Spare mag. When is extra ammo a good idea

[Theohazard]

Originally Posted by Brit

What does Gen. Mathis say's? Be prepared to kill every one you meet? That too.

Sorry, but the Marine in me is compelling me to correct this.

It's General Mattis. And his full quote is, "Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."

His quote was part of a directive to his Marines in Iraq, and it's probably not the best thing to post in relation to civilian concealed carry.

[Brit]

Theohazard.

So sorry, it was early! Might not be such a bad Quote, in as much as the amount of people I have met in my few short years living in Florida. Who have told me "I could not shoot anyone" But carry a firearm.

Below off topic, I do that.

I met General Mattis at an IALEFI Annual Training Conference, in a Hotel, owned by an Indian Tribe, in Florida, Hillsborough County? years ago.

Our membership cards were checked on entering the hall "No REPORTERS!"
His Staff? were dressed like contractors, very serious young men.

He was the Guest Speaker! What a speaker. He received a standing ovation. We will have a great man in the Government in General Mattis when he starts work!

[rickyrick]

When things like the Fort Lauderdale incident happens, I tend to drop an extra mag in my pocket.

But that doesn't change my strategy of putting distance between me and the shooter without delay; armed or not.

That happened in a place that I've never been armed.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I have a deleted a post that violated what I said were the conditions for this discussion. If you don't have anything to contribute except sarcasm, pass this one by.

Given a reasonable assessment of risk factors what is your carry load?

The issues are:

1. Do you plan for the single opponent gun fight that might be resolved with no shots or only 2 or 3? Please try to be statistically sophisticated. The average doesn't mean that it always happens. You have a distribution of fight intensity and do you plan a cut off in the tail of intensity for the rarer higher intensity fight and what is your cut off?

2. Do you plan for the rare but intense incident where more ammo is a good thing? What level is that? Most pros that I know consider a semi with one or two extra mags or a J frame and speed strips a reasonable carry load.

3. Do you know that one reason for an extra mag is for malfunction drills in semis? Don't tell me that your gun is 100% reliable? It is till it fails in crisis. If you shoot or train a good deal you know that everything fails. One way to resolve many malfunctions is to rip out the mag in clearance. Then what? It's on the ground - thus at least one reload mag is a good thing. I've been there is training and matches.

So discuss things like this. Bring up other points.

[rickyrick]

I once had a carry pistol that ejected its mag while holstered ... in public. Somehow when turning, something put enough pressure on on the release to cause this.

It coulda happened in my car, and not even known it. (Although 17 rds missing is noticeably lighter)
This gun does not get carried anymore. I did some experiments and it was just too easy to unintentionally eject the magazine. But silly things do happen. I once found half of a zip tie in the barrel of my beretta. I was doing some work, I had put the gun away, but still had my holster on. It was open on the bottom, but I guess somehow a zip tie got into it, and pushed into the barrel when holstering it.

Silly things happen that you don't expect.

I've also thought about switching to revolvers, but then your ammo is limited.
Every decision has pros and cons.

Statistically, I'm going to be buried having never used a gun to defend myself as a civilian. That's mostly why I leave the extra mags at home when I do. But I'll never know for sure.

[osbornk]

I guess I might be a little slow, but I've never read or heard of anyone ever using a 2nd magazine or reloading in a defensive situation. It seems to be something that the attacker does (the guy at the Florida airport used three mags yesterday and surrendered when he ran out of ammo).

[Brit]

Second magazines have been used, South Africa/Israel/and here in the USA, but you will not get all details ending up in the Lame Stream Media I suppose.

If you have gone to the trouble of holstering a Glock 19 on the right side, in a fast presentation designed Kydex holster, a G17 magazine and Sure-fire light on the left just balances the Gun to some extent.

I guess what I am saying, is WHY NOT! carry an extra magazine? What possible reason could you have, for not carrying an extra magazine.

