What's The Smallest Capacity That You're Comfortable With?

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5. Not in an auto but 5 is plenty. 3 shots and run. If I need more than that (and quite often carry a 15+1 because more is better) I need a rifle or a shotgun or I'm screwed anyway.

Capacity is somewhat overrated. I just don't want to be told how many is too many and I sure as heck don't want to have to go out and buy a bunch of new mags to comply with idiotic laws.

But 5 is plenty for me often enough.
 
I don't think having a minimum amount that you are comfortable with is the mindset to have. You should carry as many of whatever caliber you choose as you can conceal.

If the most you can conceal today is a 5-shot revolver or a 6 shot semi-auto, so be it. If the most you can conceal today is a 13+1 .45 ACP or a 17+1 9mm, so be it.

Don't carry less than you can
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The issue I would have with that is that most of us really could conceal a duty sized 9x19 that carriers 17-20 rounds, and certain the "compacts" that carry 15-17 rounds, if we wanted to. It is pretty rare that one truly couldn't carry that as opposed to it just not being ideal or the most convenient. I could always dress around a duty size gun if I really wanted to. However, there are times I really don't. Thus, it does indeed become a matter of determining and balancing not just the capacity but the overall capability of a given gun versus other factors such as threat level, convenience, "concealability" with a given manner of dress, etc.
 
Carrying zero is plenty with the right mindset. Carrying a 50 round drum with a Tommygun is too few in the wrong circumstances.

Whatever I'm carrying will be comfortable to wear, hold and shoot. Frankly, whether it's 5, 6 or 30, they're just numbers. It's tactics and willingness that will see you thru, or not. Confidence in your tactics and willingness is more important than any specific number.
 
Adjusting carry for "more dangerous" or "less dangerous" places is giving in to an illusion. Certain things may be more or less likely in certain areas, but we have no idea how serious an event will be when it occurs. You may be a dozen times more likely to be mugged in the city than in the suburbs, but the mugging itself is not twelve times as deadly in the city. Being shot or stabbed in a safe neighborhood won't make you less dead than being stabbed or shot in gang land.

Carry the most that you can commit to. Forecasting insanity doesn't work well.
 
38 snub Mon to Fri, 6 rounds +p 158gr

Sat / Sun ... depends on the clothing, revolvers are all 6 rounds, 1911's have 8, 9mm is either 10 or 15 depending on pistol model, sometimes I keep an extra mag if I feel spunky.

Situation doesn't dictate as much as clothing. I'm not opposed to Open Carry.

Keep a 12ga in the truck at all times, 7 rounds of 00 buck is the equivalent of 2) 30 round mags ! Not looking to conduct any search warrant raids or stop the next zombie apocalypse; carrying weight cause I'm too young to die and too old to take an @$$ woop'n... most bad guys will check themselves when steering down the barrel.


Question I never see asked... How Cheap of a Quality Gun do you carry, being that it's going to lock up in an evidence locker when you use it?
 
Question I never see asked... How Cheap of a Quality Gun do you carry, being that it's going to lock up in an evidence locker when you use it?
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I don't get wrapped up in quantity. In fact, I'm getting tired of the question -thinking it is just supplying ammo to those who want to say that even a certain percentage of gun owners agree that they don't need x amount of magazine capacity.

In regard to this question, I carry the gun I shoot well and that is reliable. If it gets locked up and I need to replace it with something cheap because that's all I can afford at the time then so be it, but I want the best I got for the job if I actually do need it. Not that an inexpensive gun can't be good, but I'm not going to replace ole Betsy just because she might be locked up as evidence for a long time. Now I might not tote grandpa's old SAA or Registered Magnum just because I wouldn't want to wear her out.;)
 
I'm perfectly comfortable with zero. That's how I spend the majority of my time. But I've only been around 60 years or so, with some significant amount of time spent in the military and then law enforcement. It's been my observation that a gun is the least significant element of personal and family safety.
 
This is my philosophy - Carry a gun that you can carry, but always carry. One gun doesn't fit all situations, so the amount of ammo I am comfortable with varies with what I am doing and how I go about it. The least amount is 7 32ACP's in the form of a P32, but I've carryed 5 22LR's in a NAA. The least amount of ammo while hiking in Black Bear country is 6 rounds of 357 plus a couple of speed loaders. The least amount while driving through a city like Chicago (if I were to do it) would be about seven 15 round mags of 9mm. So, it depends 'cause one size doesn't fit all.
 
Yeah personally I want as much ammo as I can have. I would much rather have too many then not enough.
 
Man, I love my wheelies & 1911s, but the older I get (eyesight) and the more "urban" my part of town gets, the more I look at a base line of 15.

At least 9mm.

And just when I decide on the above, the 11:00 news comes on and they show pictures of folks who are "on the loose."

What did I do with that 500 magnum?
 
I tend to think that no one has ever died because they had too many rounds at their disposal. If I'm carrying my 3913, which I do a lot lately, I always carry a spare mag. If I'm carrying my M&P 9C I'm comfortable with the 13 rounds but I carry my BG380 in my pocket as well if I'm going out with the wife. I would rather have another pistol to arm her if necessary than another 12 rounds. I also keep a loaded 17 round mag in the console of my car. During the winter months I'll carry a spare mag for the M&P too. I'm a capable shooter but I don't want to bet my life on being such a good shot I could solve any problem with 5 rounds or so smart I would never get in a situation where I would need more.
 
1 is better than zero but I don't have anything that holds less than 6. I also stay out of areas I am not conmfortable in. Having said that after a lot of research most situations are either 1 or 2 shots fired in self defense or the entire capacity fired in panic. In a panic situation the noise is the only detering factor anyway so all those extra rounds served no purpose because the criminals are almost always gonna run after the first shot.
 
I've carried a six shot revolver, a seven plus one pocket auto, several eight plus one 1911s, and now a ten plus one LW Commander in .38 Super.

In that time, I've also owned a CZ75b and a Glock 21, but neither got carried.
 
What's The Smallest Capacity That You're Comfortable With?
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I guess it would have to be the single-shot .22 Derringer, or 5-shot Chiefs Special I carried in a army fatigue jacket pocket during the 1968 race riots.

I would have preferred a loaded mag or two for my empty M-14 or 1911A!

But the Army wouldn't let me take any GI issue ammo to a riot while those around us were burning East Kansas City down and shooting at us.

rc
 
My run to the store for milk gun is a 6 shot .22 model 61-3 Smith and Wesson. EDC is usually a 5 shot snub gun .38 or .9 mm with a speed strip reload.
 
I started my LE career carrying a 6-shot revolver on & off-duty, or a Commander (7-rd mags were still the norm than) ... and I finished my career carrying an issued 7+1 capacity compact .45 pistol. ;) In between I carried various hi-cap duty pistols.

My retirement CCW weapons are either 5-shot revolvers, or pistols which use 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10-rd mags. (I have a couple that also use 11 & 12-rd hi-cap mags, but I'm just as likely to be carrying those guns with 9 & 10-rd mags.)

I'm neither a "caliber snob", nor someone who feels hi-cap mags are always necessary or preferable.
 
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