Why so many mags?

[drewtam]

Whats the practical purpose of having 10-20mags for the carbine?

I can't possibly conceive of a home defense scenario of using more than 2 mags, 3 mags might be possible if one were to empty a mag on each assailant in a three man attack.

The only thing close to using 10-20 mags is a standoff with police or military, in which case, that is not home defense, its a one man insurrection.

Is it really civil war prep? or is there some other practical reason I am missing? (don't want to keep ammo in cardboard boxes?)

I would rather spend that much money on ammo/practise/new guns.

[Frank Castle]

Is it really civil war prep? or is there some other practical reason I am missing?

A Military combat load is 7 mags. (210 rounds )

[SADShooter]

Do you train with your carbine? If so, mags will be damaged/fail. If you find yourself without a functioning, loaded magazine, your firearm is an expensive, clumsy baseball bat. I don't expect to ever shoot all my magazines dry in a pitched firefight. But what if you suddenly can't buy any more? Your firearm operates at the mercy of properly functioning magazines. "2 is 1, 1 is none" extended.

[Jamisjockey]

Mags are a disposable item.  Buying spares for when they are scarce or expensive only makes sense.  With an eye to any possible SHTF situations where you find yourself using them, having spares only makes sense.  

Civil war isn't the only plausible SHTF where you might need more than a few magazines.  
I'm not huge on the ZOMG End of the world stuff, but there are plenty of possible scenarios where you could find yourself in a firefight.  You could use up a few magazines, lose them, damage them in one shootout.  

A Military combat load is 7 mags. (210 rounds )

And in the military we presume prompt resupply, and that you've got assets at your disposal such as the rest of your squad, air support, artillery.  If it's just you vs. whoever, you've got no presumption of the calvary arriving anytime soon.   

A determined group of attackers might decide that they want what you have.  Out of desperation, greed or stupidity.  
Drew, you're presuming the only situation where you're in a standoff would be against the military or police.

I personally only keep 4 mags handy for my carbine right now.  But I have enough that if something nasty starts developing, I can be equipped to hold out a while.  And I will be getting more as time goes on.

[Perd Hapley]

What Jamis said. Also, more mags is always better. Saves time/thumbs at the range.

[freakazoid]

What everybody else said, plus I like to collect things so I got quite a few different kinds of mags for my AK74.

[French G.]

Definitely disposable. The training and gun game mags should be different from the real mags too. Then you get into trade goods, spare parts, etc. Not much different from money in my book.  Except you can actually use them, unlike money in some cases.

[cordex]

As the others mentioned, if (as have been proposed and in the past enacted) laws restrict new manufacture, retail sale and/or after-market transfer of magazines, additional replacement magazines for your weapon may be very expensive, or completely unavailable.  Also, at some point you may hopefully need to provide for the feeding of multiple carbines and having merely enough magazines to supply one may be insufficient.  As magazines are the number 1 wear item for a magazine-fed firearm, keeping spares is never a bad idea.

Additionally, magazines for popular weapons may rise in value one day becoming valuable trade commodities for those who failed to provide for their own supply.  Or they may be illegal to trade (which will increase the value on the black market significantly), so take that with a grain of salt.

I got into guns during the first AWB and the lessons I learned then have changed my perception of need.

[AZRedhawk44]

20 is too few.

I have 6 20rd mags, just for high power matches.  Each are color coded so i know its purpose.
1 is for single load stages.
4 are for rapid fire (2 and 8, twice) stages
1 has 10 rounds in it in the case of a malfunction in the regular 2 and 8 mags

Those are just 20rd mags.  Then i have a combat load for threegunnery, in 30rd mags.
Then i have a full complement of spare 20's for high power.
Then i have a full complement of 30's that don't get tossed in the dirt and abused regularly.  Several are loaded as a self defense contingency.
Then i have several 30's new in wrapper.  Sometimes i give a few away to friends that are new to the ar platform.  Or i function as a group buy outlet for ammo or mag purchase via bulk for some friends.

I do exactly the same thing for my M14.

I also have a minimum of 10 mags for carry handguns.  Not to carry 10 mags... to keep training mags separate from carry mags, to leave a mag or two stashed somewhere in the house or truck to augment carry mags, and to have one or two spare new in wrapper.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Why not?

[birdman]

All the reasons above and:
The more you have, the less wear on any one.

Same reason I have multiple pairs of shoes, dress shirts, suits, etc.

