Posted: 5/8/2006 9:47:36 PM EDT
| While showing my brother in law my new G34 this weekend he asked something I never really thought about. I unloaded my G23 and he asked why I put a round in the gun and a 13rd. clip in it. He couldn't understand why 13 rds and two spare mags wasn't enough. He asked repeatedly if that one round was that important. To me it is, does this make me a really paranoid person or is this normal? I always thought it was the natural thing to do, Any opinions? |
"mag", not 'clip' nothing wrong w/ topping off the extra round if you will need the gun, you will need it and probably fast and with as much ammo as possible....why add extra steps to the draw process if not needed? ammo: best to have too much than not enough mags w/ ammo: see above....besides, no one says that you might or may not have a faulty mag or a malfunction that requires another spare mag gun ready to go: see above its not paranoia--its prepardness why so much ammo and the gun ready to go? becuase you cant pick the fights or the #s you are going up against; odds are that if you get attacked, it will be a suprise and with numbers of BGs against you best to be ready to go w/ as much as you can than not imo case in point: my folk's store was robbed by 3 men, strong arm, through the front door w/ 1 waiting in an SUV ready to haul out; think 8 is enough? (i had a M1 Garand, was in the next building) or would i have prefered the extra garand clips? naturally, i prefer as much mags and ammo on hand as i can have...YMMV |
| BAck in the days when autos weren't quite as reliable as today it was common on the part of many to insert the mag, rack, and be done with it. The reasoning was that the least reliable feeding times are with the first and the last rounds in a magzine, as that is the greatest variation in spring pressure. Don't know just how legitimate that idea was, but I do remember in the military regularly downloading rifle mags because of the reliability issue. FWIW I don't think the extra round makes enough of a difference to worry about. If it does you have far bigger problems to worry about<G>! |
With a handgun I do #2 because it's easy to chamber a round and harder to load one in a mag With my AR I do #1 because it's harder to chamber a round and easier to load one in a mag |
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I top off all my carry pistols. When it comes to actually doing so, I insert a fresh mag, chamber a round, drop the mag, and replace the round. If you are placing the round directly into the chamber and releasing the slide on it, you are causing premature wear on the extractor by casuing it to jump over the rim of the casing. |
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I used to top off when I carried a single stack 1911, but I don't bother to do it with a high cap Glock 19 9mm. I figure if the 15 rounds in the gun isn't enough, I do have a spare mag with another 15 rounds. Some times I even carry 2 spare 17 round mags(G19 mags w/+2 ext). |
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If you are walking to your car in the dead of night in a thunderstorm and you notice a 300 pound crack head 15 feet away charging you with a machete do you really want to have to take the time to chamber a round? I ALWAYS have a round in the chamber, even if I am sitting at the computer browsing ar15 That said, if the mag can hold it, you better your chances still. ALWAYS top of mags and carry cocked locked and ready to rock. |
I didn't say I don't chamber a round. I just don't top off the mag after doing so. I load a 15 round mag, chamber a round, and holster the piece. Like I said, if that 15 rounds isn't enough I do carry at least one spare mag. If I were to go back to carrying a single stack pistol like a 1911, I would load a mag, chamber a round, drop the mag, top off the mag, place the mag back into pistol, and then holster the piece. I just don't feel thats neccessary with a high cap pistol with a 15 round mag (nearly double the capacity of a 1911), and I don't lose any sleep over it. |
I always do #1, out of habit because I like to be nice to my extractor 
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Ar mags are downloaded to 28 in order to ease seating of the magazine when the bolt is forward. |
Shit, if there's 40 badguys, I'm going to run away and......... get a rifle  If you can't get to a rifle, you might as well kiss your ass goodbye, cause one person armed with only a pistol is screwed against 40 guys, I don't care how good you think you are. Seriously, I'd say the possibility of an ordinary citizen coming up against 40 badguys at once is pretty remote. I for one am not going to lose any sleep worrying about it. Have a nice day 
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