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Posted: 5/6/2009 6:15:41 PM EDT
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Now I don't mean this in any disparaging way.... as somebody with 5 carbines of various makers, I am no titan of mental stability... but I am having some trouble with magazine madness... what is the reasoning behind having TONS of magazines.... I now have about 20 mags of 30 rounds, and 6 mags of 20 rounds.... I can't imagine ever needing more.
I have buddies who tell me I need more. One guy says 10 mags per rifle... minimum. This mean I need 50 mags, minimum? Why on earth? I can probably go a couple years before a mag breaks, so I probably have 40 years worth of mags... Is the desire to have 100's of mags driven by a Mad Max mentality... you know, they'll come in handy in BarterTown...... Just trying to see if I am missing something.... |
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Magazines are a disposable item-I throw away several every year as feedlips get bent or welds pop from being dropped over and over again.
That said, if new hi-cap mags were banned tomorrow (like they were in 94) I need to make sure I have enough to last a lifetime of shooting and training. For this reason I'm a mag whore. I bought 20 Pmags for testing recently and I liked them. I will now buy 20-30 per week for the forseeable future until I feel I have enough. I'm also about to buy 5 cases for a local PD-need to contact Magpul for agency pricing for that particular purchase. BTW, I feel the same way about ammo. ETA: I also feel the same way about receivers, barrels, and other small parts. Because of this, I have more parts on-hand than a lot of dealers. After the AWB sunset I decided that I didn't ever want to be hurting for parts. Ever. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Magazines are a disposable item-I throw away several every year as feedlips get bent or welds pop from being dropped over and over again. That said, if new hi-cap mags were banned tomorrow (like they were in 94) I need to make sure I have enough to last a lifetime of shooting and training. For this reason I'm a mag whore. I bought 20 Pmags for testing recently and I liked them. I will now buy 20-30 per week for the forseeable future until I feel I have enough. I'm also about to buy 5 cases for a local PD-need to contact Magpul for agency pricing for that particular purchase. BTW, I feel the same way about ammo. ETA: I also feel the same way about receivers, barrels, and other small parts. Because of this, I have more parts on-hand than a lot of dealers. After the AWB sunset I decided that I didn't ever want to be hurting for parts. Ever. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile Ya, I guess... BTW, two of my AR's are Colts..... so I like your little pony.,... |
The pony on top of the pony belongs to my daughter. Of course, now that she's a little older the pony under the pony belongs to her too 
| I don't know if I quite qualify for what you are talking about. I have 50 mags for 2 AR's. However, I think you will find that those of us that lived through the last AWB have a very different outlook on how many mags are enough. I'm pretty stocked up on Glock mags too. Once you live through a time where your ability to buy mags (at a reasonable price anyway) is taken away, you don't ever want to have that problem again. Another AWB may never happen, but I feel warm inside knowing that if another one hit tomorrow I have enough mags for the rest of my life. If I had kids to hand this stuff down to, I'd probably have even more mags so that I'd have enough for their lifetime too. |
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I have buddies who tell me I need more. One guy says 10 mags per rifle... minimum. This mean I need 50 mags, minimum? Why on earth? I can probably go a couple years before a mag breaks, so I probably have 40 years worth of mags... *does a count* I've got five AR type rifles as well. One is a lower still waiting for an upper, but still... I've got "designated" mags for mine that I keep with or near the rifles themselves: - Colt SP1: 15 Vietnam-era 20-rounders. - Bushmaster XM-15E2S Carbine: 7 30's, standard aluminum. - Biushmaster XM-15E2S Rifle: 7 30's, standard aluminum. - RRA LAR-15 (custom with all the doohickeys): 26 PMags; 13 30's and 13 20's. - CavArms (waiting for upper): I think I'm going to go with the Tango Down ARC mags for this one, since the one sample I tried dropped free from the lower with no tweaking whatsoever. Seven of those, when they resolve all the issues with them. Now, on top of that, I've got the following additional. All of the below were purchased during the ban for bargain prices (under 10 bucks per mag). My standard policy during that time was to NEVER pass up a mag deal. A box full of Vietnam-era 20's, around 30 of them. Varying condition, but all functionally perfect. A bag with around 35 30-round GI mags, most nearly new. With regards to your buddies...they're absolutely right. 10 per rifle minimum is perfectly reasonable (my own minimum is 7 to 13 mags per rifle, 3 to 7 per pistol), and frankly it doesn't cost that much to achieve, and not much space to store them. Frankly, the biggest issue is that 30 rounds of decent 55-grain ball costs as much as a PMag, I expect that particular bubble to deflate or pop just like it has for standard AR rifles and mags sooner rather than later. |
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I can remember paying well north of $50 for beat to hell Colt mags during the ban. This was before all those Brit SA-80 mags were available. That's why I never bothered to buy mags from gunshows for the most part. Stuck to a local swap meet for most of them. One vendor at the swap meet had a dozen or so Colt 20's, and three brand new Adventureline 20's. Exact same mags, just different floorplates. The Colts were very well used.. He wanted $25 each for the Colt mags (because they're COLTS!), so I said "how about $10 each for these Adventurelines?" That worked out very well indeed for me. Of course, the hilarious thing is that Colt marked 20's are by far the most common type, and Adventureline 20's are pretty damned rare. As for those Brit mags, they were a fantastic deal: military issue, dirt cheap, and perfect for AR's. |
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Must be a Texas thing but I do not recall paying no more than $25 for a decent used mag. Most averaged sub $20. Now of course there was the NIW that sold for stupid prices. Seemed to be a West coast and North East thing for the uber crack head prices. Hootbro During (and before) the ban, the local shops around here didn't have much to do with ARs-they seemed to cater more to the hunting crowd. For this reason AR parts were pretty scarce, and rifles were almost always special order items. It got much better once Al Gore invented the Internet... Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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I'm in my mid 30's, so I did live through the last 10yr AWB and have a fair amount of semi-auto rifles, and I still say that a small percentage of those in the gun community get absolutely ridiculous on the mag purchase thing. As stated above.....Mag Whores
But I guess it really comes down to how much shooting one does. And if the buyer wants a million mags so they can resell them in another AWB for a profit. Personally, I think the 10-mags per semi-auto weapon is a reasonable amount. Maybe a few more or if you intend to store some extras as replacements. But for those who litterally have 100's AR, AK, and MBR mags, and make it impossible for others to find some in stock, let alone at a reasonable price.....Take it Easy...!!! This has hit the imported AK mag market the hardest, as people stock-piling AK mags has jacket up the price due to lack of availability. Fortunately, AR mags are mostly US-made and continually being manufactured. |
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