[lupinus]

Jamis primarily hit the nail on the head. Say you have a hurricane sandy type situation, and you're the only one that bothered to lay up sufficient food and water. Others know this, and want it. A group of thugs becomes a very real possibility. Hell, they were popping shot of just to GET FURTHER UP THE GAS LINE. What do you think happens when they get hungry and you have a three month supply of food for your family?

From a more practical, likely, and everyday aspect...range work. The less time you spend loading mags at the range the more time you are putting rounds down range. If you on average fire off, say, 20 mags worth of ammo a range session. Having 20 or 25 mags topped off and loaded makes a range session a lot more efficient than having to reload mags after every two or three magazines.

[Balog]

Mags are a consumable item, and one you may not always be able to buy (or may not be able to buy as cheaply). Only makes sense to stock up.

[MechAg94]

I was probably around about 10 in 2008.  Once stocks got back to normal, I was buying 2 or 4 here and there and time and money permitted.  If 20 per rifle is not enough, then maybe I need to order more.   

I would like to get more M1A mags.

[erictank]

Whats the practical purpose of having 10-20mags for the carbine?

I can't possibly conceive of a home defense scenario of using more than 2 mags, 3 mags might be possible if one were to empty a mag on each assailant in a three man attack.

The only thing close to using 10-20 mags is a standoff with police or military, in which case, that is not home defense, its a one man insurrection.

Is it really civil war prep? or is there some other practical reason I am missing? (don't want to keep ammo in cardboard boxes?)

I would rather spend that much money on ammo/practise/new guns.

Well, for my part, I'm going to need several for 3-gun. Whenever I can get any ammo, anyways... So I got ten on the last APS buy. Holding off on the one posted just recently, because I need to get ammo for the AR and I need to get my shotgun (and ammo for that) more than I need extra mags right this second.

Magazines are pretty close to a durable but disposable item. Having spares? Not a bad idea, IMO.

[French G.]

I hope that a mag ban doesn't happen, getting closer to my goal of making some harder to get mags.

[Perd Hapley]

Also:

I don't have a "military-style assault weapon," and I don't really "prep," but I'm guessing that the people who do fit that description want to have plenty of magazines for target-shooting sessions, maybe some more for competition, others that stay loaded and put away for home defense, maybe a few more that stay loaded in the vehicle(s), and possibly more loaded magazines that stay in the bug-out bag, emergency stash, Idaho hide-out, etc.

Were it me, I'd like to cycle those stashed mags every once in a while, but it's still nice to have a set of magazines that (almost) never leave the emergency stash, so they're always there when needed.

[erictank]

Also:

I don't have a "military-style assault weapon," and I don't really "prep," but I'm guessing that the people who do fit that description want to have plenty of magazines for target-shooting sessions, maybe some more for competition, others that stay loaded and put away for home defense, maybe a few more that stay loaded in the vehicle(s), and possibly more loaded magazines that stay in the bug-out bag, emergency stash, Idaho hide-out, etc.

Were it me, I'd like to cycle those stashed mags every once in a while, but it's still nice to have a set of magazines that (almost) never leave the emergency stash, so they're always there when needed.

This is something which has crossed my mind. With the 10 I currently have, I can leave 3 or so loaded with whatever defensive ammo I end up choosing, at home, and take the other 6-7 a-threegunning. Switch 'em out when I get home again, or every other time, or whatever.

Of course, it would be helpful to have something else I could also leave home which would USE those mags while I'm out a-threegunning. Perhaps a Keltec SU-16C or something.

[vaskidmark]

Regardless of the activity, you can never have too much ammo or too much  money.

Just as I carry high-capacity bills (waddaya mean nobody ever needs more than $10.00 at a time?) I like to carry my ammo in easy-to-deal-with amounts.  A block of 10/20/30 rounds is easier to deal with than a pocket full of 10/20/30 loose cartridges, let alone several 10s/20s/30s of loose cartridges.  Having the ammo in magazines also reduces loss, damage, and wasteage.

stay safe.

[zxcvbob]

Whats the practical purpose of having 10-20mags for the carbine?

I can't possibly conceive of a home defense scenario of using more than 2 mags, 3 mags might be possible if one were to empty a mag on each assailant in a three man attack.

I have about 8 or 9 magazines for mine; I'm not sure the exact number.  That should be all I ever need, as long as I never have to replace any of them.  I was just about to order some extras when this latest craziness started. 

