What do you think is "enough" for mags and how do you store them?

if you don't already at least have a big pile of Pmags and double stack Glock mags, you really haven't been paying attention. There is no such thing as too many.

Used Glock mags were $100 a piece during the Clinton AWB.
 
Miami_JBT said:
Being a survivor of the Clinton AWB and recalling the then high prices and limited availability of quality pre-ban era magazines. It shaped my buying and storage habits for mags.

I try to keep minimum amount of mags for certain number of guns and I'm always on the hunt for more of 'em when prices are good.

Guns like my Berettas, GLOCKs, ARs, and Minis have a literal pile of magazines. Others likey Luger or VP70, have a bare number of four mags. But the majority of handguns have on average between six to ten mags. My hunting rifles like the BLR and 7600 have two mags each.

They're all tagged and bagged and stored in totes next to the rest of the gun stuff.

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I was supposed to keep count? Whoops.
 
For the AK I probably have 50ish, maybe more, for the inferior AR I have maybe half that.
I’ve got a couple dozen 1911 mags, everything else I only have 3-10.

So far as what I think is enough, it depends. But I rarely find myself needing more. I do occasionally wish I had a couple more for my A-Bolt 22lr, I think I have 3 and have had them since the late 90’s.
 
Guess I have fallen behind, since I no longer own any handguns that accept double-stack mags. Since single-stacks are not overly expensive and have not yet been banned, I only have a few mags per.

"Revolvers Solve the problem nicely ... no magazines required!"
No, they just present a new problem--how many speed loaders and/or speed strips? :)
 
It's entirely possible that the next ban won't have a grandfather clause and the way things are going any ban may never be overturned so there's a fine balance between being prepared and having a ton of money sunk into items that are now illegal and will never get used.
 
Half my pistol mags are safely misplaced. When I seriously search for something it's often like Christmas, as I find long lost other things. I bought four new mags for my Ruger MKII four years ago and that was the last I've seen of them. My problem is too much stuff and not nearly enough organized storage. On occasion I run across some gun I forgot I have.

If I get organized I would consider 20ea for my AR and my Mini 14. That would out last me if SHTF. 4/pistol would be enough. I'm being realistic, given age and physical realities. 2/hunting rifle that takes a detachable mag is plenty.

I like the idea of marking magazines with different colored Sharpies so I can tell at a glance what they are. I don't shoot enough anymore to differentiate instantly.
 
After watching this discussion, I picked up another mag for my old Tikka T3. When they first came out, they cost $70 (Beretta had just acquired Sako, which had acquired Tikka). I was reluctant to pay that much for a small bit of plastic, and so apparently were most others. Today I paid $26, still too much but way better.

Mags are a commodity I like to buy when price is low, sell when prices are crazy high. Meanwhile, they don't take a lot of space or fussing over.
 
Does it matter the type or construction though? More is always better, but springs and followers can be replaced too. Most proposed state bans forbid transfers so that’s not really a great investment like the 1994 AWB era.

I do tend to accumulate the inexpensive ones from the “table-o-treasure” at every gun store. The $5-10 S&W Shield mags are fairly easy to find now.
 
For AR's I'm a 20 rd kind of guy. I stopped at 6 for each. A few 10 rd and two 30 rd.
I figure some jerk will pop me and have my good gun and ammo anyway. That's why Indians had tribes. Safety in numbers.
 
When I had an AR15, I had 40 mags between 2 guns. When I had a 1911, which of course the mags aren't on the ban list, I had 10.
 
I have a few ARs, so I probably have about 20 mags for each; I've got a good stock of P-Mags, and a lot of the Gen 3 w/windows (maybe 30 or so?) and another 30 or so of the metal mags, mostly C-Products and some other reputable mags, along wih a handfun each of Lancers, Troy Battlemags, Hexmags and a couple other off-brands. Got a handful of 5-round mags, about ten 10-round mags (the new limit in my state) and about ten 20-round mags, just 'cause Iike them for prone shooting.

For pistols, I doubt I own any pistols with less than at least 6 mags, I try for 10 each. Maybe upwards of 50 or so 1911 mags, mostly Colt, WC, Metalform, EB, a few CMC and a lot of off-brands.

I use plastic totes for my mags,keep 'em all in labeled Zip-loc bags, all labeled with Sharpie, and I've got a bunch of the Midway pistol bags with the pouches for mags on the side.
 
Anchorite said:
You can never have enough magazines, period.
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I think you can have enough but honestly I don't take you to never really have too many.

Then again, I remember this discussion coming up on Glocktalk and one of the respondents literally showed a duffel bag full Glock magazines still in the packaging.

In my opinion that's wasting money but it's his money to waste not mine.