The case of mistaken identity comes to mind, you are (could be) targeted in error. By more than one person, instantly you are in the thick of an assault!
My old saying the from mid 80s, "MORE IS BETTER, ALWAYS!" comes to mind.

[BearBrimstone]

I almost always have extra magazines in the car, but I usually do not carry them on my person unless I'm going to an area that concerns me.

[ShootistPRS]

Seat belts, parachutes, guns and extra ammo. If you suddenly find yourself needing one and don't already have it - you will likely never need it again.

Why do your carry a gun? Just in case!
Why would you carry an extra mag or two? Just in case!

I carry two quick loaders for my revolver and I practice using them from all kinds of positions. in my car I have two boxes of ammo for the revolver - 100 rounds. Why? Just in case.

Seat belts, parachutes, gun, extra ammo... better to have it than to wish you did.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

One other thing I usually point out in these debates where someone talks about the average shots fired, thus you don't need more.

The antigun folks push magazine limits and draconian ones are in force across the antigun states. Bans of mags were in the AWB.

Thus, if you say that all you need is 2 or 3 and more is ridiculous, you give good PR for the mag bans.

Why can't Governors Cuomo and Brown simply quote the gun forums to denigrate folks who want higher capacity magazines. Since they are good for rampages and not needed for the average self-defense situation, the rampage risk supports a ban for these not useless items.

Same goes with the MSR argument, if the gun is for hunting - you don't need a 30 round magazine. It's only for weapons of war. Get my point?

[GunXpatriot]

Spare mag? Carry a whole extra gun!

But in all seriousness, as much as I'd like to carry an extra mag, I'd much rather have a gun with a capacity that I feel comfortable in not having to reload.

A good point made earlier. By the time you reload in a typical self-defense encounter, if the bad guy isn't down already, it would make me wonder how much good that extra mag would do...

[Glenn E. Meyer]

But in all seriousness:

1. One major reason for the extra mag is malfunction clearance beyond the tap, rack and bang. A legit school of thought is just drop the mag on a malfunction and reload. Don't say your gun is 100% reliable - that's a joke.

2. If the bad guy is down - how many times do we have to say there can be incidents with more than one bad guy and you can miss even one bad guy. Your excellent at the square range isn't the whole game.

I fail to see why we have to repeat the same points for an extra mag. At least folks should understand them and then make the conscious decision to ignore them or say they see those risks as minimal even if possible - rather then not understanding the principles.

[Onward Allusion]

It's always a good idea to have an extra mag at one's disposal. Can one do it all the time, probably not, but I try to have an extra mag or backup gun whenever I carry.

[ShootistPRS]

Let me put it this way:

If you are in shock as the bad guy comes at you and you pull your gun and shoot until it is empty and he is still coming will you wish you had more ammo? It is alway better to have too much ammo than not enough.

If you have never had a need to pull your gun in self defense then you know nothing about what your abilities are under those conditions. Practicing at the range when you are calm and relaxed doesn't apply when your body is filled with adrenaline and you fear dying in the next few moments. Your brain can't think and your fine motor skills are gone. You will likely be shaking from head to toes and unless you are well trained for that level of stress you are not going to be able to hit your target.

Training under stress, with a hundred things feeding into your head, is the only way to prepare for such an incident. Just because you can shoot a one inch group at a black bulls eye at 25 yards with careful attention to your grip, breathing, sight picture, and trigger pull doesn't mean anything when you are attacked. You are not prepared for it and you are likely to die.

[Ozzieman]

Back in the 80's and 90's when I worked in a gun store I carried an extra mag or 2 speed loaders. Now its what's in the cylinder or the mag in the gun and for me that's enough.
That's not true for home defense. For my G26 I have 6 magazines placed around the house. Am I nuts? Don't care.
Its all what you feel comfortable with.

[stephen426]

I have recently switched to a Glock 43 which only holds 6+1. I am a decent shot, but I carry 2 extra mags in my weak hand back pocket. I certainly don't expect to need 19 rounds of ammo, but carrying one makes the mag unbalanced in my pocket. I actually made my own mag holster with some Cordura fabric and a little sheet of thin Kydex. I'll try and get a picture uploaded.