The only thing close to using 10-20 mags is a standoff with police or military, in which case, that is not home defense, its a one man insurrection.

That kind of depends on who's the aggressor, don't ya think?

[drewtam]

So is the approach different for pistols compared to the carbine?

Pistol mags are like $45/mag. Not a disposable item at $45. Buying 10 mags is like buying another pistol. Not gonna happen, I'm happy with the 3 that came with the gun.


AK mags are quite a bit cheaper, ~$14/mag once this firearm bubble deflates. I still don't consider that price "disposable". If one failed in a few short years, I would be pissed. I was regularly upset when my aftermarket 10/22 fell apart.


Hmmm, a lot of scarcity mentality in the responses. I am too young for the AWB so that probably changes the perspective. I also don't go through ammo fast enough to feel that magazine count is any huge constraint; reloading after 2 mags on the AK feels perfectly natural. [The K31 with 1x 6 round mag, on the other hand, that is a PITA. Need to get the stripper clips for it.] Maybe I am colored by what I am used to doing. Also, AK mags are super easy to load.


The reason I brought this up is I was thinking about getting some good training on "tactical carbine" with the AK. I will definitely need to buy more mags for that... which made me curious why some people buy not just the basic 5-10, but rather 20, 30 stacks of mags. Where do you store it all!


Thread veer... any suggestions for basic tactical carbine companies? is it worth the money?

[cordex]

Depends on the pistol. I have quite a few magazines for my carry guns (say, 30 or so assembled over 14 or so years). Fewer for my fun guns and seldom carried.

Definitely lots of scarcity mentality for me. There was a time that I couldn't pass up a used USGI AR mag under about $17 (back when that's about what it cost from Adam Firestone of Cruffler).

Think about magazines like ammo. A few cases of centerfire ammo will run as much as the pistol you run them through. That doesn't mean you should only only ever shoot a box of ammo through your gun (although that is what many gun owners do).

[birdman]

So is the approach different for pistols compared to the carbine?

Pistol mags are like $45/mag. Not a disposable item at $45. Buying 10 mags is like buying another pistol. Not gonna happen, I'm happy with the 3 that came with the gun.

Hmmm, a lot of scarcity mentality in the responses. I am too young for the AWB so that probably changes the perspective. I also don't go through ammo fast enough to feel that magazine count is any huge constraint; reloading after 2 mags on the AK feels perfectly natural. [The K31 with 1x 6 round mag, on the other hand, that is a PITA. Need to get the stripper clips for it.] Maybe I am colored by what I am used to doing. Also, AK mags are super easy to load.


The reason I brought this up is I was thinking about getting some good training on "tactical carbine" with the AK. I will definitely need to buy more mags for that... which made me curious why some people buy not just the basic 5-10, but rather 20, 30 stacks of mags. Where do you store it all!

I store my magazines in the ammo/gear/etc closet (weapons in the safe of course, powder in the approved magazine).

For pistols, I don't have fewer than 6-10 for every pistol I have.

The reason is while it may be easy to load magazines at the range, my time is valuable, and being able to maximize my training time at the range is worth it...I usually load mags while watching a movie with the wife.

[AZRedhawk44]

Dt, do you have holsters and mag carriers for your handgun?  Do you constantly unload your jhp from your mags for training or practice?

I need 2 or even sometimes 3 mags for running 1 stage of the weekly steel matches.  It is actually really nice having 10-12 mags available to load the day before so that i can show up and not have to stuff mags between all 4 stages.  But 3 will suffice.  I once accidentally blew off 18rds of jhps when i would try to skate by on the same practice mags as carry mags.  I also started seeing practice abuse showing up in my carry mags.

Now add in the possibility of a ban, to training abuse.  Pistol mags that are routinely dropped when empty only last a few years before they wear out and need new springs, followers, floorplates or even bodies.

10 is too few when you really think it through.

Mag cost is something i consider whenever i buy a new gun.  Anything close to service sized gets 10 mags.  Beretta, cz, 1911, xd.  10+ mags each.  This is a big reason i don't own guns with expensive mags like hk's and 2011's.  A $500 gun actually costs closer to $1000 after extra mags and iwb and owb holsters.

[Jamisjockey]

The other thing with handguns is most are considering if you really need the longgun, it'll be your primary and go to.  Handguns are secondary weapons.