per gun in two or three seperate locations in case of theft, fire, natural/unnatural disaster, liberals, etc..
 
For hunting,plinking,target etc. guns, only 1 or 2.No real reason for me to have more than that, so why spend the money.For my 1911 carry gun, I own 4 mags, but only carry 2.The other 2 came with another 1911, and the mags are identicle. 2 are always loaded wih my carry ammo, the other 2 are for the range and have cheap ball in them.For my HD/S/SHTF guns, I have 12 fort he WASR, and 7 for the M4, and plan to get a total of 15 to 20 in the end for both.For the M1 Garand, I have 25 loaded clips of Geek HXP ball, and 4 clips of LC M2 AP loaded.The Garand is more of a back up, all heck broke loose SHTF gun , as opposed to a dedicated one,as I didnt buy it wth that in mind, so I dont really keep anything on hand for it specifically except for the AP.The rest is in clips mostly because thats how it came in the can.
 
2 for P3AT
2 for FIE Titan II
2 for Kimber UltraCarry
2 for S&W M&P 40
4 for S&W 1911
5 for Saiga-12
6 for FN FAL
6 for SA M1A
8 for PPSh
8 for AR
11 for AK
 
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