[Ramey]

Originally Posted by stephen426

I have recently switched to a Glock 43 which only holds 6+1. I am a decent shot, but I carry 2 extra mags in my weak hand back pocket. I certainly don't expect to need 19 rounds of ammo, but carrying one makes the mag unbalanced in my pocket. I actually made my own mag holster with some Cordura fabric and a little sheet of thin Kydex. I'll try and get a picture uploaded.

I read about magazines and back up guns being stored in back pockets. I'm puzzled as to how you sit down on top of that?


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[Rangerrich99]

As usual, take this with a grain or three of salt:

For myself, whether I take an extra mag or not is almost completely based on my guts. If I feel like taking an extra, I take it. If not, I go with the one in the gun. Now, the caveat to that is I currently live in a town that hasn't had a violent crime or even a break-in in the last ten years. We have speeding, running stop signs, and occasionally we have vandalism. As in someone egged the house on the corner a few weeks back.

So, if I'm running around my little burb I rarely carry an extra mag.

However, if I head into Phoenix proper, I almost always carry an extra. And after that little incident on the I-10 a few days ago, I decided to carry that extra mag in an actual mag holster, especially if I'm carrying my Shield or one of my 1911s.

That story was really a reality smack to the back of the head for me. I thought about how I'd feel if I'd just fired on a guy (maybe more than once) and how uncomfortable I'd feel if I only had the one mag for my Shield with an unknown number of other perps scuttling around just out of sight. So now when I have to be in/around Phoenix I carry the extra.

[stephen426]

Originally Posted by Ramey

I read about magazines and back up guns being stored in back pockets. I'm puzzled as to how you sit down on top of that?

I will try and upload a pic, but I forgot my photobucket password. The side that goes against my butt is the side I have the kydex backed side on. That makes it a flat surface rather than 2 bumps for the mags. The Glock 43 mags are single stack so they are pretty thin. Its about the thickness of a wallet so it kind of balances me out on my other "cheek"

[Evan Thomas]

Originally Posted by Ramey

I read about magazines and back up guns being stored in back pockets. I'm puzzled as to how you sit down on top of that?

It depends on how your pants fit. Mine ride high enough (and my butt is big enough ) that I don't sit on my back pockets -- they're behind me.

[Targa]

From Pnac: Definately a good idea to carry a spare mag, something like 90% of semi-auto failures are magazine related.

I am bad about carrying an extra mag, chalk it up to laziness I guess but I agree that a malfunction is a very good reason to carry an extra one.

[Malibru]

I carry frequently. My own personal rule is that if you are making the commitment to carry, you need to carry extra ammunition to feed the gun. Even when I carry my snub revolver, I carry extra 5 round speed strips in my pocket. If you can find a good way to conceal and carry a firearm you should be able to find a way to carry that extra magazine. Get creative.

I would much rather carry my firearm in a proper concealable holster, and will even tuck a spare mag in my sock/boot if need be (I never ankle holster, try running that way!).

If you are willing to stockpile ammo at home, preparing for the inevitable, then why would you not carry extra ammo when you carry a firearm outside the home?

Please, no offense intended to anyone, just my thoughts.

[vito]

Thanks for the link to the snagmag. I usually pocket carry (right front pocket in DeSantis holster), and often wearing a shirt that doesn't have a pocket. So in my left front pocket I already have my keys and smartphone (wallet in back pocket, and yes, I know that is risky but its the way I've carried a wallet for the last 60 years or so). Keeping a loose magazine in my pocket with the keys and phone ends up with a fair amount of lint in the mag, as well as just a bulging pocket. The snagmag may be a way to carry a mag relatively comfortably and I might try it.

On the other hand, sometimes I carry my S&W642 without a speed loader or speed strip, feeling that the 5 rounds in the gun are enough to get me out of trouble.