Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How many mags do you need and why?

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For a pistol, 5 minimum.
For a pistol that I shoot a lot, many more.
I don't like spending much range time loading mags.

If you're in a state that is in danger of going ban (10rd mags), then buy everything you might need now.
Also buy mags for any firearm that you think you might want in the future.

For what, day to day carry or stock-on-hand? For carry use, I like to have at least 15 rounds and I like to have at least 1 loaded spare magazine on me in case of a magazine failure, maybe a [bleep] up where I drop the mag on the ground and bend the feed lips so it won't feed reliably, any sort of issue. So .. it varies a bit with cartridge and capacity. Might be the gun full plus 2 spare magazines if it's a 6 shot like the G43. Might be 2 if they are 15 rounders like the G40MOS. I like to have at least 3-4 spares new still in package in a box at home. The reason for that is .. it's Oregon. November before last our dumb-ass voters passed Measure 114 which, among its other evils, imposed a 10-round magazine capacity but grandfathered in larger magazines .. at least in some settings. It was overturned but the overturn is being appealed. During the brief time it was in force, online sellers .. and local retailers .. could not sell us or ship us magazines with more than 10 rounds. So .. I want a few on hand. If I don't need them they make cool trading stock for someone else who might.

Not if you pay attention to recent events in the last years. One mag may well not even be close unfortunately. Yup, I don't ever want to get there, but sometimes it kind of falls in your lap in a way thats somewhat unavoidable. Usually in the city.

That said I had to reload my 458 win mag on a bear twice in the last few years after the clients hit it. I NEVER expect to reload a rifle much less shoot... Thankfully I have one of those stupid little cartridge carriers on the stock....

Most of the replies are referencing hand guns. If anyone has ever ventured into European long guns they have a long history of discontinuing mag. Steyr SSG, even HK anyone remember the HK4? Or the delightful P7 and P17? Not to blame only the Europeans when is the last time you saw a mag for the detachable mag Rem 700 or the detachable mag M70 Win? The reason for stripper clips and slots on old Mauser and most other military long guns was the governments did not trust the troops not to loose the magazine. Any one remember the lanyard loop on the WWI 1911 mags? Long way of saying if you have something that feed from a mag buy several!

I have 1 spare for guns that use them.

Need has nothing to do with it.

If one wants millions they just have to pay for them.

Others are happy with one or two.

No matter if handgun or rifle if you want them and can find/afford them go for it.

Firearm magazines are like porn magazines - I only need one to get the job done.

+1

boy scout motto applies here ^^^^

As many as it takes. In a gun fight, ammo is a life sustaining commodity!

My 1911’s have close to 20 spare Wilson Combat magazines around. My AR-15’s have probably the same number of Magpul polymer magazines. My Glock has about 7 but I’ll acquire more as I go, I haven’t been using a Glock very long. Having a good supply of backups is just a good idea. I mark or number every mag in case I have a malfunction it will help isolate problem.

I think you should have as many as you want. Because you just want them. Pretty simple really.

Bet there are well equipped shooters in Texas that are wishing for more mags and ammo rfn..mb

They say the best answers come early…

Stack AR mags....

For pistols that I take to the range, I like to have at least enough mags to hold the all of the bullets that I will be shooting that day without reloading magazines.

I need as many as I can get

I want just one more than the Gov. says I can have

EDC or working plain clothes, 1 in the gun and a spare. If all geared up, 3 spare for my handgun and 2 spare for my rifle.

That's the way my best friend, Bob, was with his firearms. He was losing them all the time and then going to look for them and finding others that he couldn't remember. He had them scattered all over the house. One day, late in his life, he called me up. He'd discovered 3 in the bedroom. One of them had gone missing 40 years earlier and he'd changed residences twice in that period. Another one of the 3 he had no idea how it got in the house. From the provenance in the box, he figured it had accidentally gotten thrown in during a multi-gun trade at a gun show. He knew the dealer. He had long since died.

The best story I can muster is losing a deer barrel for my 1100 and having it go missing for over a decade. I had finally given up and bought a new one when I saw one at a ridiculously low price. As we were moving out of our house, it showed up down beside the mattress. It had fallen off the bed and not made it to the floor.