I was perusing the "Cooper Comments" from the commentaries web site the other day and ran across his assessment of the purpose of the defensive handgun:
And then there is a matter of magazine capacity. "If my piece holds twelve rounds, while yours hold only ten, I win." Here again we are dealing with irrelevance. The highest score I have ever heard of in a pistol fight was five, and that victory was achieved with a 7-round magazine, without reloading. Our late companion Bruce Nelson was once asked in the course of an interview at a police station if it was not a good idea to carry a P35 because of its high capacity magazine. Bruce's response was, "Well, sure, if you plan to miss a lot."
With all due respect to the late Colonel Cooper, who had a lot of good opinions and true but tended to be blind to the experience of others once his mind was made up, that is just horseshit.....
Magazine capacity is ALWAYS a consideration. As a civilian you are less likely to get involved in a protracted gunfight than is a patrol officer, but it can and does happen. I always recommend to my students, LEO and civilian, that they carry as much ammo on their person as they reasonably can. In my opinion, that means carrying a minimum of one spare double-stack magazine or two single-stack magazines for a civilian (24+ rounds of ammo). For a LEO on duty, that means a minimum of 50 rounds on your person, on your gun plus what's on your belt.
The last paragraph is solid advice, IMO. As much as I revere the COL however, I must agree with you.
