My Dirty Magazine Collection
I don’t have a problem. I can stop whenever I want.
Sunday, I went to the gun show. It was the worst gun show ever. Seriously. But this ain’t a post about that, it’s a post about this:
Get home from the show, and the Mrs. asks if I bought anything. I said yeah, some AK magazines. She then, not realizing that all my guns don’t take the same magazine, goes into the typical diatribe that goes something like this:
How many of those things do you really need? Are you planning on going to war? There’s not going to be an armed occupation of Maryville. Yada, yada, yada.
So, I decided to take an inventory. Here’s a pic of my dirty magazine collection:
By my count:
Sig 229: 5 magazines
Glock 30: 3 magazines
AR-15: 12 magazines
AK: 4 magazines
Ruger 10/22: 4 magazines
Walther P22: 2 magazines
AR 9mm: 4 (for which I get bonus gun geek points for owning magazines to a gun I don’t even have)
Total: 34, if I did my math right.
Now, I look at this list and think: Man, I need some more AK, Glock, and Walther magazines.
So, fellow gun nuts, how many magazines is enough?
ETA: BTW, whenever the Mrs. asks When are you going to be done buying guns/magazines/optics/etc? My response is usually When I have them all.
February 14th, 2006 at 10:50 am
Just a few more…
February 14th, 2006 at 11:12 am
34? 34??? Hell, I’ve got that just in 1911 and M1 carbine mags…
Piker…
🙂
February 14th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Well, I never claimed to be as bad as some. That’s why I asked how many is enough.
February 14th, 2006 at 11:33 am
“So, fellow gun nuts, how many magazines is enough?”
This question has the same answer as “a girl too pretty” and “too much money”: There ain’t no such thing.
My first thought on seeing the picture was “limited diversity”. My second was “he needs to get more magazines (and more guns) ;-).
February 14th, 2006 at 11:42 am
My knee-jerk response to “How many [gun or gun related items] is enough” is “All of them”.
From a practical perspective, I try to keep enough magazines that I can load up an entire box of ammo at a time. It’s directly related to the cost of the magazines as well – hence why I have a zillion 1911 mags and only three SW99 compact mags.
For a gun you carry, I’d recommend no fewer than six good factory magazines. IIRC, you mentioned carrying 2 back-up mags, so you want a complete rotation (ideally 2 complete rotations) of magazines every time you go to the range. Just my $0.02, and remember that I usually carry a revolver anyways… 🙂
February 14th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
10/gun should be regarded as a bare minimum.
February 14th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
One of the gun mag writers had an answer to that. He opened his wife’s closet and asked her how many pairs of shoes were enough.
February 14th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Of course Tam, working for an outfit that sells mags, would say something like that.
February 14th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
I’ve got three AK mags, and I don’t own an AK. What do I get for that? (They came with an SKS. Sold the SKS, kept the AK mags.)
February 14th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
An incentive to buy an AK? Or motivation to mail them to me 😉
February 14th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
More mags=more tactical 🙂
February 14th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Enough to hold one “battle-pack” worth of ammo.
February 14th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
You can nly have too many if you’re going swimming.
February 14th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
My personal rule is so you can carry at least 50 rounds of pistol ammo and 100 rounds of rifle ammo in magazines. Enough to discourage an average-sized group of looters and convince them to go elsewhere.
February 14th, 2006 at 3:23 pm
John Ross said that you should spend some high percentage (I forget) of the gun’s price on mags. That’s pretty arbitrary. It means you have a container-load of mags for your auto and only a few for the same gun in semi-auto.
I say you should have enough that you can spend a good day at the range and not waste a minute of that valuable range time loading magazines. You can load mags at home in your spare time, while listening to music, etc..
Or; As many as you can keep track of, and/or store in a fairly organized and proper fashion, which ever is greater.
February 14th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
My wife had the same complaint until I told her I would stop buying mags when she stopped buying shoes. She has never said another word.
February 14th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
The advantages of a two-income household. We divide up the bills into his and hers stacks, and then she spends her money and I spend my money. She only bitches about my purchases when I can’t keep them stored neatly out of her way.
I’m with the shoe commenters. My wife has more pairs of Doc Martens than I have magazines, so she’s in no position to complain. All my magazines can fit in one range bag, even the ones for the guns I don’t own (yet). All her shoes can’t fit in one closet.
