What says the hive: 4 or 6 + the one in your rifle?

I am generally the type that likes a lighter carry load, but haven't been able to decide on either 4 or 6 mags in my rig.

I'm set up for eight AR mags plus three pistol mags.

Well, it depends.  I am assuming you are running 30's?

How much other stuff  do you carrying?
How trigger happy are you?
How much trouble do you plan on getting into?
What kind of comps, drills do you shoot?

6 in the kit, more stashed in truck

I carry 8 Mags + 1 in the rifle (Eagle/SKD Universal Rig).

always carried at least 6... setting up a new kit with 8.

Personally I think 4 is not enough but what the hell do i know.

ETA: Not much!

I have 4 AK mags on my kit and 2 in my rifle with a mag coupler

I carry fairly light, but not too light as I do not show up unprepared either. There is a happy medium, and it's taken a while of trial and error both privately and as a mountaineer in the Army to figure things out. I plan on running my standard war belt with 2 extra pistol mags, my .45 in a retention holster, Gerber LMF infantry knife and HSGI bleeder pouch as my first line.

'Light' 2nd line would be the belt, plus a chest rig with either 4 or 6  pmags in it (here is what I am trying to decide) as I was initially going to go with 4, but have come across an excellent deal on a 6 magazine rig. On the chest rig would only be the magazines, admin pouch with flashlight/multitool and a basic utility pouch as well as the possibility of me moving the HSGI bleeder pouch to the rig, from the belt. A comm unit would be on one of the chest suspenders.

Generally, I used to run between 4 and 6 mags as we were always told that if you find yourself needing more ammunition - you shouldnt have been there in the first place. I used to always laugh at guys that had 8+ mags and a pouch for literally everything imagineable, and then see them die of a stroke when they tried to run up a hill in their gear.

As far as use, well, I still do DoD contract work from time to time, and would use my setup for when the zombies came. I'm intelligent enough to know when you fight and when you don't as far as what your capabilities and equipment will allow for. Trouble seems to find me, so I end up having to triage the issue; being too heavy to move isn't an issue but I think 6 mags wouldn't make that much of a difference from 4.

depends on mission at hand, im set up to carry 4 or 6...and i can add more if i need to.

8 for general purpose.  better to have and not need and all that jive.  If i'm using my rifle i'm not going to be saying damn I wish I had less ammo.

I have a micro rig that holds 4, a pc that holds 6, & I'll be building another one that will hold 8.

on my "light rig" i carry 4 in my OSOE micro rig. in my "heavy second line" i run 5. the only reason it's a heavy second line is due to the plates.

I go with 6
3 pouch panel rig on each side of the zipper along the waist.

My PC holds 4 mags, and I feel like it's enough. Don't forget, you also get at least one more mag in the weapon. My setup includes 2 mags clamped with the weapon, meaning that with 4 mags in the rig, I'm really carrying around 6.

I have a belt pouch for one spare mag if I need it, to bump it up to 7 mags total.

I know what you mean by being overloaded with mags. I use to do OPFOR at Eglin a lot...so much, in fact, I bought my own kit. Well, my wife did, anyway. She got me a Blackhawk Commando Chest Rig. Holds 12 mags + 1 in the rifle. I didn't always fill it up, but when I did, it was a pain in the ass after a couple of klicks. Those were M4 mags...I could only imagine 12 AK mags. The 4 I carry is plenty...plus the 2 in the rifle.

I've got an eagle plate carrier w/ cummerbund in ACU set up as my "go to war" setup, got enough pouches to hold 10 mags but only running 6.

Putting together a more "politically correct" plate carrier, looking at Diamondback's Advance Warrior Fast Attack Plate Carrier in tan, looking to run just three primary mags on it. Thinking in a SHTF situation I probably won't need a full combat load and it not being camouflaged or loaded down with gear won't make me look overtly hostile or military (unless I'm on duty, then I'd probably be wearing my issue shit).

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=6&f=10&t=249100
Can't make it hot. Number of mags in your go to rig. last responded to on 3/31/09. All the best.

