Good post, OP. Always interesting to see other folks opinions. Obviously a question of personal preference. Free country. I don't criticize other guys choices in women, whiskey, vehicles or friends either.

I carry a G19 (15) with X-grip adapter (+2). Not for the extra two rounds, but for the fact I shoot it better with the extra contact area for my hand.

Carry TWO spare 15 round mags on the belt. Again, not for the capacity per se. My logic is just in case: In gunfight and gun jams. Malfunction drill and drop mag, insert spare #1. Gunfight all over and I'm still alive. Nice to be able to reload with the second full mag and retain the partial mag from the gunfight.

Why? In case the SHTF again while waiting for cops to arrive. Some of the perps friends, relative, neighbors or fellow gang bangers may be pissed. At least I start round two with a full mag.

Finally, I'm 79 years old. Limited mobility. Too old to run away anymore. No such thing as too many rounds.

I'm sure somebody who carries a two-shot Deringer and two spare rounds will eventually post here.

God Bless America.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=...3GI&feature=youtu.be

Just in case anyone thinks a doublestack with WML is excessive. More and more places are starting to look like Philly.

Usually it’s the gun with full mag and one in the chamber plus two spare magazines. Total amount varies between what gun I’m carrying for the day. Sometimes I do carry a revolver, if that’s the case, I typically carry two speed loaders. Only time I don’t carry a gun + two reloads is if I’m carrying a small .380 and I’m deep concealing. In that situation, it’s just the gun. The only instance I don’t carry two reloads is when I carry my G19 in a fanny pack. That’s just the gun with a 15 round mag and a 21 round spare mag.

Fully loaded carry piece and usually one reload. Most days that means 5 plus 5. It can vary though. I don’t go overboard. My days wandering the hills of Afghanistan or the streets of Baghdad are behind me.

Ideally, 7 or 8, plus 1 in the pipe, plus at least one additional mag of 7 or 8. So usually 15-17 rounds, total, regardless of which pistol.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I may have missed an earlier similar post and I moved this from a different thread, but my thoughts:

For the non-LEO, I believe that the most important reason to carry an extra magazine (for pistols with detachable magazines), is because sometimes the primary gets released from the gun unintentionally. If that happens it may not be noticed and the mag is completely lost between the car seats or someplace else.

Even if it happens when handling the gun as was seen in a recent video of a law enforcement incident (and I’ve had it happen to me), it’s usually better to be able to reload a spare from a pouch than try to find the original in the snow or weeds or in the dark or while moving to cover.

Some magazines like the early Glocks’ sometimes disassembled themselves, and some P226 mags had the reputation of ejecting all their rounds if they were dropped just right. Even if those things don’t happen, sometimes the top cartridge of a dropped magazine gets partially dislodged and won’t feed and chamber properly.

A spare mag is just good insurance even if it’s unlikely to ever be needed.

This. Amen!

Magazines are expendable, consumable items. Spare mags are a best practice.

The mag can be released in any number of ways, from inadvertent/unintentional acts on the part of the user, to intentional action by an attacker.

I stopped using my first SIG, a P220, because the heel-clip mag release would snag on the fabric covering of the patrol car’s seat. This would not cause a complete mag drop, as there was spring tension that maintained pressure on the rear of the magazine, but it happened several times, so became unacceptable.

One concealment holster, for a 1911, would put pressure on the mag button, if I bent at the waist, in a specific direction. This was repeatable, not a fluke, so, that holster went into exile.

My PD-issued X-26 Taser had an integral holder, for a spare cartridge, that released somewhat like a pistol’s spare magazine. That thing tended to release itself, and go astray, if I went over a fence, while chasing bad guys. (I was required to carry it in that manner.) We may not plan to go over a fence, chasing bad guys, but any of us may need to go over a fence, or run through a hedge row, or into a thicket, to get away from bad guys.

When the TV show “Cops” crew was doing a ride-along, with one of our sergeants, their camera caught the sergeant’s pistol, with an empty mag well. (It is unknown how it happened, but, well, it happened.)

