how many mags?

For any semi-auto rifle which I might use for serious purposes I like a minimum of 7 - 1 in the rifle and two X 3 magazine pouches. Since I am heavy into FAL's (have 6 built so far) I have a box of 60 magazines for those.

For any handgun which I might carry I try to have at least 5 magazines - one in the gun, two on me and two more in the car/truck.
 
Normally I'd say you should have 3 to 6 mags per gun. But considering the anti-gunners are constantly trying to ban "high capacity" magazines, I try to have plenty of extras in case they're ever successful. I'm a big fan of AR-15s and 9mm Glocks; I have about 60 30-round AR-15 mags and about 20 mags that will fit my Glock 19. For all the rest of my guns I only have a few mags each.
 
I have at least 5 or 6 each weapon. I hate using range time to load mags. Exception would be my bolt action rifles.
 
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My handgun mag supply is based on what I need for matches. I have enough to load for a whole match and a couple extra.

For my AR - similar but I have extra as I bought more reliable ones and then lucked into a horde from someone going overseas and just gave me them.

So I have quite few but they are for utility as compared to apocalypse.
 
Some of my carry guns have only 5 to 7 round mags and if you only have a couple at the range you go through them too fast so I need more for those guns.
 
Need is three. Have is another story. My first 1911 came with three. I bought two more for some reason. Now I have about fifteen. The wonders of interchangability.
 
For carry I don't like and won't carry a low capacity gun anymore. Just doesn't make sense to run out of ammo in the middle of defending myself. Also carry 2 -3 extra no more.

My compact 45 holds 10 +1 and my 5906 holds 15+1 and need another mag if I decide to carry it. Probably my cool weather gun.

My SD9VE doesn't have a safety and every time i did drills with it I was fumbling for the safety. Guess I am safety trained guy. Just use to them so the SD9VE sits at home as a backup house gun/ range gun.

My wheel gun is a floater between range and sometimes house gun. no speed loaders:(
 
My personal opinion is 3 mags is a good number.

I've got a M&P Pro gun I shoot competitively and it has 5 mags. This is for convenience when shooting steel challenge.

I've got an M&P 9c as my EDC and I have two mags for it. I'd like a third.

I've got a SW 5906 and three mags for it. I shoot it occasionally at the range and it gets shot the least but I still love it.

ETA: I have at least one spring/ mag rebuild kit for each of these.
 
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For defensive pistol two mags to use and two tested mags in reserve.

For my defensive rifle 10 mags.

My Garand, has a large number of clips from when I tried it out in competition.
My MK III has a few from when that was also used in competition.

The few others I have don't have mags. Most are single shots.
 
Number of magazines is a personal preference. If you want 2 or 20 it is entirely up to you.

As for me, I just can't rationalize having a firearm with replaceable magazines and then not having a number of magazines to use. It seems like a waste of capability.
 
Are there any reliable recorded instances of a CHL holder needing or using more than 7 rounds, or needing to reload?
I realize an LEO would need many rounds of ammo, but I am not not convinced of the need for a CHL holder needing more than the rounds in the gun.
I have read of at least one off-duty officer who intervened in a robbery running out of ammo in a 5 shot revolver.
I do not normally carry an extra mag.

Jerry
 
For me the matter of a spare mag isn't so much the thought that I may need more than 14 rounds of .45 ACP, but the way I train.

If I have a malfunction of some sort, I'm dropping my mag as part of my clearance drill. And grabbing my spare from my pocket where I know it is, not fumbling around, possibly in the dark, while possibly hurt, trying to find the mag I just dropped.
 
Another point for carrying spare magazines....

Another tactical point for carrying a extra magazine or 2 is if you train to do reloads/speed loads & "refresh" your pistol in a lethal force event.
In a protracted event or a remote area, you may want a "fresh" magazine in your fighting gun rather than guessing/wondering how many rounds you fired.

In many armed citizen lethal force events(not military or sworn LE), only 2 or 3 pistol rounds are even fired by both sides but I wouldn't count on all situations being the same.

Clyde
 
I have had two incidents where I had to produce a firearm to break up a group from attacking me. One time there were 5 of them and the other time there were 7. Both times they chose to leave without any shots fired but that outcome was not guaranteed.

If somebody can tell me how many there will be when I do have to exchange fire I will have some idea how many rounds will be needed. Without a crystal ball that number is even harder to guess so I will carry as many as I can practically.
 
I mostly have 1911s, by the time you count the 2-3 mags that come with each gun, CMC and Wilson mags I bought in addition to them... Probably have close to 100.

I also have a crapton of P-mags because my LGS bought them in a panic then didn't know what to do when they got a massive shipment of them once the panic subsided... So I got about two dozen for 5 bucks a piece.

Some guns like my HK45 I just have three. Two for carry, one for backup in case one breaks.
 
I think I have 8 for my Windham Weaponry AR-15, 6 for My S&W 15-22, 3 for my Remington 597, 2 for my S&W 22a and 6 for my 9mm Stoeger Cougar.
 
I own about 55 AR mags, I say about because I haven't exactly counted them, I consider this a lifetime supply seeing how I'm still using magazines from the late 80's without trouble, I have replaced a few followers and springs though.

My pistols, I have 5-10 magazines for each, I know I have 5 for my Glock 21, Beretta(s) 92/M9 10+ I would have to go look to state more specifics.

For defensive carry, If I carry my LCR, I carry a speedloader for 1 full reload, when I carry a pistol, I usually carry 1 extra magazine, again for 1 full reload.
 
I'm a handgun guy. For my EDC (I have only one EDC) I currently have six magazines, and I can't fathom any reason why having MORE would be a bad thing.

For a general fun/range gun that I don't shoot all the time, I can get by with two magazines. For those guns, I won't chase down more magazines at $25 or more, but when I run across a good deal on a gently used one, I'll take that risk and buy it if the price is right. I've had pretty good luck separating the wheat from chaff in magazines, you won't see me with ProMags or other crap.

For a pistol that I really enjoy and love to shoot often (such as a few of my rimfire pistols), I actually feel pinched & unhappy if I have less than five magazines. Although, I have only four for a hi-cap 9mm, and I'm pretty solid with those four considering that it's sixty eight rounds of 9mm in those four mags.

I have four magazines for my Coonan, and I am loving life. I'm also probably in the 99th percentile of Coonan owners, because these magazines are extremely expensive, back ordered, and damn tough to get. So I feel blessed that I've got four of them.
 
I run on the theory that 1 is none and 2 is 1 so first I have to classify my handguns. Collectables need 1 so I have 2 for them, carry guns need a spare so 1+1=4, everything else gets at least 6.
 
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