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How Much Ammo Should I Carry?

Sld1959 said:
Several of them were claimed later and indeed they had been ejected, so it does happen.

Of course it is always good to check occasionally, but I still believe a spare magazine is cheap and easy insurance.
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No doubt it does. Have seen and experienced "mag fallout" too from time to time. Usually good to give 'em a good whack and check to see if mag's latched in place. Some may look to be, but aren't.

Carrying 2 full mags is generally a good idea too. Also, good to carry two full mags on opposite side of carry to reduce "people wobble" too. - Helps balance on shoulder holsters or CC upper clothing concealment because things generally hang / look better, more normal. Two mags seems to be "magic number" with many.
 
FlatEarthFred said:
I've been carrying a 1911 with a seven shot mag and one spare mag for a few months and have felt pretty protected. But, I guess more ammo is always better!
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Depends on scenario,
Generally speaking, carrying one to two full mags for pistols, two preferably, is typically considered best practice for CC.
Range time is or can be different. Planning on shooting a fifty round box? Having more mags helps cut down time spent at range filling mags. Helps, is not a cure all in every scenario.
 
Bemused Berserker said:
When I carried my Walther PPK/S, I always carried 2 spare 7 round magazines (always in a carrier, never just loose), for 25+ years. That gave me a total of 22 rounds. Since I switched to this SIG P365, I carry the gun with the 10 round in place, but usually only 1 spare 12 round. Sometime 2, but 90% of the time just 1. So I've always 23 rounds at hand. Sometime 35, but not very often.

Someone mentioned LE and rounds fired vs rounds hitting the Perp. In the late 80's, early 90's. Two local PD Detectives engaged a Perp in a shootout. Both Detectives had their recently approved 1911's. In the aftermath, the detectives had fired 60+ rounds between the 2 of them at this dude. They hit him 3 times in the lower legs. It was later determined all 3 wounds were ricochets, not clean hits. 60 some rounds at a distance of less than 40 feet, and they disabled the perp by sheer chance.
One of the detectives, was captain of the Police Pistol Team at that time.
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This continues to this day...
I heard it said, The primary cause of reloads is missing.
 
I believe there was an excellent point made above.
Assuming your handgun works properly, the real question is: How many seconds will you be actively engaged before you are hit once? There will probably be a lapse of three or four seconds before you will get your mind back into the fight.

History asks: Do you have a lanyard on your handgun so that when you are hit, you will retain your weapon?
 
I often carry a J-frame; 5-8 rounds, depending on which one. I normally carry one speed strip…or a NY reload (a second J-frame). 10-16 rounds.

I am perfectly comfortable with this.

First off, I know that the odds of actually being in a gunfight are incredibly low. I’m orders of magnitude more likely to be hit by a car when I’m out walking or bicycling for exercise, for example…but I don’t fret about it…I’m definitely not going to fret about something that’s hundreds (if not thousands) of times less likely to happen.

Second, as mentioned earlier—the average defensive shooting is 2 point something rounds; that means over HALF of such events are settled with 3 rounds—mostly LESS than 3. The curve drops rapidly, as well…so gunfights that go over 5 rounds are exceedingly rare.

In the also unusual case of multiple DETERMINED assailants (that is, partners that stick around after the first one receives a high-velocity piercing, or even after their poor choice in victim selection proves to have teeth, and the will to use them) are incredibly rare. Should I ever be in such a situation…boarding house rules. Nobody gets seconds until everyone gets a first helping.

None of this should be construed as contemptuous of those who want to carry more; if that’s what they want to carry, more power to them.
 