Sounds like you are setting up your kit with some good thinking (such as not loading down your first line too much). I have seen some good warriors who carry both heavy and light. I was helping with a pre-deployment train up on some special operations forces a few months ago. Most of their work was direct action type missions. I was very suprised how light they all run. Most carry about 3  - 4 mags max + the one in their weapon. Other mission items were cut down to critial gear only.
Ususally one or two guys on the team had some extra load out in a sling type bag (think S.O. Tech Mission Go Bag). One was the team leader who kept up with ammo status of the team throughout the mission and I abserved doing some resupply as needed. They also carry, when riding doing vehicle mounted operations, plenty of extra mags in their vehicle de jour along with plently of flashbangs, frags and smoke. I'm not sure if they are inserting by helo how they manage ammo resupply or if they carry extra loadout on their person. Too busy to ask and on our off time we talked pets, beer and family; minimal to no shop talk.
Based upon last experiance with some of these guys I have scaled back my kit too and so far am happy with it. 4 rifle mags + 1 in a FAST mag pouch + my one in my weapon - down from at least 6 mags + 1. Because of this change I was able to move around some other items more to my liking too. Went to a combat course a couple of years ago and I needed about 7 - 8 mags for each evolution so there are times to run heavy but the guys who carry too much shit on them are weighing themselves down so much it's reducing combat effectiveness in some cases. Like everytihng else it's about ballance. 1 or 2 mags is not a lot to cut down but every little bit a weight makes a diff. when your humping it around for 8 or 10 hrs. That's a canteen weight worth of water and a couple or 3 Power Bars you could be drinking and eating. Just my thoughts.

3 + 1 in the rifle. 3 + 1 in the sidearm. Another 6 in 3rd line. More in vehicle.

It depends entirely upon what you're doing. I'm not in the military anymore so mine is just a SHTF rig. I have just enough to get through a short fight or get away if things look really bad, and that's it. I have no intention of starting my own little war in a SHTF scenario. I go slick now, as mobility and endurance are more important to me.

Were I still in the military the loadout would be different, and it would differ depending upon where I was, what I was doing specifically, and whether or not I'm dismounted or mounted. This is definitely a YMMV question.

Exactly my mindset while putting together this latest vest. I've still got an IBA and an EPC w/ Cummerbund with ESAPI's if I want to go to war, but in real life in a SHTF situation I probably don't need to be loaded out for a patrol in the Korengal Valley,

I went with 4+1 AR mags, 2+1 pistol mags. Additional 8 AR mags and 4 pistol mags in an Eagle E&E bag, thrown in the truck or in a fixed position.
That's the plan anyways.

Great timing...I was just thinking about which size to buy too.  
 Quick question for anyone with an Eagle mag carrier - I was considering using one of the pockets for another use, what is the dimension of the mag pocket?  Would a 2" diameter, 6" tall can fit in that pocket?

Any rig I would wear domestically would only have 3-4 mags in it max. that would go with my G19 and 1 spare that is on me.

BTW I should add I just set up my woman’s rig, 4 AR mags (or three and a G19) and room for 2 G19 mags and a flashlight, IFAK and one ditty pouch. Simple, light and realistic (actually the rifle with the mag in it is realistic, any rig at all is way overkill.

well the standard military loadout is 7 mags,
I would say the more the better.
if its not messing with your ability to function your weapon, then pack more.
as a plus, it will build endurance and strength.
my girlfriends dad (army ranger, infantry, sniper, etc) had friends who were in somalia during gothic serpent. running out of ammo really must suck
he now carries 14 30 round mags as his standard load.

just my $.02

Jesus christ lol

Mission does dictate loadout, and I do not foresee myself getting into anything any longer that would require half of that.

4 on vest, one on belt, one in gun.

Dude, no shit 14 mags is insane to carry on your person except in certain circumstances. Like the man said mission dictates load out. If you are a LEO two or three mags +1 is more than enough, even for a SWAT Officer, perhaps an extra one or two if you live in a very remote area. If your a SF Operator or Ranger being inserted into Modadishu or up on some Afgan mountain then you may need a massive load out to sustain you though a long and certain fight. Look at your AO and look at your mission, plan and equip. for the expected and have a contingency plan for the unexpected.
Even if you carry 14 mags. I still would not carry more than 6 or perhaps 8 at the most on my kit, depending on my carrier. The rest would go in a ruck or assult pack. At least you can ditch that if you need to get light and move.