February 14th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
2x basic load.
6 mags per pistol
14 per 30 rnd 5.56 + 7.62×39(210 rnds basic load)
18 per 20 rnd 7.62×51(180 rnds basic load)
Garand- 20 clips
One set for every day use, one set for long term storage and ready replacement.
February 14th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
That’s a nice pile of magazines…..but I actually thought we were going to see….you know…MAGAZINES.
I’m sure I have 30 mags for my ARs. And that’s just the 20 rounders. I’m sure I have another 20 thirty rounders. I even have two or five FN-made 30 round M16 mags.
I DO have to pass them out to junior highpower shooters now and then.
When the police, (busy winning the war on drugz), bust somebody and lay their weapons out, I usually look them over and think: “Hell. They hardly had any good guns at all.
I bought eight Garands once. I bought ten M1 Carbines from the CMP. I bought two H&R .22s from the CMP…to go with my 40X my two Win 52Ds, and my three Mossburg US44s. I bought two K31 Swiss and gave one away. Three and a half ARs, deer rifles, SKS, shotguns, 10/22s, three Argentine 1891 Mausers, plus another couple of mausers..
Then there are the family guns, of course.
I mean HELL. Either you like guns or you don’t.
Don’t even ask about pistols. I don’t much LIKE pistols and I am sure I have upwards of a lot.
It’s bad luck to count your guns. Nobodys business. Just make sure you have ENOUGH. Plus ammo. Plus mags.
If you really want to have fun, buy eight Garands. And a couple of 1903s. And a P17.
I don’t think you are being extravagant on mags.
February 14th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
I just sent you a photo of a little box of mags I had in the closet. Tell Mrs Uncle she has nothing to worry about at ALL.
Hell, I have 18 AR mags just in service rifle cases. Two on the loading table. Three or four in the range bag. My brother sent me two chest packs from Desert Storm with AK mags in them. Three each? Four each? They are hanging in the closet. He also sent a couple of mags from every gun they found. Dragonov, Makarov, et, et.
And I really don’t have any mags to speak of when you really get right down to it.
February 14th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
In consulting with wiser experts, the word is: When you can equal your own dry, dressed weight plus empty weapon with loaded mags…it’s enough. Times two if your wife doesn’t have her own guns, ammo, and mags.
Weight with empty weapon = loaded mags.
February 14th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Late word: Enough to place end-to end to reach from firing point to target at your most common range distance. Back again if your significant other doesn’t have his/her own weapon/mags.
February 14th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Early gospels being examined….mentions 3X whatever the Redcoats were toting, plus knife and hatchet.
Wikipedia says SWAT team load, X10 for citizens.
Suddenly, I don’t think I have enough magazines.
February 14th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
i guess as many as you can carry fully loaded.
February 14th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
or enough to get the job done.
February 15th, 2006 at 12:30 am
Fuck it. Go crew-served…
February 15th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
hmmmmmmmmmm she was at home?
the last gun show hubby & i graced, i bought eye cream, earrings, couple of t-shirts & some jerky.
February 15th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
I got to buy the tickets and deal with the protesters.
The lady at the ticket window even yelled at us.
Ah, California!
February 15th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
[…] In a follow up to My Dirty Magazine Collection, The Mrs. emails: By my count: Sig 229: 5 magazines (2 too many) Glock 30: 3 magazines (just right) AR-15: 12 magazines (9 too many) AK: 4 magazines (1 too many) Ruger 10/22: 4 magazines (1 too many) Walther P22: 2 magazines (may need 1 more) AR 9mm: 4 (for which I get bonus gun geek points for owning magazines to a gun I don’t even have) (4 too many) Total: 34, if I did my math right. (By my math, that is 16 too many) […]
February 15th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
I don’t see any piles of speedloaders.
Or freezer bags of moon clips.
Or bandoliers of Garand, Steyr-Mannlicher, or Carcano clips.
Or any oily paper sacks full of Mauser/Mosin/Springfield/Enfield or SKS strippers.
Or…
Tell her you only have a mild case of gun nuttery. 😉
February 20th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
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February 22nd, 2006 at 4:03 pm
[…] Say Uncle is showing off his dirty magaizines […]