How many magazines do you have, and why do you feel you need that amount?

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S&W M&P 15 Sport II

I've got about a dozen for the AR15. I think that's about right, but I wouldn't turn my head at a good deal. I've only got four or five for the AR10, and I'd like to have a dozen of those as well. Nice round numbers . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I have around 25 magazines between 2 5.56 rifles. The reason to have that many is because they are wear items and politicians constantly talk about banning them. Get a good supply while you can.

If you are asking this question, you must have been too young during the Clinton gun ban (1994-2004). All new mags were limited to 10 rounds max, so old full capacity ones got expensive.

Just imagine what the next Clinton gun ban will be like. A couple of lifetimes worth of mags is worth having on hand. Stock up now or pay later.

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My sgntr is mor thn 30 chrctrs

As I explained to my wife......................

10 round mags for the range

20 round mags for SHTF

30 round mags for TEOTWAWKI


Somehow one AR morphs into 2 or 3 over the decades.....and magazines are cheap compared to most other rifles or handguns..........$10-15 vs $25 to $40 or more.........

So someone is having a sale...... you buy 2 or 3 maybe a 10 pack....... again over the decades............................ you end up with "moocho mags!"

Finally a lot of us remember 1994-2004 when any hi-cap magazine was $50 to $100 or more....................so like "Children of the Depression Era" ... we prepare for the next one!!!!!

After the Newtown shooting, magazines were selling for $100 because of ban talk.

Ask the folks in Colorado if they should have bought more magazines...

I have lots of magazines for most of my firearms

I do not FEEL THE NEED to own any specific amount of magazines. When there is a good deal I just buy some more. I can always sell them off down the road if I want to

A lot. Because the do wear out, I don't like spending half the day loading 2 mags to shoot, they have been made illegal before and can be again. Because they wear out, because it's cheaper to buy now then later.

It's not an AR lifestyle. I do the same for any firearm that takes a mag.

Like Colt said above. ....I don't have a specific amount. I buy when there are good prices. Last I counted....well over 40

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Because we canand in my state no limit on size of magazine so I nab what I can when I can. Not only for the AR, but for the AK as well. The question is along the same lines as ammo........why do we need so much ammo?.....to fill all the magazines.

First and foremost, because they're wear items and disposable items; also because sometimes they're endangered items.

Very good points.

Looks like I'll be picking up another magazine in the coming days.

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S&W M&P 15 Sport II

I don't have any magazines that are AR specific. Rifle Shooter and G&A has plenty of AR related articles and ads.

I bought 20 minty condition Colt 20 round magazines for $4 each back when the earth was still semi-molten and 30 round mags were all the rage. They are worth a lot more than that now to the vintage AR crowd.

I have a dozen or so 30 round mil surplus mags I've picked up over the years for an average of $10 each.

The expensive ones are the 5 and 10 round magazines that work well on the range and or are required in some states for hunting purposes. I have a few of those as well.

I also have a few AR-180 magazines that work fine in an AR-15, but have a couple differences that allow them to be used in the AR-18 and AR-180.

IMO, the more the merrier.

I have 15 various P-Mags. I have about 40 D&H Aluminum GI mags with Magpul followers. Those are the standard capacity 30 rounders.

I have about 10 of the 20 round P-Mags. The shorter magazine works out better shooting off a bench.

I have two each of the Magpul 10 round and GI type 10 round mag. When I owned AR-15's, I used the polymer 10 rounders to force myself to slow down. Today, I use them in my Mossberg MVP.

Can't have too many mags.

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-John

That basically sums it up for me.

I don't know how many I have; probably a dozen, maybe a few more than that. And that's why.................

I have 3 ARs and ~30 magazines. 10 per rifle seems to be a good number.

I share Hapworth's philosophy, they're wear items. Ask people in ban states if they would have bought more before the cutoff date.

Prior to the AWB of 1994, no one felt the need to have large numbers of magazines.

An unintended consequence of that law is that now everyone wants a lifetime supply since magazines could be outlawed, and since they are disposable, in the sense that they are generally NOT repairable if the feed lips or magazine body is damaged.

AR lifestyle? Exactly what do you mean by that?

I don't like fill magazines at the range when I could be shooting. Besides you can trade them for toilet paper when the trucks stop running.

You know, that whole ammosexual lifestyle gun nuts lead with their powerful rifles, high capacity magazines, and in your face attitude with open carry!

Well, for some buying lots of mags may work.

But here is Cali starting several years ago you could no longer buy new mags with more than 10 rounds, but you could keep and use the old hi cap ones -- just not buy more.

But now a new law goes into effect next year making possession of hi cap mags a crime. So now you can't use them at the range or anywhere without risking being arrested. And just having them in your house makes you a bad guy. I suspect even using one in a justifiable self defense scenario would still get you in big trouble.

You may think that's just more California madness, but if Clinton gets elected the rest of the country may be following right behind us.

I now only have 10. 5- PMAGS and 5- D&H aluminum mags. When I bought me and my son an Ruger AR-556 I gave him 10 of mine.
PSA is having a special right now on D&H aluminum mags.

D&H 5.56 30rd Aluminum Magazine

Hoora for WikiLeaks!

Attached Images

hillary disgrace.jpg (108.2 KB, 25 views)

I, honestly, have no idea...

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S&W M&P 15 Sport II

I have approximately 8000 rounds give or take and they are all in magazines some 20's but mostly 30's. Someone else can do the math.

