brings up an old argument: how much ammo should you carry?
Ok, this is messy and nasty for two reasons:
1: The possibility of being attacked by a damned mob howling for your blood, and
2: No matter the circumstances, the left(which includes much of the media) will portray anyone who uses a gun to defend themselves/their family or friends from said mob as a nasty right-wing bastard who MUST HAVE WANTED TO KILL PEOPLE, because otherwise why have a gun? The fact that said howling mob was planning to beat you into mulch will be incidental; you using a gun to save yourself will be the 'crime'.
Complicating this is a bunch of professional agitators who will try to push things right up to the edge but not quite over to try to make someone fire a shot so they can scream "Evil gun-toting right-winger nazi* attacked us!" and claim victimhood. You hit one of them, even kill one, that just makes it better; they can shed even more tears and scream for the cameras. And they don't really give a rat's ass if one of theirs dies(we're talking, especially, the professionals) because The Party/Movement Trumps All. So if you hold off, no matter how hard they push, you don't give them that; but mobs are nasty things, and if they get too close, too worked up, one of them is likely to decide "It's time!", and everything goes to hell.
And we're back to the original question of "How much?" If you've got the answer, I'd love to hear it. One shot in the face of said mob might break them, as a lot of these clowns are used to thinking "Bash the Fash!" and actually getting shot at, let alone hit, is not in their vocabulary. The really dedicated, sure; but most of them aren't, I don't think. Other hand, this not being tv, anything other than a head shot might not make someone just fall down, and to a howling-for-blood mob a sound that in other circumstances would back them up might be barely noticed.
Best of all is to stay the hell away from such, if you can("You can't lose the fight you don't get into"). If you're caught in a situation without a way to get out, then 'as much as you can reasonably carry' is the amount: at least one spare magazine. Two or more might be great, but not everyone can carry that on their person.
Y'know, this is a really nasty discussion. And every time some idiot politician calls for 'confrontation' of anyone they don't like, it gets more likely some poor bastard is going to be caught having to deal with it.
*Yes, I know; yes they're that stupid.
6 comments:
Same as a typical police officer, one magazine in pistol, two spares. Intent is always to disengage, since you aren't going to de-escalate the situation by that point.
I agree with the general idea you present (1-2 spare mags) and the first comment. If you're carrying more than the "average" cop, it's entirely too easy to
1. Get "made"
2. Be presented as some murderously minded monster.
3. Keep your pants up.
I go with one spare. My philosophy is something along the lines of "if I'm going somewhere that I feel I NEED 2 spare mags, I'm changing my plans".
Full mag in the pistol with a round chambered. Two spare mags. Everything is hollow-point.
Just one mag in the gun. If I need more than that, I'm in the wrong place with the wrong stuff. Store-bought ball ammo. Too much planning about what to carry in a mob is still "premeditated" in most places.
-generic
In WW2 the USMC did this study. They found that the "average Marine" engaged in heavy combat. In places like PELELUE(spell?) Iwo Jima , Or any of the other island fights. Would use the following number of rounds per man per day. 7 rounds or less for the 1911A1 pistol. 30 rounds for the SMG (any type). 50 -to 70 rounds for the M1 carbine, and 80 rounds for the M1 Garand. 500 rounds for the BAR and 1500 rounds for the M1919. The "400 rounds per man" fantasy seems to arise sometime right after the Clinton AWB. Me? in my carry pistol is one mag with two back ups. But then again I'm not a hysterical 250lb suburbanite fearful of being buggered by the brown mob.--Ray
I tend to carry full sized "service pistol" type handguns, and as such my magazines tend to be fairly decent in capacity. My rule of thumb is 1 mag in the gun (plus one in the chamber, per SOP) and two on the belt, along with a decent belt knife. This give me a total of 58 rounds of ammo.
If I *have* to travel through the more *urban* areas in my state (AZ) I have a SBR MP5 that fits nicely in a Maxpedition Gyrfalcon pack, along with several mags. The SBR and pack are in the back seat of my truck, and are left there until I get back home. I don't stop anywhere in the downtown area, even for gas, and only drive through to pick up or drop off my son.
If I count both my primary carry *and* my SHTF bag then I am looking at close to 300 rounds of ammo. (2+1 standard carry, 6+1 Mp5, plus 3 additional pistol mags in the pack.)
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