How Many Magazines?

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Joined
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Personal opinion only but I carry only what's in the mag in the gun. If I need more that 7 or 10 shots I am no longer in a defense situation, I am in a shoot-out and I will retreat before that happens.
Great plan. As long as you can retreat and if you retreat you can live with leaving others to fend for themselves.

My opinion is that retreat isn't always an option.
 
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I suppose so. On the other hand, that line of planning is based on the pretext that once the party starts, one can just sorta "leave the festivities" at will....in my experience, it don't work like that. In my experience, neither party gets to leave until the other can't continue the dance....for whatever reason.
Serious stuff, fighting for one's life....just sayin'.

DGW
I've gotta ask, and I'm sure more are curious, how many "parties" like this have you attended?
 
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I suppose so. On the other hand, that line of planning is based on the pretext that once the party starts, one can just sorta "leave the festivities" at will....in my experience, it don't work like that. In my experience, neither party gets to leave until the other can't continue the dance....for whatever reason.
Serious stuff, fighting for one's life....just sayin'.

DGW
Which is why I carry more mags- but I WOULD at least attempt to leave the festivities if possible after firing a full mag and the party continues....
 

KIR

Sparks, NV
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What's a magazine?
Available.jpg
 

bisleyfan41

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I don't see carrying an extra mag as preparation for a firefight, I see it as a backup should the mag in the gun fail for whatever reason. I always carry one spare; capacity is irrelevant. Planning for the worst case scenario.

BTW, if something goes down and you have the ability to safely leave, you should leave. Before any shots are fired.

If you can't safely retreat, you're gonna have to work towards being able to get out. Don't think you are John McClain in Die Hard or Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon. You ain't and you'll likely die acting like it. That's not real world.

As to the OP's question, more than required. And always adding more.
 
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If we're only talking about mags for our primary daily CCW gun, I carry one spare mag. When I was working, I also carried another spare mag and 50 rounds of handgun ammo in the console of my vehicle. The carry pistol was augmented by a 300AAC PDW with one 10 round mag in place and 2 loaded 20 round mags in the console. In 15 years of 'investigative work' in rural areas, I ended up in some extremely sketchy places but only drew my weapon twice and never fired a shot.
 
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Personal opinion only but I carry only what's in the mag in the gun. If I need more that 7 or 10 shots I am no longer in a defense situation, I am in a shoot-out and I will retreat before that happens.
I do the same. I have yet to have any mag fail for me, but I understand it could happen. But so could a million other problems. Many days I carry a snubby with just 5 rounds and feel prepared. You can easily imagine a scenario where nothing less than a belt fed machine gun would suffice, but that doesn't mean you leave the house daily with that machine gun. Having 5 rounds in my snubbing, or 8 in my LC9s, or 11 in my Glock 26 is enough for me. I've yet to even have to draw my gun in over a decade of daily carry. Do whatever it takes to feel comfortable when out and about.
 
Joined
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The internet vs Reality. I am a shooting enthusiast since a kid. Shoot each week, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week. But I have been carrying only for about 15 yrs. (When I do carry). One thing I have seen over the years is how the internet causes EDC owners to go way over the top. So many feel that if you are not carrying a combat Pistol with two or three magazines, then you are a dead man walking. It is so insane. To them, a FBI Miami Dade shoot out for them is right around the corner.
Youtube video's can really go over the top. If you are not training like John Wick, then you are wishing your life away.
It was interesting to see about three surveys done on some popular gun forums. It was no surprise to me that about 98-99% of the members had never once fired their gun in self defense. Past one round the odds become less, two even more so and so on. NONE had ever needed a spare magazine.
I have never even heard of any one needing one.
Some shooters are so over the top. On one forum you have a couple of people that spend thousands of dollars on training. They love to talk about Pro's they have met, etc. And these are old fat guys. And of course they carry large handguns with spare magazines.

I own many guns, love to shoot. However, I carry a small pistol pocket gun, or a Snubby. And five rounds is just fine. Life is good.

I love shooting, I loath carrying a firearm. Heck, I do not even like to carry a Cell Phone. And by the way, a Cell Phone driver will get you 6' under faster than being shot by a bad guy.
PS I love shooting a Snubby more than any other gun made. As Hickok45 said. "There is just something about them". For me they are just solid fun.

rEAuL6D.jpg
 
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The only thing I see wrong with not thinking that a Miami Dade, or North Holly shootout is around the corner is sometimes it is.

But one thing can be said of both of those incidents. It wasn't a failure to have sufficient ammunition. They were failures in the selection of appropriate weapons and tactics.

When folks "loose" their firearm before the shooting starts your tactics suck. If you are facing multiple armored folks with nothing more than a shotgun your firearms selection sucks.
 

Paul B

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In all my years on this planet I've really only had to draw my weapon twice. One time was so far back the details are hazy and the second time it got got very close to getting real.

Time number one was during the time of the Watts riots. I was living in San Francisco at the time and the city had a 9PM curfew in effect. I was working swing shift at a paper box plant in San Bruno at the time pulling meg overtime. Get to work at 4PM and if lucky get off shift at two or three in the morning. I was stopped at a red light when a carload of blacks pulled up alongside yelling threats. I was carrying a Colt Cobra snub that time and when they saw the gun one yelled, "He's got a gun!" and the peeled out through the red light almost causing a wreck.

Numer two I've mentioned here before That tkme I was carrying an S&W 8MM and was hassled by a dude who thought I was somebody else, Seems like I looked like an ex-mayor of Tucson that he had a drpe with. TGe dude was quite serious about it until it soaked in that I whould shoot him. Two things about that incident. When that ex-mayor of Tucson passed away they had his picture on the front page of the newspaper.. He looked like he was my twin brother. The other good thing was my late wife who was with me when this happened said when it was over that she'd never complain about me carrying a gun ever again.

My current carry is usually a Colt Combat Commander .45 ACP with 8 round Wilson magazine and a couple of ten round Wilsons in my pocket. An S&W M60 .38 Spl. with two speed loader for backup. However, with all the doctor visits, chemo and other related stuff involved, most of the hardware stays home and just the M60 with speed loaders go with me. Between rehab, chemo and radiation it was a royal PITA trying to hide all that hardware literally every day in my truck. I found a neat hiding place for the M60 so for now that's about all I carry. I'd be a lot happier with the Commander but it's too big to fit in the hiding place.
Paul B.
 
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Just a thought to share, I wouldn't bet any past close calls will be like any future close calls about possible need to defend yourself. The environment (big city) you live in, or visit has likely changed for the worse than just a few years ago. Keep up on the current crime stats and pay attention to the news when reporting the number of shots fired at an incident.
 
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As said, depends on the weapon. I have 3 speedloaders per revolver, 3-10 magazines per semi-auto pistol, and AR has lots.

Sorry that you're in NJ, I left 40+ years ago.
 
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