how many magazines do you have?

For every sidearm except those that go to training classes with me, it's at least two. For training guns, it's at least 4. That's simply because some drills require more than two mags to complete.

As some of my guns get older/discontinued, I've decided that I want spare mags and mag parts, so a few of my guns now have 6 mags and enough spare parts to make another 4 mags. I know, it's probably overkill, but I'm a little overzealous about some things.
 
A minimum of 3 for any one gun. Same as with children.

One mag is not enough for obvious reasons. Two mags is fine. You can get by with two mags, until one dies, then you are back to one mag which is insufficient. Therefore, three mags is the minimum. If one of the three is lost or damaged beyond repair, than you still have two, which will work in a pinch.

tipoc
 
I try to keep 3 or 4 that get used exponentially. Then another 3 or 4 in reserve with enough rounds through them to ensure they function correctly. Then they get put away until the day one of the regular duty ones give up. Then the cycle continues.
 
I have lots of pistols with only one Mag. If it’s something I carry it’s two. If it’s something I would carry if the SHTF it’s 4 or more. I only have one have one AR, but I have 20 mags for it. I have lots of mags for my comp rifles, but they’re mostly Magpul, only 2 AI mags for each.

Magazines usually get bent ears or break before anything else unless you’re being careful with them on the range. In competitions (and in a real firefight) they’re totally expendable and get dropped whenever and wherever they’re emptied. Often they’re stepped on, get grit in them, etc. It’s a good idea to keep spares even if you don’t plan on using (carrying) them. The firearm is almost as useless without them as without ammo.
 
I am a mag whore. Living through the 94 AWB my general rule is 8-10 mags per Gun maybe a tad more here or there. That is per firearm not model. For example if I have two HKs in .40 or Beretta 92s etc. that means 16-20 mags.

I have some historical or less used pieces with less but I have a veritable ton of mags across my collection.

Necessary? Not really most high quality mags are very durable and will last quite a long time. I am just a fool me once......kind of guy.
 
Two magazines required. Primarily for bullseye matches requiring 2- 5shot strings. Anything above this is optional of course.
 
If it's a gun I plan to shoot or carry then I try to have at least 5 magazines for it.

If it's a gun I compete with, if it's reasonable to do so, I like to have enough mags so that I can load up all my mags before the match and not have to fiddle with reloading during the match/between stages.

I don't buy them all at once--I keep an eye out for good deals and buy a few at a time when the prices are really good. When I get enough for a gun, I stop buying more mags for that gun.

I have a lot of magazines because I lived through the AWB. Remembering the experience of having a gun with 5 mags where the value of the 5 mags was far greater than that of the gun has colored my idea of how many magazines is enough.
 
I like to have five per pistol.

I shoot a 1911 in Wild Bunch matches and I’m like John above. I like to have enough loaded magazines to not have to fool around reloading during a match. My daughter shoots Wild Bunch with me sometimes, as well. That’s a long way of saying that I have over 50 1911 magazines.
 
I like at least six for each gun. One in the gun and two reloads. Then another spare set of those. For carry guns I'll keep three loaded, rotating to the spare set once a year.

I can get by with three per gun, but will try to bring it up to six whenever funds and availability allow.

If the mags are rare (like some C&R guns), I'll buy as many as 8 if they are cheap when I can get them.
 
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I like to have at least 5 - 6 mags per handgun minimum, especially if your state only allows 10 rounders

then I can load one full box of ammo in five mags while Im at the range

the magazine is the heart of the gun, if you lose a magazine the gun is non functional

the less magazines you own the more use they get and then they tend to get worn or damaged from lots of use, I wore out M1911 mags before, the springs get weak, the feed lips get cracked from stress.

when you own several mags, you can rotate them once in while and they will last longer.
 
I have one pistol with only one mag - an oddball little .25 that I inherited. For every other pistol I have three to five mags.
 
In terms of mags... I consider a minimum of 3 per gun ...1 in gun, 2 on belt. However, in general, I want to have at least 6 for every gun...training, etc.
Ex: I keep 12 Wilson Combat 9mm mags, ETM, 10 rds -- on hand and I use them in 3 different guns. ( the same in Wilson .45 acp, ETM mags ). I usually pre-load my 12 mags before I go to range...and run my drills / carry them in a velcro mag storage pouch to keep range bag semi organized.

Speedloaders for revolvers... I have a minimum of two per model ( K frame, L frame, N frame 6 shot, N frame 8 shot ...per model ). I have several K, L and N frame guns...but I don't need a speed loader for every gun...
 
3 is a good minimum number, unless you compete or train hard.

For example, my club has .22 steel shoots with four consecutive strings of fire. It's polite to have four loaded magazines rather than force other shooters to wait while you reload.

Personally, I have a bunch of 10 round Military/LEO magazines for my Glocks left over from the AWB. Picked them up cheap and while I haven't damaged any yet, they are good for training. I haven't looked at prices on them in almost a decade, so you may be able to get them as a cheap training alternative. They also work well for IDPA since you can only load to 10 rounds anyways.
 
If you live in a Anti Gun state where they ban / restrict guns, ammo, mag capacity

you need as many as you can get before they get banned, in places like CA a magazine over 10 rds used to be very common and easy to get , now they are no longer available / restricted since 2000.

having only two mags is a bad idea, especially if you cant buy them anymore
 
A lot of the answers point up the fact that autos
usually take dedicated magazines and so the answers
are two or three or five. And it seems obvious the
posters have multiple different autos in size and brand.

In my case, I only have one type/style auto and always
have so over time I've accumulated about 15. When I
go to the range with said auto I usually take 5 mags
loaded, giving me a training period of 90 rounds. That
is enough.

But hey, how about revolver speed loaders. I count them
in the dozens from HKS and Safariland with most in the
6-round L-framed size.

I've always laughed how in the auto world it's a little like
the Gillette razor world---just pennies for the razor holder
(the gun) but in the dollars for the razors (the magazines).
 
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