The only auto-pistol that I will carry, without also carrying a spare mag, is a Seecamp LWS-32. It is truly tedious and difficult to remove that mag, intentionally, and, the design intent of that pistol is rather specific; it is not a “gunfighting” tool. If I want a Seecamp to be a “primary” handgun, I’d better carry another weapon, too.

On duty in uniform I carry three spare mags for my issued G45 all with +3/4 aluminum extensions. I only put three in because four really compresses the springs. In the gun, same mag with one chambered, of course.

Plainclothes no different except usually only two spare extended mags.

Off-duty usually my G43x or G48 with shield arms mag so 16 in the gun. Spare is shield arms with +5 extension.

Sometimes when mowing or dead of summer at the ballpark with my boy I may only have G42 or some other small .380. Usually because I’m only wearing sport shorts and a tshirt.

My EDC is a P320 carry, so a 17 + 1 on the gun, and a 17 round spare.

On duty it's 52 + 5 in a J-Frame...and there's a lot more in the car. It used to be 69 + 13 in the backup, but my belt shrunk so I'm fighting for space. They are supposed to be getting us load bearing vests, so if that happens the triple mag pouch may be coming back.

Off duty it depends what I'm doing. My regular carry gun is a p245, which is 6+1 and I always carry a spare 8 rounder with that gun in case of a mag failure or need for more ammo. I live and work in a small town, so feel confident that will be adequate. If I go to the big city, I'll often carry my duty gun with a reload, just to have more rounds on tap.

Finally, around the house or out for a run, it's usually just the j-frame with 5 in the cylinder. I'm out in farm country running between corn fields, so the threat profile is very low, and there's only so much that I can carry when I'm doing that. Hiking in the backwoods is similar...some kind of 5 shot revolver, with a reload on a speed strip somewhere on me.

We're only allowed 10 in NY so it's always 10+1 plus a spare on me and usually 2 in my bag. Partly for malfunction and partly for more rounds knowing and hoping I'll probably never draw my weapon. I can shot minute of bad guy at the range all day every day but if, God forbid, the peanut butter ever hit the fan I figure my hit percentage will probably decrease. More boolits is more better.

It used to be just the one gun and a spare mag or speedloader or speedstrip when off duty, unless I had to go somewhere I knew required more caution. Then the riots and protests began. The fact that liberal leadership ordered departments to stand down...

Doesn't matter what pistol I am carrying, I always have 2 spare mags on me. Extra mags are in each vehicle. Things can go south very quickly.

I carry more ammo than I have ever needed, but then again I've never been involved in a use of force incident. Whatever I carry, I carry one reload.

Depending on firearm anywhere from 8 to 15

I carry a P938 with the 7 round mag. I also carry 5he 6 round mag as a spare for 14 rounds total. That is counting the round in the chamber.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=...3GI&feature=youtu.be

Just in case anyone thinks a doublestack with WML is excessive. More and more places are starting to look like Philly.

LOL.

In another thread, a poster began to wax poetic about “garlic breath” distance and other garbage about how gunfights only last 2 seconds. Then there’s this. Which is way more the norm than the statistical gunfighters will admit. They have committed themselves to a cozy scenario of how and when their next gunfight will occur. Foolish, to say the least.

We have been seeing robberies or carjackings in Chicago involving multiple offenders armed with high capacity 9's each. Which is why I believe the days of the J frame or G43 are over other than as a bug.

10+1 and a 12rd spare when it’s the 365.

15+1 and a 15rd spare when it’s the G48.

The spare usually rides in a snag mag, which is the most comfortable option I’ve found for me. I used to be really bad about the spare, because I found all the pouches uncomfortable.

For those without a duty belt (police) how do you carry a spare? Specifically for a small 380. Do you have a belt mounted mag carrier or just slide it into another pocket? I would think lint would be a problem unless it is in something.

Great thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:
We have been seeing robberies or carjackings in Chicago involving multiple offenders armed with high capacity 9's each. Which is why I believe the days of the J frame or G43 are over other than as a bug.

“Extendos” are popular, along with AR and AK pistols.

This statistical gunfighter stuff gaffing “garlic breath distance” and “two seconds, two feet” Is uniformed at best.