What do you keep in your spare mags?

[wht06rado]

There was a discussion on the forum a while back about how many people kept their spare magazines loaded and it got me thinking. What do you guys who do keep your spare magazines loaded keep your magazines loaded with? Do you drop some cash and load them up with your carry round or do you just load them up with your range round? Mods please move this if it's in the wrong place. Thanks guys!

Edited to add: I am talking about the spare magazines that you have in your house not the ones that you carry on you as a spare. Thanks!

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[David in FL]

Never thought of it. Carry round. If I ever got to the point where I needed a spare mag, I sure wouldn't want it loaded with anything less effective than what was in the first mag!

[wht06rado]

Let me clarrify what I am trying to ask. Obviously I would be carrying my carry load in the spare mags that I carry with me. I am talking about the 5 or 6 spare magazines that you have in your house that you don't carry on you. Sorry for the confusion.

[pgrass101]

The only pistol mags that stay loaded are my carry mags.

At Home M1 carbine mags loaded with S&B 110 gr FMJ

Shotgun loaded in safe with 00

[Chooie]

All 6 mags that I own for the XD are loaded with the same round - 155 grain Federal HST. I carry one of those plastic 100rd reload cases in the trunk of the car with a mix of ammo, though, and space to unload the rounds in my carry mags should I have to. I've got 20 rounds each of EFMJ and Pow'r Ball, 25 rounds of HST, and the rest is empty space.

[JD]

5 or 6 at home? I've got like 20 mags for my 1911s, they stay empty. to fill them all with anything would cost too much. I've got my three carry mags, and Lima has 3 carry mags, and we've got two loaded shotguns in the house.

I think I can leave the spare pistol mags empty.



I think that when you hear people talking about having their "spare" mags loaded, they are talking about they're spare carry mags, that are not being carried at the moment, IE they do not get unloaded when they come home.


Edited to add:

Except for Chooie, he has enough JHPs to fight off France.

[pgrass101]

Except for Chooie, he has enough JHPs to fight off France.

Only one JHP, I didn't think you needed bullets to fight off France

[Chooie]

Only one JHP, I didn't think you needed bullets to fight off France

You could fight off France with a scrub brush and a bar of Ivory.

[Sheldon J]

Depends on where I am...
At the mall, gold dots N hydra shocks.
Desert, Heavy lead reloads, FMJ, and the occasional snake round.

[Ghettokracker71]

Speer Gold Dot or Blazer Brass

[wht06rado]

I think I read people talking about keeping 5 or 6 magazines loaded over on glocktalk. I don't think I personally would keep that many loaded, maybe one or two more but I've got the shotgun for the house. Thanks for the replies!

[kpw]

I only have my carry mags loaded. The spares stay empty until they get rotated. I have other stuff to shoot with at home if need be. I do keep a couple of 10 rnd. mags in the car for the G19. Right now they have Winny ball in them.

[ccw9mm]

Do you drop some cash and load them up with your carry round ...

Of course. By constantly shooting my carry ammo through all the magazines I've got, I weed out the bad mags, keep the parts fresh, bring a given mag into rotation only after it has proven itself. Can't be assured all's well without doing it using the carry ammo.

Exploration of other ammo is one thing, and the guns out of the carry rotation may well be experimenting with resolving various issues. But I'm all for reliability. At all costs, actually, since it's my life I'm looking to protect. So, it's the carry ammo for me, in all mags for the carry gun.

[Superhouse 15]

I have lots of ammo and various magazines stored in the house, for all kinds of stuff, loaded and unloaded. For use as spares for my spares, I guess what some would call SHTF purposes, I keep Glock magazines and AR magazines around. I store the Glock (19) magazines in sets of 3 with a 50 round MTM box of premium JHP. I color code the magazines with colored basepads from Glock and Lone Wolf to match the boxes. 3 magazines full would be 45 rounds with 5 extras per set. If I need to carry a lot of ammo, I can grab a set and go quick. The 19 mags wiill also work in the wife's 26. For the AR mags, most are loaded. Some with FMJ, most with various JHP or JSP. I have a lot of American Eagle 50gr JHP I got a deal on that shoots great in my ARs. The rest is mostly Winchester JHP and Remington JSP. I do keep a few mags loaded with M855 ball and M856 tracer (mixed in the mags), but my wife's AR is an old one so I don't shoot the heavy bullets in it. I keep those mags marked with a colored sticker so it's easy to tell them apart (as if the orange and green tipped bullets weren't enough). The 20 round mags are downloaded to 18, the 30s to 25 rounds. I also have a couple cans of .30-06 on Garand clips, but the vast majority of that is non corrosive surplus FMJ. Only two or three clips of JSP, and it would really have to hit the fan for me to need the M1.

[SIXTO]

You could fight off France with a scrub brush and a bar of Ivory.

Very few things I read make me laugh out loud... but that did.


None of my pistol mags except carry mags stay loaded. I probably have about 20 228 mags and countless Glock mags in my shop. I have 3 to 4 carry guns in rotation, with three mags stuffed with carry ammo ready on hand for each.

I do keep a 4 or 5 AR mags ready, only one 20 rounder is filled with TAP, the rest is just ball. I have a garbage can full of empty AR mags I've collected over the years.

A 870 stays stuffed with 00, the rest of them are empty.