what would an officer think?

P

Puntmefar

New member
this is mainly for the law officers out there. im just wandering here, i know there are some people who partially load their mag's and others fully load them. in the event of a routine encounter you were to have a ccw holder with a partially loaded mag would it raise any questions or put you in a hightened state simply due to the missing rounds?
 
First off, in Kentucky, you aren't required to tell an officer if you have concealed weapon on you. However, your CCW is associated with your drivers license so if they run you, the officer will know that you do have your permit.

Secondly, I can't imagine how you'd ever get yourself in a sitiation where an officer is going to look and see how many rounds are in your mag.

Even if they did look, and you keep a clean firearm, you can certainly tell if gun has just been fired or not.

Personally, if you believe a half loaded mag is better on the springs, feel free to and don't worry about it from a CCW standpoint.
 
Why would anyone partially load a magazine?

If the thing is designed for, let's say 13 rounds, then putting 13 rounds in it will not even begin to stress or hurt the spring. Why anyone would handicap themselves by carrying LESS ammunition than the gun was even designed to safely carry is something I cannot comprehend.

Please disregard if you have arthritis or a physical handicap of some sort, the above was not meant for that scenario.
 
If I encountered that individual while investigating a 'shots fired' call then yes, it might be a factor worthy of note. Otherwise, I don't care how many or what kind of bullets you keep in your gun and I'd be hard pressed to think of a reason to even check.
 
Aside from all the whys and wherefores of getting to the point of discovering a partially loaded magazine, my first inclination is to wonder why on earth would anyone carry anything less than a full magazine? It certainly cannot be to preserve a $5 spring? Like anything else mechanical, a spring does no work when it is not compressed unless it is compressed and released uncountable times.

If a gun and magazine are manufactured to have, lets say for conversation sake, 8 rounds in the mag and one in the chamber, then thats the way it should be carried. Anything less would cause me to wonder why someone that is carrying a gun would short-change themselves with something that could lead to serious consequences.
 
I don't see any reason why it would matter. Even if the LEO was suspicious that your magazine was not full, who cares? Are you going to be arrested for a partial magazine?

P.S. I only put 15 rounds in my 16 round magazine 'cause I'd hate to ruin a good manicure trying to cram that last cartridge in there.:p
 
I will assume you are referring to HAS BEEN's also (us old retired cops).

Since its pretty easy to tell if a gun was reciently fired, I would consider that and not how many rounds in the gun.
 
Contrary to popular opinion here, some guns are indeed less likely to malf when the mags are downloaded a round or two. Cheap 1911 mags will almost always work better with six and I have seen new Glock 22 mags which 'for all intents and porpoises' wouldn't take that 15th round.

Yes one should use quality, broken in mags for self defense but downloading one or two for reliability-for specific guns-is certainly now a new practice or one I would dismiss out of hand.
 
Please disregard if you have arthritis or a physical handicap of some sort, the above was not meant for that scenario.
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If anyone here is not familiar with the Uplula mag loader, it is a wonderful tool. Anyone can load a mag to whatever level desired. I have arthritic hands, and loading is no issue with Uplula.

http://www.maglula.com/
 
I for one when I first started to carry 13 yrs ago at the age of 21 only partially my mags going off what someone said about blowing out the bottom of a magazine (it did happen but I don't think for this reason, it was a tokarev 9mm with a plastic bottom on a steel mag) I since carry fully loaded but not +1 and no particular reason for that. I also have been hassled by a leo at one time but for carrying my gun loaded at at that time when he ran the gun he brought it back fully unloaded(all ammo out of the magazine). Unsure why he did this. May have been a new officer. So basically I could see why the question may come up and how a leo may find out if a mag is only part loaded.
 
Why would anyone partially load a magazine?

If the thing is designed for, let's say 13 rounds, then putting 13 rounds in it will not even begin to stress or hurt the spring.
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So you drive your car at 120 all the time because the speedometer goes up that high?:D

I carry full Mags but I know many people do download rifle and handgun Mags. Their reasoning is that it is easier on the springs and may give a nth extra reliability if the balloon ever goes up. That's debatable but possible I suppose.

I can kinda see maybe loading 28 rounds in a ready rifle, but No way am I downloading my Pistol Mags. I aint that good a shot and need my ammo!
 
If you are partially loading your magazine to make it weigh less than buy a smaller capacity gun, problem solved. As far as the cop noticing, unless he is familiar with the gun he may not notice you are loading 4 rounds less.
 
Why have a high cap magazine if

you're not going to load it ? My ancient high cap Glock 9mm hi cap mags (so old that they were made before they were outlawed the first time) have seen 1000s of rounds put through them, fully loaded every time and have NEVER malfunctioned (even with lead bullets that we all "know") don't work in Glocks.

My late Dad's WW II 1911 was inherited with three magazines fully loaded with 1944 dated ammo. They all went bang and those same magazines have been used by me for 20 years without a hitch. Just plain old G.I. magazines.

IMHO opinion another "gun myth" postulated be some gunwriter sometime, somewhere and never subjected to real testing.

Insofar as LEOs and courts, it is a lot more important to be using factory ammo than "evil handloads" and that there is ONLY one witness to the shoot out.
 
I thought the reason to load less than full was because it's a Glock. I think those guys laugh at the factory every time they put out a magazine.
 
No I don't drive at 120 miles per hour all the time even though my speedometer says 120, any more than I take up 20,000 cubic feet at home, or 130 cubic feet in my truck, just because that is the maximum amount of space I could fill in those spaces. And neither one of those mental exercises have a scintilla of connectivity with the thought of carrying a proper magazine fully loaded.

I will however concede the point regarding proper magazines, even then they should be filled to the maximum point of reliable function. For instance, we used to load 28 rounds into 30 round M16 magazines when deployed. I personally never had an issue with 30 in a mag. but apparently others did somewhere, so that's what we did.

Just for the record, I also do not weigh in at 300 pounds even though my bathroom scale goes that far.
 
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