How Many Mag Pouches?

[Chaz]

What's the average number of Mag pouches one should have on their belt for a match? Do you have time to add or subtract according to the stage. I've seen 3,4, and 5 pouches on some shooters belts??? Thanks for the info!!

[rhino]

It depends on:

1. How many rounds your magazines hold

2. The course of fire

Obviously if you have mandatory reloads, you'll need to accomodate that.

My rule of thumb is to have about 150% of the rounds I need to finish the stage at a minimum (with 10 and 8 round magazines). That gives me one or two spares in case I have to clear a malfunction or I miss a lot.

I would never go to the line with less than two on my belt, even if it was way too many rounds. You may drop one while moving or reloading, and the spare could save the stage for you.

[Liota]

Rhino touches on some important considerations. He only left one out.

You must take into consideration your circumfrence.

BTW, I have four, but will switch to either three or a stacked pouch.

L

[BismarckC]

I have four, but I am a new shooter and wanted to make sure that if I dropped a mag I still had enough rounds. I thought about five but do not have the circumfrence. The good shooters at my range seem to carry three.

[Wakal]

I run one laid over in the potbelly position, and three around the side. Running Open and Limited, I use the front one and the two rearmost ones. For L10, I use all four.

When I shoot revolver, though...I'm Mr. Moonclip Man

Alex

[scooterj]

I run 4 with the rearmost one being my "Oh S$#@" mag

[eric nielsen]

Four works very well for hi-cap guns. Allows you to carry a one-round "stoker" mag, which I recommend.

Be nice to your hi-cap mags - try to avoid dropping them with more than 4 or 5 loaded rounds in them. For 8-round speed shoots, I load 12 in the mag.

If I shot 10-round mags, I'd probably carry at least six pouches, with the stoker mag in my back pocket.

dvc - eric - a28026

[grim death]

I, like most peole I shoot with (in limited class ) carry three mags and one in the gun.That gives you 80 rounds to start the stage with.

[eerw]

carry only three on my belt..in open and limited..L10 and production I wear five..

[Wildman]

L-10. Six on the belt, and Barney mag in the back pocket.

[George]

I believe that you should carry the number of mags that will give you at least 2, if not 3 times the minimum number of rounds required for the stage as one criterion. The second criterion would be to have two more mags than the the number of reloads that you will need at a minimum. Both of these "rules of thumb" should get you through the worst of circumstances.

Regards,

[Nate]

I like the fourth holder around on the weak side in case of a prone reload or malf.

[Nik Habicht]

For Production I wear five pouches. Most of the time, I rack with the fourth mag, and then switch it out for the fifth, leaving me with 11 in the gun and 39 on the belt. On the occasional complex stage, I'll put the starter mag in my pocket to wind up with 49 rounds on the belt. I've seen stages where I've shot as little as two rounds and then reloaded because it made the rest of it flow better....

[GordonB]

I wear four for Limited and Open (same belt) and Production (different belt). But I am planning to get another pouch for the Production belt. I currently only use two pistol and two rifle pouches with my 3-gun belt. Choate shell holders are put on as needed.

I'm going to get some tek-lok connectors and put them on at least one or two of my Safariland holders and put them on all of my Choate shell holders. This way I can add or remove the pouches readily and tailor the rig for each stage.

[rhino]

Oh! I forgot to say how many I wear . . .

I wear two double pouches (Limited-10), with one on the side (IDPA position) and one double just forward of it. Barney mag goes in the pocket.

I have enough circumference to wear everyone else's mags too, but my left shoulder does not function well, so anything behind my side is too hard to reach.

[Loves2Shoot]

I always like to have two exta mags for the course of fire. 3 mags limitied and open. 5 L10 Since I have the mags to fill them up, better to haul it around a COF if you need it.

[oddjob]

Four in Limited and Open, Six in L-10 (single stack) and production. Like the others I always have more than required for the stage.

[shred]

I used to run four for Open, but I've since switched to three. At the RGN's last year, it looked like most of the top guys were running one mag in front and two on the side. If it's a really huge stage or one with lots of mandatory reloads, I'll throw another mag in a pocket and start with that. "Enough mags for the stage plus one" works well.

[DougBarnes101]

For Limited 10 I carry two Dillon double mag pouches for 40 rounds 1 in the gun and my 8 round Barney mag (with 7 rounds after loading) for a total of 58 rounds. I usually don't need them but as I like to say better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.