How Many Magazines?

[limitedgun]

For Limited I take 7 or 8 mags to every match. I use all the same ones for practice. When I replace internals I don't use for match until I can really wring them out in practice.

[Learn2count]

5 big mags for open.  I have 20 for CO as they are much cheaper!

[iwright911]

How many of you keep all your magazines loaded at all times? How many rounds can you have loaded in a magazine in a USPSA level 1 match? 

[tdp88]

On 10/16/2020 at 12:39 PM, iwright911 said:

How many of you keep all your magazines loaded at all times? How many rounds can you have loaded in a magazine in a USPSA level 1 match? 

I load mags up at the beginning of a match and just clean and reload them after they get dropped in the dirt. As far as how many rounds at a level one, it depends on division. The division equipment rules are the same regardless of the level. 

[DD78]

For limited, which is the division I almost always shoot, I have a dozen mags.  2011 mags aren't cheap, and I'm not one to blow money, but I have 10 2011 mags for my 9mm limited gun I use in 3 gun, which I also used for USPSA for a while and 10 mags seemed to not be enough.  

 

Depending on the range you shoot on, if it just rained, and you did a mag change and the mag dropped into a puddle, or mud, you'd need to take whatever rounds remain out, take off the base pad, wipe down the spring, brush out the mag, reassemble, and then load again.  During a match I don't want to deal with brushing out mags so once a mag hits the ground and it's wet or dirty, that mag goes into my range bag and stays there.  

 

I shot a sectional earlier this year, and the bays were sand.  As soon as a mag hit the ground, that mag wasn't used again for the day.  I like spending my time chatting with friends, or watching people shoot.  

 

I have a single stack rig, even though I don't really shoot single stack.  But when I considered it I shot two matches.  I have 15 single stack mags.  This gave me the ability to load up my mag pouches on stage one, then have all fresh mags for stage two.  Once I shot stage two, I'd start reloading the mags.  If I decided to get into single stack more, I'd likely at least double the number of mags I have.  

 

Obviously you can get by fine with one mag in addition to what you need to carry on your belt.  But having extra is a really nice benefit.  Another benefit is having less wear on your springs.  

[Carbine_Philosophy]

I went to an IDPA match in July to try out a Sig 1911 I have, where I used some of the venerable Wilson Combat 47Ds. I only brought the mags I would use for the shoot, so 3. Turns out, those plastic baseplates do not hold up to abuse, and I was overinserting the magazine with the damaged baseplate in my 1911 after only 3 stages. I only use the metal or robust plastic baseplates now.

Bring as many magazines as your budget allows, because you will never know when your gear will betray you.

[GOF]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but it's an excellent idea to number your mags so that you can easily determine which are malfing on you.  A piece of masking tape and a black Sharpie make that easy. Nothing is worse than having a mag malf and then wondering which one it was. And, several extra mags are also a good idea, because mags can fail.

[mfaith]

I keep at least 5.

[StefVanHauwe]

I have 3 big stick mags for training and and 3 big stick mags for matches per open gun (3), I do not mix.

[Ccampo1129]

I shoot pcc but I try to have as many mags as stages to shoot. I load 5 big sticks so I have one ready for each stage. Josh Froelich made a good point in one of his insta posts.

He loads all of his mags before the match so that he can spend time between stages watching, learning, and planning. Rather than loading mags

[Pure2j]

For CO and Limited I load mags the day before enough for the whole match that day. 2mags for every stage plus one extra. I find that this does a few things I’m always prepared, Never reloading or cleaning mags so I can watch better shooters, help more with reset, walk the stage. Same with practice I load every round I’m going to shoot that day in a mag before I leave the house. 

[HueyChief33]

As many as you can afford. I say this because let’s say you only have 1 hour to train.  Do you want to spend 15-20 minutes worth of that time cramming mags, or spend all of it shooting/training?  The more mags you have the better, IMO. Having plenty of extras is always handy when one of your mags craps out on you eventually as well. For matches, I bring two sets worth of mags that I have proven work in practice for whatever division I am shooting, loaded up and ready to go. Instead of spending time cramming mags at the match, I spend it watching how the better shooters dissect the stages, getting my stage plan together, or BSing with other shooters. 

[Wobber]

   When I realized I liked shooting, I set up rules for myself much like I do for most arenas. One was that I have at least 6 magazines for each pistol, another was I load for each caliber, so as soon as I would purchase a pistol I would set out finding the cheapest mags I could purchase, the only ones I've had trouble with are for a Beretta 92FS. Then sew mag rolls out of old blue jeans.

[Russty]

I have 30 for my 4 Ruger Mark IIIs. Don't have to reload mags on the range or worry about only having 10 rounds per.

 

[shred]

I bring six to a match (except SS, then it's 8).  I use the same six (2x170, 4x140 in Open, 6x140 in Ltd and CO) for matches and practice; just about everything except extensive reload drills over a hard surface.  When you only use a few mags, you get to know if they are 100% reliable (if they aren't, swap them for a new one which you should have several of) and when the springs get tired.  I have G's in Open and Limited.  YMMV.

 

 

 

[OpenshooterMclass4lyfe]

At least 5 for a pistol.   If I’m real serious about that div then 10