Mission dictates load out

In Iraq I ran between 8 (6 on vest+2 in weapon via redimag)-10 (8 on vest+2 in redimag) dependent on how long the OP was going to be, how far the vehicles would be, and how many people I would be with on the ground.  Operating on long dismount OPs I would pack a extra 2 in a assault pack along with extra water bottles.

This time around I will be running 6 mags on the vest and extra pouches on the vest just in case, but then my job has changed.  Having the option for more doesn't always mean that you have to carry that many.  Also the feeling of getting down to your last few mags is not a warm and fuzzy feeling.

I run an AK so the mags and rounds are heavier. I run five 20 rounders on my chest rig and one 30 rounder on my belt.

3-4 10 round mags, 2 pistol mags

Mine I can carry 12 AR mags and 2 Pistol mags but one of the pouches is a AR/AK pouch so I can either have the 12 AR mags or 6 AR mags and 4 AK mags. Hell I could probably carry 6 more AR mags in my other pouch but the damn things heavy enough

Most of my rigs are set up for 8-mags on the vest, plus the Sterling 40-rounder with Magpul follower in the weapon. For my M14 rig it's 4-20 rnd. mags (plus one) of 7.62X51 (that's enough weight).

I often think that given the fact that I'm not likely to ever find myself in any kind of a pitched battle (by design or default), that maybe I should sacrifice 2-loaded magazines for an additional canteen of water (in the 5.56mm rigs, the 7.62mm rig is about right). Given the environment in which I live, extra water is probably more of a life extending necessity than is an extra 60 rnds. of ammo. Logically, if I can't extricate myself from a situation with 220 rnds of ammo, then I'm probably screwed right from the get-go.

While it might be great to "war game" worst case scenarios and create gear plans appropriate to those situations, in reality the scenarios will most likely be escape and evade, with a premium placed on avoiding firefights rather than looking to get into them.

Obviously for you guys who are planning your rigs for real combat situations, the criteria is much different. I wouldn't even suggest that I know more than you about your needs. I learn more from your opinions than you could ever learn from mine.

my 2nd line has 4 all the time and 1 in the mag. however i also have This in the back of my rig and use it as a survival type pouch. inside are 3 pockets, each one for 2 mags. i keep 2 bottles of water in 2 of the pouches and keep the middle one empty. depending on what im doing, i can decide to grab more water or more mags.

for the record, i don't have enough training yet to survive a fire fight that will last more then 4x30rnd mags.

6 mags in chest rig and 4 pistol mags.

6 AR mags and 7 pistol mags on vest not including the ones in each firearm.

3 more AR mags in USGI pouch on belt
4 Mini 14 mags in USGI pouch on belt (carry those for the Mrs. or for when I feel like patrolling w/ two rifles)

I haven't weighed everything yet, but I know it's a lot less than a SCOTT pak and wet firefighting gear

6 in an EssTac Bush Boar and 2 on the rifle...I run a Redi-Mag...

ETA: I only carry this much because I don't intend to "slug it out" toe-to-toe with with an armed mob. My primary goal is to make somone think twice about fucking with me while I hastily haul ass to another area, preferably to my main stockpile of stuff.

I have 4 on me and one in my shooting stick.....with another 3 in my pack

Has anyone here ever been in a fire fight? Do you know how fast 6 mags will go? If you are serious about winning a fire fight you better carry 20 mags on your body, no less.

dude Im not bugging out of fuckin Iraq

4 rifle + 2 pistol to add to the 2 pistol on the belt.  I have a medpack and I am skinny.  There is only so much room.

I think it's been said here already. If you can't either eliminate or drive away the threat with 4-6 mags your either dead or have better de-assed and made for the hills! The only thing 20 mags will accomplish is slowing you down and wearing your tired ass out.