I am still waiting on the compelling reason to carry 2 extra mags. I do not consider "people wobble" to be a compelling reason. Institutions have been keeping up with gunfighting stats for quite a long time and although there is no guarantee that your fight will fall within those stats, I see no reason to believe it wont. I split the difference by carrying one re-load. Things to break, fall out, drop and people have been known to run out. Still, where is the thoughtful qualification for a joe citizen to carry 2 reloads? I am certainly open to changing my mind
 
Well, if I had a wagon in which to carry 40 rounds of 45, I might consider throwing some of it rather than shooting it!
It would be a whole lot quieter.
On second thought, if I had a wagon with 40 rounds of 45, I might just ask the perp to lie down and run over hin with the wagon.
How do ya keep your pants from falling down?
 
KASHIRA-3 said:
I am still waiting on the compelling reason to carry 2 extra mags. I do not consider "people wobble" to be a compelling reason. Institutions have been keeping up with gunfighting stats for quite a long time and although there is no guarantee that your fight will fall within those stats, I see no reason to believe it wont. I split the difference by carrying one re-load. Things to break, fall out, drop and people have been known to run out. Still, where is the thoughtful qualification for a joe citizen to carry 2 reloads? I am certainly open to changing my mind
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....Emptied or malfunctioned 1st mag, 2nd mag falls or is dropped in scuffle, 3rd is then charm.
 
KASHIRA-3 said:
I am still waiting on the compelling reason to carry 2 extra mags. I do not consider "people wobble" to be a compelling reason. Institutions have been keeping up with gunfighting stats for quite a long time and although there is no guarantee that your fight will fall within those stats, I see no reason to believe it wont. I split the difference by carrying one re-load. Things to break, fall out, drop and people have been known to run out. Still, where is the thoughtful qualification for a joe citizen to carry 2 reloads? I am certainly open to changing my mind
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Well for starters, if you're going to use statistical evidence there is most likely no reason for YOU to carry a gun at all.

Me on the other hand, well, I was shot at twice last year. And had to hit the dirt at least 7 times over the last 8 years besides that. And had friends shot to death on my job. I have been wearing level 3A to work ( I dig holes in the street) for the last couple years until recently. So I really only pay attention to my own personal stats.

Anyway, more often than not I am carrying either a Shield .40 or a Shield .45 with one extra mag on me and at least one more close by. Then again, sometimes I carry a hell of a lot more than that. Different tools for different jobs and all that.

2 extra 13 rd. mags in a double mag pouch on the weak side and a 4" service model XD on a good gunbelt is very VERY far from a wagon load of .45. 2 is 1, 1 is none.
 
Well for starters, if you're going to use statistical evidence there is most likely no reason for YOU to carry a gun at all.
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OK lets examine this for a moment.

Perhaps you qualify risk in a different manner than is common. The reason that many people carry a gun in spite of stats that suggest that need of a gun would be exceedingly rare is often because of the exceedingly high loss which can be associated with not having a weapon when you find yourself in need of one. Low risk but High loss... this is not a foreign concept in risk assessments. Now, having a weapon and even having an extra reload well exceeds the typical statistical norm and also answers the need to mitigate a rather low risk due to its perceived dire loss if failure occurs.

If someone wants to carry 2 mags, 3 mags or 10.. I dont care. All I was asking for was a thoughtful qualification regarding the proclaimed (2) mag necessity for joe- citizen.

I am sure there will be additional quips, parroting of mantras and perhaps an idiom or 2. Still, I remain interested in why several people feel that 2 extra mags in addition to the one in your gun, is some sort of prudent default. If a person simply wants to do it fine, I can accept it. If someone is going to proclaim that its what is needed, please explain. I accept that one respondent stated that you might have a mag failure and then drop the second mag- thus, relying on the third. If this is the reasoning, I would say that lightning and space debris might also need to be factored into this metric.

2 is 1, 1 is none
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Ok, I feel like this is essentially a nifty saying to simply foster a mindset which promotes redundancy. There is nothing wrong with that when framed correctly. In this discussion.. one mag is already in the gun. One is certainly one for as long as it does the job. The redundancy is the extra magazine, not the third one. The idea that one is none, can seem rather silly when placed in a literal context. If the idea is simply to foster a leaning toward redundancy, your first reload fits the bill.

