Do You Purchase Firearms Because Of Their High Capacity Abilities?

I don't necessarily purchase the firearms because of capacity, but I do consider the magazines available when I purchase semi-auto handguns....I like to target shoot at the range and the more magazines/larger magazines I can bring, the more I get to shoot versus time spent reloading. Range time near me is all by the hour.

Hunting rifles, no I don't care at all.
 
I bought the G21 back in the day because of the capacity. After 10 or 12 years I gave it away because it wasn't as solid of a platform as the 1911. I did buy Hi-caps mags for the 1911. (8+1) LOL.
 
I'm more caliber driven than anything else. Capacity is nice, but if it were pure capacity, the Calico pistol with the 100 round helical magazine would be all I'd want (OK, a selective fire American 180 would be better). I'm quite happy with my 8 shot magazine Sig P220. Carried it for years over a 15 round magazine firearm.

BTW, I also have a Glock M21 and a ParaOrdnance, both of which have higher capacity than the Sig P220. I'm still more comfortable with the Sig because of my small hands and the fact that I've trained more with the Sig than any other pistol.
 
I only own two handguns I purchased partly because of capacity -- a S&W M&P (semi-auto) and it's little brother the M&P Compact, both in 9mm. It's just nice to have that option. I have purchased the rest of my handguns with other and different criteria in mind. I own two "evil" rifles that I purchased with capacity in mind but the rest were also purchased with different criteria in mind. I purchased my small selection of shotguns without much regard to capacity, other than wanting more than a single shot.
 
I did actually purchase a handgun one time because it was a hi-cap. This was in 1994 just before Clinton's Crime Bill and I bought a Taurus PT-99AF, in 9mm, with one extra 15-rd magazine. Just weeks after I bought it...those mags became quite sought after for the next TEN years.
 
No. Not going to a war. Not planning on a gunfight with gangbangers or bankrobbers or whathaveyous. Never been outgunned by Bambi or Thumper or Donald Duck. Yet.

Having said that, I do own a few firearms that hold & shoot more than 6 or 7 rounds and they have their place and moments at the range. Even when ammunition was cheap and available, I was too cheap to go blasting away $$ in a mad minute, preferring to fire one round at a time as accurately as I could each time.

Now when and if politicians say no to that, this, these and those... then maybe I might feel the "need" to seek out such devices due to the political/civil disobediance that my warped version of freedom demands and my wallet can afford. Read too much Thoreau as a kid I suppose.
 
No. I buy guns with their standard capacity that provide the accuracy and fit and function I want. None of my guns have higher capacity than manufacturer parts provide.
 
Yes. Absolutely. The larger the capacity of the weapon, the more inclined I am to purchase one.

Whether I'm looking at a carry gun or a gun for home defense, capacity is one of my top criteria. If I could have a concealable 9mm with 30 round capacity, I'd have it. If someone developed a standard sized duty 9mm with 100 round capacity, I'd buy it. I like drums and quad-stacked magazines for rifles (and pistols). The engineering, design and usefulness of large capacity magazines and guns is intriguing to me. Needless to say, the Kel Tec KSG shotgun is on my list - 15 rounds in a very compact design, what's not to like about this?
 
To answer the question, typically - no.

However, one of the features that I appreciate in my FNH PS90 is that a 50 round magazine, compared to a 10, or 30, does not increase the (size) dimensions of the rifle.
 
No. Not going to a war. Not planning on a gunfight with gangbangers or bankrobbers or whathaveyous. Never been outgunned by Bambi or Thumper or Donald Duck. Yet.
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This kind of sounds like a mouthful that our anti-gun friends would throw down on the American public. Really, it does. My comment is not intended to point a finger at you or make an assumptions about your beliefs...but the quoted text really looks like the kind of slag they throw down on us almost daily.

I've always preferred power/energy of a cartridge or chambering over the capacity of the handgun, but until I set myself up at a steel plate range, I never really saw how much FUN and advantageous it was to have a high-cap semi-auto. It's one thing to drop six plates quickly with a revolver, but it's more interesting, more fun, more exciting, more difficult and requires more concentration and determination to drop 17 plates with a high-cap 9mm.

I'm not saying that having a high-cap gives you a bigger "edge" when competing...formally or otherwise. After all, everyone else has one also. I'm merely saying that running a high-cap through all of it's ammo is a longer run of shots fired and it opens up a different angle to shooting than a handgun that holds 6 to 10 rounds.

Before I ever arrived at a steel plate range, my shooting was for small groups on paper or plinking at shootable items I hung from a wire. I was perfectly happy to load 5 or 10 rounds maximum in any of my semi-auto magazines. That changed on a steel plate range where we can set up 30 different targets and then attempt to mow them all down. Even more fun with a buddy next you you trying to drop the same ones out from under you.

