Is a single stack enough?

I like my G43 a lot and don't feel at all undergunned carrying it. If I did, I would just carry a spare magazine.

My two shooting buddies who tried it like it a lot, too. It's a great little pistol.
 
XDforever, do you feel a noticeable difference in carrying the mod.2 vs the shield? Have there been times you left the mod.2 at home and taken the shield because of weight or other reasons? What I am trying to figure out for myself is if the mod.2 will be easy enough to carry that I will do it regularly. Most of the time I am in shorts and a tshirt because south Georgia weather is practically Florida, just without the beaches.
 
Reality is:
1) What do you have / can you afford?
2) Is it easy / comfortable to carry and shoot?
3) While a Desert Eagle AE50 is a single stack, very few people seem to be able to 'get a grip' on it, particularly single handedly, so that's likely an exception to a 'good single stack'
4) If you're a poor shot, you might want to practice more than carry extra double stack magazines and significant legal insurance
5) In a 1 on 1, one single COM or head shot from a single stack
(or 1 shot pistol) wins
6) But the best double stack is Wendy's :)
 
IMHO its easy to carry 2 extra single stack mags in a pouch. They don't stick out or weigh much. Double stack mags just a bit more inconvenient. So a shield 9mm with 7+1 and 2 8rd spares with a pouch, 24 rds. A double stack with extra mag will be more like 12+1 and 1 12rd mag, 25 rds.
 
Well, a single bullet is all you need if you encounter a solo attacker and you are a good shot.

A single bullet is not enough otherwise. But, just how many more of those bullet thingies you might need is only answerable ...after the fact.

I am being humorous. :D
 
Saw an interesting point of view on five shot revolvers. The standard failure to stop drill is two to COM and one to the head. Two attackers - well, this will be on the SAT math section (if they still ask math).

With a single stack semi - depends, with 7 you get two drills and 1 extra!
 
.....or you can go one to the chest and one to the head and put the remaining cartridge in your shirt pocket...... :D

Tactics change as the weapon and the situation changes. Got to be flexible.
 
.....or you can go one to the chest and one to the head and put the remaining cartridge in your shirt pocket......
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Head shots are not guaranteed stoppers. From the front, only about half of the human head is occupied by CNS material and most of that is fairly well armored.

A hit that's off the centerline in the lower part of the face isn't likely to be incapacitating, and even a hit in the upper part of the head isn't a guaranteed stop. There have been instances of off-center hits to the skull being deflected and even penetrating rounds sometimes don't do the trick. In one police shooting (Officers Steve Chaney & Linda Lawrence shooting) a pistol bullet went straight down the midline of the brain between the two halves and did not stop the assailant.
 
You dont NEED double stack. Sure, higher capacity is great but I dont think you need it. Statistics show that more encounters are against 1 or 2 assailants (1.5 to be exact), so why do you NEED something that holds 15 or 17 rounds?
If you cant put someone down with 1 or 2 shots, even with a 9mm, you probably have no business carrying a gun anyways.
 
If you need more than a magazine full from a single stack against 1 or 2 bad guys, you need more than just extra ammo.
 
If you cant put someone down with 1 or 2 shots, even with a 9mm, you probably have no business carrying a gun anyways.
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What an excellent example of both condescending and unknowing. Not the easiest pairing to achieve. The notion that one or two handgun rounds, "even in 9mm":rolleyes: is all a skilled operative will need to end any gunfight is far from guaranteed. Making such statements shows such a lack of understanding that it brings the competency to carry into question IMO.

For the record I often carry a single stack 380. Whether or not it will be enough is in question, but it is certainly better than nothing. There are few guarantees in life...
 
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"There's an article on PoliceOne where the officer was in a gunfight and now carries over 100 rounds of ammunition."

My questions is: Was the rest of the force at the donut shop?
 
I to also questioned would I be comfortable with a single stack 6+1 in the G43.
Well, I guess I felt comfortable since I bought it a few months ago. I always carry an extra mag in my pocket. So, theoretically, I have 7 + 6 9mm. at all times when I carry my G43. That helped me get passed not carrying my G19 with 15 + 1 in the chamber. Just a passing note, The G43 needs to be held very firmly(like try to crush it) as opposed to how I would hold my G19. It's a terrific subcompact.
 
Nobody can say what's enough. When I consider this question for myself, sometimes I find my mind wandering into almost ridiculous situations when I start thinking about "what ifs" (what if a team of ninja assassins assails me from all sides???) and before long I'm guessing I need body armor. Then I remember I haven't been robbed, mugged or assaulted ever, and haven't been physically attacked since some jerk sucker punched me on a playground in the 5th grade.

I carried a single stack 9 for a bit (Walther PPS) and it does conceal better than a thicker gun, but what I learned was...not by much. Eventually I came back to carrying a subcompact double stack. For a few more ounces and maybe 0.25" in width, it doubles the capacity of the magazine AND is easier for me to hold and shoot well. My early worries that a gun would print and be obvious to the world were unfounded, and apparently everyone goes through that stage.