My minimum is 6 per gun. What I mostly have is Glock 19 magazines and I think I'm pretty close to 30 of those which should be more than I will ever need for the rest of my life.

Again in my opinion, after a certain point you're better off putting the money into ammunition.
 
The Night Rider said:
My minimum is 6 per gun. What I mostly have is Glock 19 magazines and I think I'm pretty close to 30 of those which should be more than I will ever need for the rest of my life.

Again in my opinion, after a certain point you're better off putting the money into ammunition.
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And truly, that's what probably makes the most sense -- thinking in terms of how many you're gonna carry with you if the worst possible scenario presents itself? And unless you're shooting more than a couple hundred rounds per each individual firearm you take to the range, likely you're just an average citizen who still has a lot of new magazines still in the factory wrappers on a closet shelf...

If you're ever in a situation where you'll burn through six or more rifle or pistol mags and have to pull some boxes out of your bag to load up some more mags (where's my damn Uplula?), you likely have already made a fatal error in judgement.
 
tmd16556 said:
Does it matter the type or construction though? More is always better, but springs and followers can be replaced too. Most proposed state bans forbid transfers so that’s not really a great investment like the 1994 AWB era.

I do tend to accumulate the inexpensive ones from the “table-o-treasure” at every gun store. The $5-10 S&W Shield mags are fairly easy to find now.
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Man, I forgot that single stack Shield mags are now not cool. I'm going to start rummaging through the bargain boxes for .40 S&W Shield mags.
 
The Night Rider said:
I think you can have enough but honestly I don't take you to never really have too many.

Then again, I remember this discussion coming up on Glocktalk and one of the respondents literally showed a duffel bag full Glock magazines still in the packaging.

In my opinion that's wasting money but it's his money to waste not mine.

My minimum is 6 per gun. What I mostly have is Glock 19 magazines and I think I'm pretty close to 30 of those which should be more than I will ever need for the rest of my life.

Again in my opinion, after a certain point you're better off putting the money into ammunition.
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An entire duffle bag full of NIW mags? Yeah, that's a bit over the top. Sure, my GLOCKs have a pile of mags. But they've all been used and since I have a pile of GLOCKs themselves, the pile of mags when divided per gun comes out to like 10 mags per gun.
 
I like a minimum of 4 magazines per handgun- 2 loaded, 2 resting. I do a swap every 6 months. Rifle mags are a different story- I've accumulated so many AR mags from different places, they are irrelevant. I have several for my 10-22, and 2 for my Ruger American rifle. I have 2 for the RAR cause I may lose or break the single 1 it came with.
 
Minimum of three per handgun. I have never worn out a magazine, nor broken a spring. Three seems more than adequate for any serious use, and range use. For a rifle, maybe 5-6. I'm not sure why I would need more. The fact that the OP has so many in bags in a bin suggests they don't see use. This feels a bit like the hoarding instinct at work. I get it, and have some of the same impulses, but rationally I don't see the need for 30 magazines. I would never wear out enough mags to need that number in my lifetime. If this is for hypothetical SHTF use, well . . . I try not to get sucked in by that.
 
For a competition gun, I'd have a dozen or so. For a EDC, 3 or 4 mags are just fine. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have wasted the hundreds I spent on spear mags that will never be use, and that will be sitting stored in it's original packaging until the day I resell them or die. I no longer see the point in hoarding dozens of magazines especially when I only carry 3 at most at a time. If I ever do wear out a magazine, which I never have, I'll simply replace the spring and/or follower if required.
 
I store magazines with their respective rifles in their cases unloaded for now. I'm trying to get 10 20rd mags for both ARs, not a huge fan of 30rd mags personally as far as aesthetics go.
 
At most, 2-3 per gun, whether handgun or rifle. With OEM mags which were Not abused, there are no issues.

Watching too many "Post- Pocky Clipse" movies (produced only to earn people a profit) had me wondering about whether I might need more, but there would need to be an alien invasion to really "need" a bunch.🛸
:scrutiny:"Confirmation bias" can be contagious, and make it more difficult to be realistic.

For my three FAL rifles I have only four milsurp magazines, and they have worked perfectly over hundreds of rounds.
The metal gongs don't care how many magazines are available.
 
Ignition Override said:
had me wondering about whether I might need more, but there would need to be an alien invasion to really "need" a bunch.
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If we are invalid by land from a military force our military and L.E. could not handle, alien invasion, or a high round could competition shooter who's hard on their mags would be be reason to "require" more, but I agree that mags that aren't being abused will last.

Putside of that, if there is an AWB, mags will be outright banned or legal to have but illegal to have in the gun. That's how it's been playing out in reality. Those who are law-abiding gun owners who are hoarding a bunch of mags most likely are doing do in vain. I guess it's a "better to have it and not need it" feel good insurance plan.
 
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