Anti-gun idiots try to paint a picture that we hope to fend off an attacking mob of psychopaths with a high-cap 9mm, but that's not my focus at all. In my "collection", I own three handguns that have 15 or more rounds on board. But my daily carry gun? 10 round magazine, one extra magazine on me. But that doesn't compute with gun banners. :confused:
 
This kind of sounds like a mouthful that our anti-gun friends would throw down on the American public. Really, it does. My comment is not intended to point a finger at you or make an assumptions about your beliefs...but the quoted text really looks like the kind of slag they throw down on us almost daily.
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You are right in that regard. Being somewhat older than I like to think about, I do own a whole lot of new fangled load on Sunday shoot all week kinda things too, being old school that I am, prefer the simpler stuff. :D

Go figure. My son and his friends, my son in law etc seem to enjoy using both my old and new firearms and do tend to go through a whole lot of ammunition when I'm paying for it (funny how that works out). :rolleyes:

I prefer the Citori to the 590A1 I own. The Win 94, 03 Springfield or Swede 96 to the FAL or 6721, a Model 10 to the Glock 17 etc. Just me. YMMV :p

Old school is cool and I'm good to go either way. ;)

Heck I've even got my dear old departed Dads black powder stuff. (Civil war etc was his preferred thing) :eek:

It's funny how that works.
 
i select pistols for the following reasons:

1. fit and feel.
2. point ability/ accuracy reliability
3. end use. Self Defense, hunting, target shooting, and just because.
4. Caliber. does it fit into my reloading program. (45 acp, 9mm, 38/357, 44mag)
5. Interchangeability of magazines with other Pistols.
6. Finish. I prefer blue steel and parkerized

Magazine capacity does not really figure into my pistol selection.
 
If two guns side by side are identical except one holds 15 rounds and the other holds 10, I'd buy the 15 round firearm. That being said, I have a semi-auto pistol that will hold 15 but I have it in my quick access safe with 10 rounds in it. When I was in the market for a Smith and Wesson 686 revolver I bought the 686+ with the 7 shot capacity instead of 6, more is better!
 
to the OP, I recommend getting a shotgun or 22lr rifle/pistol if you don't have one. From what you listed it seems that you are missing those.

I normally don't buy firearms based on their round capacity, but it is a nice feature to have high capacity guns. I have a 33rd mag for my Glock19, 60rd mags for AR's, and 30rd mags for my 10/22.
 
No, it's Not a High capacity gun.
It is a low capacity SKS, which can hold ten rounds.

The only reason I bought it in early '08 was to have an economical (both rifle and ammo) military-styled, semi-auto rifle which the anti-gunners such as Nancy Pelosi do not like. I'm not kidding about this at all.

The gun bug only 'bit me' in late '07, age 52.
 
Meh, I thought we all agreed that unless you're using drums or extended mags, it's called "standard capacity." :cool:

Capacity is something I consider, as another poster said, in a carry gun. But it's not likely to be the deciding factor.
 
I think the general consensus of "high capacity" is more than 10+1
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No. I think High capacity in a home defense 9mm is over 15 or 17. On an an AR it be anything would be over the standard 30.

It is the defender, the person responding in surprise to someone else's planning and threat, who needs the rounds.

it is also the person who needs to defend unarmed third parties (their family members) who needs the extra rounds.

My wife, with minimal training, could Mozambique a paper target consistently. Frankly it is stunning given she never handled a weapon of any kind until last year. But that has next to nothing to do with what will happen if she is home with the kids and someone starts kicking down the door waking her from a sound sleep. frankly I am a decent shot too, and it also has nothing to do with my capabilities in that high stress surprised situation either.

I think there have been reviews of high quality simulations of stressful live fire by professional law enforcing where they consistently empty their guns and have no idea what their shot count is.

For home defense in a full frame pistol, 15 or 17 is not overkill and 10 round could very well be low capacity.

The school other spree killings in the news, although marginal outlier events in terms of overall gun violence and murder, are being used to argue for limiting capacity. These people are already suicidal, and they pick the softest target on earth. they pick places were victims are trapped and dense. No one with any knowledge can assert mortality of their victims would be less if the killers had 45 cal 1911's with 10 round mags and 20 or 30 mags. The advantage higher capacity affords is against another armed opponent, and these guys NEVER face one.

IN my case, because of the discussion of new gun controls, I did go off the fence and bought a standard full frame 9mm (currently with 10 but normally used with 15 round mags) pistol for my wife. I had learned, like a good deal of us, that assigning her a the 5-shot 38-special revolver was basically my prejudice, and that after some practice she was much more comfortable with a semi-auto.

in a home defense situation the difference between 10 and 15 could be life or death.

You are acting as a proxy for the police. It is simple why is the patrolman's "standard" capacity 15 to 17?
 
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