I have recently cut back on my magazines. I am now down to just American Rifleman, Shooting Times, Handguns and Guns and Ammo.

I keep six 20-rnd magazines. If I need more than that, I'm a bad shot! I'm not going to Afghanistan.

I don't like 30-rnd magazines. Too heavy, and clumsy.

It does seem to be a lot more AR-specific... the people I know with ARs and AKs seem fixated on buying mags at 10 a pop (you see them for sale that way).

I don't own 10 mags for any one pistol, the most I have is 5 for my CZ 75. Most people seem fine with 2-3. Then again, most pistol mags cost way more than an AR mag, from what I've seen.

I understand the ban concerns. Regarding wear, can someone give me a reasonable lifespan (usage) on them?

For a magazine fed gun, whether it is a rifle or pistol, I like a minimum of six or seven per gun, and think that a dozen or so is better. Why? Because as everyone has said they are a consumable wear item, that sometimes are hard to come by or are extraordinarily expensive depending on the political climate at times.

There is one old gun shop in a city near me that has been there since the 1940's and they were trying to get $100 to $150 apiece out of Troy Battlemags for AR15's (Don't remember what BS media event had triggered the scare) and I am sure someone was buying some of them. In any event, before that I had purchased a 3 pack of them at Dick's Sporting Goods for $33 for the 3 pack before Dick's became politically correct. After everything settled down I saw SG Ammo blowing them out for about $7 a mag.

Ten mags (30's) for the ar, whatever came with my pistols stock is all I have for them. I stocked up for Nov and hope to sell 8 of mine for a big payday :-) Ammo is another story, I am trying to get to the 1,000 mark on 9mm/.223/.45, which are what I happen to own currently.

My guns are safe queens so I don't have to worry about wear n tear. Now when the zombie apocalypse hits I will be singing a different tune.

If you start with good quality mags, they might very well last you a lifetime and you kids and grand kids may be using them after you pass. A lot of it depends on you usage cycle and type of usage.

Are you shooting daily, weekly, monthly or just a couple times a year? Are you placing you mags in a drop pouch or are you dropping your mags on rocks, gravel or concrete? Are sitting or falling on them? Are you running over them and stomping them every time one hits the ground? If so, you need to invest in more mags.

Personally, I have yet to actually wear a mag out. However, I have had some mags (both AR and pistol )that were no good from the moment they came out of their package. I have other mags that I have damaged and stopped using because they are unreliable.

I have some twenty round aluminum AR mags, with the metal followers, that have got to be at least 20 to 30 years old, if not older, that are still going strong and looked well worn when I obtained them. I don't know, perhaps someone who has been in the military can tell me when they stopped making/using the 20 round aluminum mags with the metal followers. Anyone know?

Regarding wear. It has been proven that what causes wear is the constant compression/decompression of the spring. A compressed spring may eventually weaken but it can take decades. A gun writer once wrote about a 1911 he brought back from WWII. It still had a loaded magazine with it. He left that magazine loaded for several decades after the war (if he shot the gun he used a newer magazine).
I believe on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, he stuck the old magazine in the gun and emptied it without a hitch.

Other things like dents, bent feed lips, etc. not withstanding.
Incidentally, it is almost impossible to accidentally bend the feed lips on a loaded magazine.

It is the movement of the spring that wear out but also the feed lips may crack or spread, the body may bend or dent or crack. The body is not a problem if you only sit at a bench

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I currently have two. M&P10 mags on the other hand is a different story.

I don't have a massive amount (depending on who you talk to) but there is a little bit of prepping in case of natural disaster or whatever to defend the home from looters.

28. Because someday they are either going to be very expensive, difficult to find, or banned. Again.

When I pick up used GI mags I put new springs and followers in them and put any I take out that still look good in my parts box.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

Dude. Thanks to this comment I just experienced my first beer nasal cleansing and subsequent near death experience due to beer inhalation.

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-John

I see the point regarding the potential ban. I shoot somewhere between monthly and a few times a year (I'd say it averages to monthly).
I've got over a dozen pistols I like to take to the range, so certainly, those magazines get rotated. I'm somewhere near 1k rds of 223, 3k+ of 9mm, 1k+ .45 acp, 1k of 9 mak, 2k of 7.62 x 39, and (a lot) of 22lr.
And then there's the 7.65 Argentine and 30-30...
And for the hell of it, 50 rds of 38 s&w, and about 25 rds of .40 s&w HPs (not a lot, but considering I DON'T OWN a 40 cal, it's enough).

Recently got the M&P Sport II, a case of Wolf Gold, and 10x of the 30 rd aluminum mags from PSA, to go with the 1 magpul that came with it.
From what it sounds, I should maybe keep about 6 of those aside, for when the others start to fail.

I have a lot of AR-15 magazines that are still in the wrappers they came in. I have them in reserve in case I need them. In the future when getting them could be either impossible or very expensive

I understand it now, it makes a heck of a lot of sense.

Like the OP (probably), I was mystified as to why I would need 10+ for the rifle, when I get by fine with just a couple for the pistols.

If the 15+ rd mags for (insert pistol name here) were also approx $10 or less, I suppose it would be a good move to stock up on those too. Shame of it is, most of the pistols I have, even the Mecgars are $20+ most of the time. My pre-B CZ runs closer to $40.