Tangle

You know guys, I'm as much a gun guy as anybody. I shoot nearly every week, got more guns than anybody needs, got a bunch of ammo on reserve for all those SHTF events, why I even carry a spare mag with me, two spares for single stackers.

But you know what, I think we have, stock, and carry all that stuff because we can, rather than because we ought to or need to. I mean, do I really, really believe there's a chance that I'm gonna be in a gunfight that requires me to shoot my 17 round Mecgar mag dry? And even if it happened, how is it that I'd have time to reload, I mean do you call "time-out" or are there rules of a gunfight that states the BGs have to wait for a GG to reload. That must be it - one of those unspoken rules I guess.

In all my life, which is gettin' to be a long time, I have never heard of a civilian needing to reload in a gunfight. I suppose it's happened, but they tell us "we" use guns 2 million times a year to defend ourselves. Out of 2 million times, how many times did somebody reload during or after a gunfight? Oh well, mags do provide counter balance to the gun; well, if you carry 'em on opposite sides.

But here's somethin' else I don't understand. Most people that carry a revolver as the main gun either don't carry any or only carry one reload. What is that 10 rounds total? Or 15 rounds total for two reloads? But anyway that'll solve any problem right? You fire five, reload, fire five, etc. as the situation requires. I've got more ammo than that in my gun without reloading, so how is it that I also to carry a spare mag with 15 rounds to do the same job that a revolver can do with 5 rounds plus a 5 round reload? Different BGs I guess. Well, it could be you just naturally shoot better with a revolver than a semi.

But then see there's another thing that puzzles me. How come you never see a revolver go toe-to-toe with a semi in competitive shooting, if the capacity in the gun and reloads don't matter?

Oh, and how about the gun fails right when you need it? Has that ever happened in a civilian gunfight? Two million times a year and I haven't heard of one failure! It must happen a lot though, why else would we carry spare mags and spare guns in case we have a gun failure?

And what about all that ammo I've got for all those SHTF things we see so often. I've got 1000 rounds of .223, 1800 rounds of 9mm, probably 500 rounds of .45 ACP, and four or five hundred rounds of 12 ga OO and slugs. Yep, I'm ready, sure am, no doubt about that, bring it on, you won't catch me flat-footed. But what is it I'm ready for? If I have to evacuate, there's no way I can take all that with me. If I stay, I'd have to shoot 1800/365 = 4.9 rounds a day every day for a year before I'd use up my 9mm alone. But, it's comforting to know I'm ready. I need to figure out how to shoot 0.9 of a round though or the ammo won't work out right.

So what if I had a Katrina event in my area; I'm ready. Of course I really don't remember any civilians shooting at all before, during, or after Katrina. Well, they probably weren't ready, but I am.

But there are other SHTF scenarios that I'd need all that ammo for, like what if I couldn't get ammo for a year or more. Well, am I gonna be shooting 1000s of rounds of ammo in a year if I can't get more? At what?

What about those roving, raiding, desparate gangs that form during the chaos of a disaster? Well I'm ready! How does that work exactly though? Do they ride their bikes back and forth in front of my house and I shoot them kinda like an arcade? That'd almost have to be it, because a dozen guys wouldn't have to be too smart to out maneuver and out shoot one guy with a gun. And let's see, if I fire 100 rounds at them, do they fire a 100 each back at me? What's that gonna do to the front of my house? It'll leak! Well that's better than getting shot by a lucky bullet.

Oh yeah, those roving gangs won't have any full autos will they? 'cause that doesn't seem fair to be out numbered and out gunned. And, they only attack in the daytime right, when I can see them? Cause otherwise I might not need all that ammo.

Just wonderin' about things I must not understand.

You see what happens when I don't get to go shootin'? The range was closed today. Maybe Friday, but if not, you better get ready 'cause that would mean I'll be doin' this again.

rocky

So if you get in a situation such as a crazed shooter with a long gun and no option to run, do you want 1 mag or more? Personally , I prepare
for the worst and hope for the best.

ExSoldier

I'm afraid to answer you.

Bury
All
Thy
Firearms!

The bottom line is.... WELL.....BECAUSE!!!! That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

__________________
Former Infantry Captain; 20 yrs as an NRA Certified Instructor; Avid practitioner of the martial art: KLIK-PAO.