This still begs the question.. why the 3rd mag if you are joe citizen?
 
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KASHIRA-3 said:
OK lets examine this for a moment.

Perhaps you qualify risk in a different manner than is common. The reason that many people carry a gun in spite of stats that suggest that need of a gun would be exceedingly rare is often because of the exceedingly high loss which can be associated with not having a weapon when you find yourself in need of one. Low risk but High loss... this is not a foreign concept in risk assessments. Now, having a weapon and even having an extra reload well exceeds the typical statistical norm and also answers the need to mitigate a rather low risk due to its perceived dire loss if failure occurs.

If someone wants to carry 2 mags, 3 mags or 10.. I dont care. All I was asking for was a thoughtful qualification regarding the proclaimed (2) mag necessity.

I am sure there will be additional quips, parroting of mantras and perhaps an idiom or 2. Still, I remain interested in why several people feel that 2 extra mags in addition to the one in your gun, is some sort of prudent default. If a person simply wants to do it fine, I can accept it. If someone is going to proclaim that its what is needed, please explain. I accept that one respondent stated that you might have a mag failure and then drop the second mag- thus, relying on the third. If this is the reasoning, I would say that lightning and space debris might also need to be factored into this metric.
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Where were you on that EDC thread when there was a guy who carried no extra mags, but carried 2 or 3 knives?

People carry what makes them comfortable. To me it's a non-issue. If 40 rounds of ammo is too heavy for you to carry without a wagon then by all means carry less. The vast majority of the time I carry less.

So, statistically, what's more likely to happen, you need to use a gun in a SD situation or you have a magazine failure?

To your point, that is what compelling qualification for the proclaimed 2 mag necessity, i posit that you are much more likely to suffer a magazine failure than you are to even need a gun in the first place therefore if your position is that 2 extra mags is indulgence or machismo than you have to concede that carrying a gun in the first place is as well.


That do ?
 
Bassbob said:
That do ?
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not really..

if I suffer a mag failure, I already have a reload. Why do I need a 3rd mag? Its a very simply question that keeps getting deflected and ran around in circles. If someone simply wants to carry a bunch of mags, thats fine with me. Just say so.

Personally I dont subscribe to what I see as the fantastical, or oddly precarious set of circumstances which might result in the need of a 3rd magazine. Bad things can happen and things do fail and this is why I do support the carrying of a reload. If anyone wants to convince me that yet another reload is prudent or necessary, they are going to have to do better. I am not suggesting that you are trying to convince me, I dont think you are. You do seem to champion the idea so feel free to lay it out. I think it would be much easier to simply say that you want to do it and leave it at that.
 
KASHIRA-3 said:
not really..

if I suffer a mag failure, I already have a reload. Why do I need a 3rd mag? Its a very simply question that keeps getting deflected and ran around in circles. If someone simply wants to carry a bunch of mags, thats fine with me. Just say so.

Personally I dont subscribe to what I see as the fantastical, or oddly precarious set of circumstances which might result in the need of a 3rd magazine. Bad things can happen and things do fail and this is why I do support the carrying of a reload. If anyone wants to convince me that yet another reload is prudent or necessary, they are going to have to do better. I am not suggesting that you are trying to convince me, I dont think you are. You do seem to champion the idea so feel free to lay it out. I think it would be much easier to simply say that you want to do it and leave it at that.
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Pretty much said that twice now.

I think my point is every bit as valid as the supposition that 3 mags of .45 constitutes a wagon load. Though I will concede that it would hurt like hell to get smoked in the face with a full mag of it.

I suppose next you're going to tell me there is no logical reason to have a subload with 6 extra 30 round mags and 25 extra shotgun shells? And what was I thinking buying a shotgun that literally holds a full box of shotgun shells in the mags ? :)

And I was gathering the necessary material to build that trebuchet I've always dreamed of ( This part is not a joke ;-) )
 
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