So even if a single stack 9/40/45 is enough, is there really any compelling reason not to go with a double stack? I'm a fan of the XD subcompacts...they're kinda the perfect mix of attributes for me...look up the specs on a Mod.2 subcompact vs. an XDS or Shield, and you'll see that the dimensions are almost trivially larger.

Just a thought. It could resolve your dilemma.

Lastly I'd say this. The real determining factors are (1) will you actually carry it, and (2) can you shoot well with it. A gun does you no good left in a safe, and it's better to be able to make 5 accurate shots than 17 misses. In my case, after a lot of practice with both, I just plain ol' shot better and faster with the double stack gun, so that's what I've been carrying.
 
Yes its enough.

If you are attacked by a group of competent and determined individuals it is unlikely you, as a single individual with a CCW, are going to overcome the attack and the number of round (ok greater than a couple) is likely not the determining factor. If your attackers are incompetent or undetermined you are likely to overcome it simply by having the ability and means to resist and, again, the number of rounds is not likely to be the determining factor.
 
1 skinny guy stabbing people in mall with a knife, took 6 rounds 9mm to stop him.
Shooter fired 10 rounds hit attacker 6 times, shooter (off duty LE) is firearms instructor and 5 gun competitor.
https://www.policeone.com/police-training/articles/230490006-10-police-training-takeaways-from-the-St-Cloud-mall-attack/

Even people that are really good shots miss, as in incident above.
Not everyone will be stopped with a couple rounds, as already detailed several times in thread, and this study:
https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/alternate-look-handgun-stopping-power
One can't fire 2.45 rounds of 9mm; on average that is 3 rounds to incapacitate an attacker, if given a "better than average cop" hit rate of 50% it is not unreasonable to consider that it could take 6 rounds (3 hits to stop, 3 misses) just one attacker. It is also not unreasonable that a citizen could face two attackers, based on averages a single stack might be at slidelock before both attackers are stopped.

I'll be putting 1911 back in safe for higher capacity Glock, again, after less than 1 week of switching; I just needed a reminder to correct my thinking.
Glock 19/23/32 is easy to carry & conceal, better to have rounds left in mag than be at slidelock.
 
Single stack was just fine until some engineers working for JMB decided in 1935 to make the Hi-Power and the wonder 9 became the 'IN' thing and still is in my book.
G26 10+1 works almost as well as 12+1.
 
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JohnKSa said:
Head shots are not guaranteed stoppers. From the front, only about half of the human head is occupied by CNS material and most of that is fairly well armored.

A hit that's off the centerline in the lower part of the face isn't likely to be incapacitating, and even a hit in the upper part of the head isn't a guaranteed stop. There have been instances of off-center hits to the skull being deflected and even penetrating rounds sometimes don't do the trick. In one police shooting (Officers Steve Chaney & Linda Lawrence shooting) a pistol bullet went straight down the midline of the brain between the two halves and did not stop the assailant.
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I suspect the remark about head shots is very true. Liberals don't have a brain in their hear. If you know they are a liberal, shoot them in the butt.

Seriously, I would not choose a head shot unless I could almost touch the head with the gun, poor target. My only target would be center mass. Put three or maybe four shot's in the chest and the bad guy is gonna be in dire straight's. Would not break the bank by putting all the shots in the chest. Two in the chest and one in the head is a TV story. The head is small and bob's around to muck, poor target. Then I've read about a number of different people trying to end it and shooting themselves in the head and failing! How does that happen. Think about it and the only vital organ in the head is the brain. And the brain is quite a bit smaller than the head!

Another thing to consider is the video's we see now and then about convenience store robbery's. Notice the person at the till always seem's to get a gun out and shoot's before the bad guy does anything. Then rather than fight back, the bad guy runs, often without firing a shot! Sometimes I thing if you had a cap gun in that situation, the guy would run off not realizing it's a toy!

Of course the bottom line is we haven't a clue whats gonna happen until it does. Then for me it's every shot center mass until the bad guy quits moving!
 
OK,of course a double stack is better in a fight.

For a percentage of encounters,more than 7 may be required....Some environments and circumstances may suggest carrying a different "level" of firearm.
If I get in a fight,sure,I may want a major caliber double stack.A red dot 38 Super race gun might be nice.

But two factors mitigate that,to a degree.

One,"Get off the X" If I stand in one spot with no cover and shoot 17 to 27 rounds against multiple armed people...I might get swiss cheesed and dead.
If I shoot and move to cover,and if I practice my mag changes,its less of an issue.

Two,yes,we can say "Carrying isn't supposed to be comfortable",but if in fact,the fat double stack stays home when the 6 or 7 +1 would be carried,a little gun in your hand beats a big gun at home.

And,remember if you have a 7 +1 in the gun,extended base pads make your reload 9 +1 or more.
I do not regret my S+W M+P 9C with 12 rds and 15 rd reload its very good!,but I do have an itch for a 45 Shield. About 22 oz,a little longer grip than a 9mm Shield,and the same basic payload as a 1911.
Might be a good pair.
 
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