CLASS3NH

<sigh> I do understsnd ya..........BUT..............remember one thing............the L. A. Shootout, and would you feel comfy with being innocently involved... and in the middle of it?
The other thing life has taught me, is, be prepared for the unexpected..Personally, I carry 3 spares, cuz ya never know..
Even for the SHTF situations...........and I needed to bury my weapons..I'd still have a few "choices" of my weapons platforms.....I think I'd have enough "superior firepower" to fend em off, even for a little bit of time.

__________________
Why Waltz when you can Rock-N-Roll

Trebla

Tangle: If you feel that way then sell ALL of your guns and AMMO, and put your CCW in the credit card shredder. Tangle have you been brainwashed by the anti-gun people?

P95Carry

It's all down to odds Ron - which most of the time favor us strongly. But if the 0.001% event should occur (or should I even increase another decimal place!) - then why not ''better to have and not need'' suddenly becoming real need.

Until we have strong or infallible precognitive abilities the best we can do is hope for best and prepare for worst - and for most of us hopefully that'll be all it is. I do not carry spare mags every day - certainly not in and around home but will throw one in a pocket on some excursions.

I base my assessment entirely on perceived risk but not totally ignoring the ''totally unexpected'' - which is what just could occur, anytime, any place.

I will retain my label of (as seen by some) ''quasi-paranoid'' - just not the full deal

__________________
Chris - P95
NRA Certified Instructor & NRA Life Member.

"To own a gun and assume that you are armed
is like owning a piano and assuming that you are a musician!."

If a BG dies as the result of pointing a gun at me, then he has merely succumbed to an occupational hazard of being a thug

Euclidean

It all just depends...

I've experienced a bit of a paradigm shift... when I am going out alone, just me, the revolver and 1 reload seems adequate. More often than not I carry the XD, but I feel just fine with the GP100.

But I have caught myself starting to worry about it when there's other people with me I feel responsible for. I've started carrying two, even three, reloads.

I keep a couple hundred rounds of .40 S&W and my "old reliable" XD40 handy in the vehicle, with 6 mags of Gold Dots. I figure that's a pretty good gun for a bad day.

__________________
I am The Armed Educator.

QKShooter

I have read on the web about of two LEO firearm failures last year.

I have also seen the magazine base pad blow out of a mag rendering a Semi~auto useless without a spare mag.

Having said that I carry .45acp single stack so I feel that I do need an extra mag.

Also: no need to call a time out to throw a fast fresh mag into the mag well. That can be accomplished very fast with good practice.

I see your point though...most of us will probably never be in a sustained firefight to the death.

Let me add that if I had my loaded carry weapon with me & I left the house without a spare mag...AKA "Whoops! I forgot to bring an extra loaded mag with me."..due to the law of averages...I probably wouldn't run all the way back home to get one.
I will always try to carry an extra mag though.

Wayne

To me it's the percentages of what may, or may not happen in a life and death situation.

I will use something that happened to me in '01 IIRC, it may have been '03.

A stray cat got run over in front of my house. I stupidly went out to see if I could help it and it bite my trigger finger real good, blood and everything. I washed it out but I guess I didn't do a good job and the next morning I went to the ER (was a Sunday). They looked at it, gave me antibiatics(sp) and assessed my situation.

He mentioned that my chances of getting rabies was about 1 to 2%. Now, those are great odds right? I mean, I was 98 to 99% in the clear.

Then I read up on rabies. Two things jumped out at me... 1) No cure, 2) 100% (at that time, one child last year survived) mortality rate. Oh, not to mention it being a very painful death.

Okay, here I was, in a true life or death situation, an absolute life and death situation meaning that I had two things that could happen, continued life or if contracted, absolute death.

I went and got the rabie shots. $2,500.00 for the series. Some may think that I overreacted, some may say that I was stupid for paying that much money for the shots, sure, some will say that I went for the excessive instead of the odds of the percentages. But, to my mind, my life was/is worth that and much more and I'd rather go to the extreme in order to protect that life then to not and then end up dying.

The guns, extra ammo, etc.. is the same. I'd rather be over prepared to protect my life then to go with the odds and end up on the wrong side of the percentages.

Wayne

Gelicious

Good Form! I 100% agree. While I havent started carrying. When i do Ill probubly carry my extra mag with me!

__________________
I carry because I care.
"An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject."
"Cling to the Father and His Holy name, and don't go riding on the Long Black Train" - Josh Turner