Why so many mags?

[AZRedhawk44]

Illinois does not have legal CC; so no, I never spent the money on something I can't legally use where it would be useful. I hope Illinois  has good CC by summer (best possible scenario), in that case - shopping spree.

I train where time and budget allows. The range I go to is a private club, one fee for year long use. No hourly charges and more than enough room to practice any firearm I want, at any distance up to 300yds, for as long as I want. So I never feel rushed during practice to save money.

Legally, schmegally.  You've got the pistol for repelling boarders, right?  You, sir, need a holster and at least a single mag carrier.  Ignoring the capacity issue of whatever your defensive pistol might be, it's a malfunction clearing issue.  This is training.

Does your private range allow drawing from the holster?  Close range target practice shooting from hip-index position (i.e. unsighted shots)?  Rapid magazine changes?  Movement while shooting (getting off the X, etc)?

The only public range that allows drawing from holster here in the PHX area is Ben Avery.  The indoor ranges I've been to have differing rules... some never allow it, some allow it if you've taken classes at their facility and are on computerized record as having cleared that skill.  Mostly, if you want to practice something more than bump on a log public range bench shooting, you have to join some sort of competitive league or keep taking expensive classes, or go out into the desert where there is no RSO and EMS response is very slow if something does happen to go wrong.

Get into some sort of IPSC/IDPA/steel/ICORE handgun shooting.  There's a whole new world to shooting that will wake you up to the value of multiple magazines, and just how valuable 1 more round of ammunition can be, how little time 18rds in a handgun can buy you in a gunfight, or magazine duration with 10rd Clintonized mags versus 17rd natural mags, and so on.

Last range trip I put my 1911 mag on the table and it somehow got mixed in with my range mags.  My buddy was all  when I told him that cost $1.20 a round....

DT, having spare mags prevents expensive mistakes like this.  Jamis and I are hardly the only two people who have done this before.  Carry mags for carry ammo, practice mags for practice ammo and regular dropping on the floor and stepping on and filling with desert sand from run-n-gun stuff.  Then another spare mag or two in the truck, another spare mag or two in the nightstand, and another spare mag or two NIB in any of the carry mags gets damaged.

[cordex]

I've shot the mini and didn't like it.  The one I shot was finicky about seating magazines, and not very accurate. 

Same, although slightly downloaded factory Ruger 20 rounders aren't as bad for seating as most of the magazines out there.  Accuracy was always a problem.  I got a Mini 14 as a wedding gift and I like having it but have never considered as a go-to rifle.  For that rifle I have a couple of factory 20 rounders and the factory 5 rounder, so I guess I'm not a universal magazine hoarder.

[RevDisk]

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

I'm a believer in spending at least 50% of the weapon's cost on mags if it is a semi. I try to have 5-10 mags per pistol, couple dozen per long rifle if applicable.

Can't hurt, might help, and makes the range trip much more fun. Mags are semi disposable items. They do wear out. Now, I wouldn't buy hundreds of mags for just sitting in my safe. But 50 AR mags can be had for well under $500, during normal times. That's not THAT much. Pistol magazines on the other hand get expensive quick. Sig mags are... costly.

No one says you have to buy them in one sitting either.


I'm buying 40 mags. Within the next five, ten or twenty years I expect to break about 5 of them. Lose about 5 of them. "Lend" another 5 to buddies that get forgotten about. 5 shall rise up against me, and I shall smite them with furious vengeance, while Queen plays in the background. You know, normal life stuff.

[Boomhauer]

I would not get a Mini 14. They arent the sturdiest rifles or the most reliable...not to mention accuracy issues. The antis hate them just as much. Id much rather have an unconverted Saiga than a Mini

The AR is a much better rifle. Reliable, widely available parts and mags, much better optics mounting, etc.

[Perd Hapley]

Illinois does not have legal CC; so no, I never spent the money on something I can't legally use where it would be useful. I hope Illinois  has good CC by summer (best possible scenario), in that case - shopping spree.

I train where time and budget allows. The range I go to is a private club, one fee for year long use. No hourly charges and more than enough room to practice any firearm I want, at any distance up to 300yds, for as long as I want. So I never feel rushed during practice to save money.

Been there. Time can still be limited, even then, depending on drive times, length of the day, range rules about shooting after dusk/dark, how many other members are present, and how much time people are spending downrange.

"Rangewalk, privates! Get the lead out!"

[roo_ster]

I'm not worried about 'scary'.

I spent enough time with the AR platform that even after not owning one for years, it was like picking right back up with an old friend when I built mine.  My carbine handles like a dream compared to my ole A2 from the glory days.

I've shot the mini and didn't like it.  The one I shot was finicky about seating magazines, and not very accurate. 

I can still see in my mind the innards of my M4A1(0).  I tore that sucker down to component parts a couple times.  First time after leaving the service, I shotgunned a buddy's AR, looked down and thought, "Huh!? That ain't right..."

When the Current Insanity cools off, I will buy two more lowers and build up the two I already own into decent carbines.  One light CAR-15-ish carbine for SWMBO one with a medium-ish contour bbl for my own self.  Kiddos will get ARs with custom sernos (B-days), likely light carbine builds.


Why so many mags?  For all the reasons above.

I recently bought a 1911 LW Cdr that eats from the same Wilson Combat 47D mags.  I buy another couple every once in a while and two of my guns can feed from the same stash.







(0) The M16A2 was a good rifle and benefited from USMC influence (relative to previous M16 variants), except for the asinine 3RB lockwork.  The jarhead who pushed that on the A2 deserves a beating.

[Jamisjockey]

My current build is an A4 knockoff.  Going to use a shorter stock (Sully fixed stock) and a variable power scope.  Yeah, the current stupidness has slowed my build down, too.  Reeeeaallllllyyyyyy want a Bravo Co  Auto BCG for this one, too, and they're all sold out.

[GigaBuist]

I became a gun owner in 2001 and joined the online forums around 2003.  And for years I dismissed any sort of "old timer" advise like you should have a .22LR, mags are disposable, empty your carry ammo every year, you really need to do this, that or the other thing.

And I have constantly found that I was wrong.  The old timers are right.