It’s interesting…I was thinking about how mags for the Barrett are normally around $150 ea. To buy, say, six spare magazines, which is a reasonable amount, would be almost $900. Thats the sort of thing that would make most people, reasonably so, declare “what the heck, I’m not spending almost a grand on magazines for one gun!”
And then the math kicked in. That would be about 10% of the cost of the Barrett. Hmmm. A quality AR is, say, $900. Ten percent of that is $90 and that would get you about….six or seven spare magazines.
A Glock? Retail is about $550. Ten percent of that is about $55. That $55 would get you about five Magpul magazines.
An AK? A Zastava goes for about a grand in the stores. Ten percent of that is a hundred bucks. Again, you’re back to around a half dozen magazines.
So, the more I think about it, I’m starting to think the answer to “how many mags should I have for a gun?” is to plan on having at least as many mags as 10-15% of the gun’s cost will get you. That would seem to put you on some pretty solid ground…a starting point.
Of course, that math gets skewed if you buy a used gun which is usually much cheaper than new. But the notion of spending about 10-15% of the MSRP of a gun on magazines sounds like it might be a good baseline.
Maybe a good metric for a beginner.
My personal choice is 12 mags per handgun (4 for ‘duty’, 4 spares and 4 deep storage), and 36 or more for refiles (12 for duty, 12 spares, 12 deep storage).
When I purchase a weapon, the accessories and accoutrements are factored in, and if I can get by with only spending 100% of the weapons cost, I’m doing very well indeed.
I’m rather a fan of at least a dozen spares. More depending on the timeline and anticipated use.
BTW, I only have 12 mags for my Barrett.
In my experience, the number of rounds carried dictated the number of mags needed. When I was in the military we carried 300 rds + one 30rd mag in the rifle to make 11 mags. I use that for pistol as well, the number of rounds I want to carry + spares for storage and replacement. Usually one in the gun, 3 on my belt and 5 spare. I don’t know if anyone will agree with me or not, I just use this as a minimum to start with. TTFN
That 10% of firearm cost sounds very reasonable to me. My personal rule is minimum three extras for rimfire, six for centerfire. For an anticipated go-to-war, double that to 12. More than that is hard to keep track of. Plus keeping that dozen loaded at all times for use could be troublesome.
Note to self: If you ever find yourself in situation where 12 magazines are needed at once, probably should stop doing that – that is bad for your health.
Seven minimum for a rifle and five minimum for a handun.
Anyone have an opinion on the steel Korean AK and AR magazines? I picked up a few of each recently.