The thread “Why not a 1911 or a revolver over a 15 round semi-auto?”, has got me rethinking my choice for ccw. To the author of that thread… thank you, it is a very valid question. To you experienced handgun carriers, how many rounds in a handgun do you consider, is enough? Is it 18, 15, 13, 12, 10…? That thread has me thinking that my Springfield 1911 with 8+1 capacity might just be an outdated choice. Don’t get me wrong, my favorite handgun is this semi-custom Loaded model that I am almost surgical with at 10 yards and under: but I have M&P’s in .40 caliber with 15+1 capacity. They have the Apex trigger and Ram and I’m almost as good with them as the 1911. I’m at the crossroads where the “Law of Diminishing Returns”, is a must travel. Your comments and experience are welcomed, thanks.
More is always better if you can get away with it.
I’d say minimum in my area is 10. It’s honestly not uncommon for goblins to run in packs of 5 or more.
I say that as a guy who’s carried revolvers and 1911’s and love them both.
I can’t imagine someone being in a situation and ever saying "boy, I sure am glad I only had 7 rounds instead of 14.
Personally I carry a Gen. 3 Glock 19 with one spare mag, mags loaded to 14. Currently rides in a Kramer #3 IWB, which I can wear and conceal comfortably in shorts with a button up short sleeve shirt in the summer.
I have a very nice Wilson CQB sitting in the safe with a Milt Sparks Summer Special II sitting next to it.
If you are going to carry a good 1911 and are proficient with it, two spare mags at the minimum.
A while back I read about an incident that occurred locally, where a group of 6 men (gang?), 2 of which were armed, randomly beat up, then shot and killed one man who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Do the math - if it were you and it became a “firefight” - how many rounds you think would be enough?
If rule #1 is to bring a gun, #2 should be to bring plenty of ammo.
to be honest, its completely impossible to say, unless there were some divine way to peak behind the horizon that is the future and distinguish just exactly what formidable foe or foe’s we will encounter.
Looking back at prior research at how many rounds are fired on average in a gun fight wont do any good. The odds are the same no matter what. Its like playing the powerball and looking back overtime and using the most picked numbers, in the end it wont matter. The odds are still 1 in 120 mil for each and every draw.
Essentially what I am trying to say is, there is really no way to be certain just how many will get the job done, because there’s no way to ever be certain just what you will run into. It could be 1 small man with a knife, or it could be a mentally ill 6’6 280 pound assailant all coked up on PCP…
I say its better to play it safe and go with as much as you can carry and employ safely and still be “legally” concealed.
I carry a Glock 30 13+1 .45 ACP with M3X, and 1 additional 13 round magazine.
A simple glock 19 is more than adequate for every day carry…spare mags and ammo in the car if one decides to stop at the local range on the way home from work is good to have too!
Thanks for the replies guys. I guess I was asking how many rounds do you feel comfortable carrying? Each of you have displayed that by stating what you carry. I used to feel comfortable carrying 8+1 in the pistol and 1 or 2 reloads but not anymore. We’re moving offices to a shittier side of town, I hate it and I’m working on GTFO but for right now I’m having to deal with it. The M&P with 15+1 with 1 reload makes much more sense. I’m 90% as good as with the 1911. Thanks for helping me make my decision.
15 is my minimum in a double stack pistol.
Fuckers run in packs, have standard capacity magazines, and shoot back.
I want to be prepared.
Carry what you shoot best. If it is concealable and you are proficient with the reload, you are on the right track. If it is “low-capacity,” carry more magazines. Single column magazines are no burden to carry. You can never miss enough times to win a gunfight. Carry what you shoot best.
This. And of course there is no way to know how much ammo is “enough”. If your lucky, you might know after the fact. 
It’s tempting to agree with this, but I can’t. I just can’t agree with it.
Why?..
Well… what if you shoot the best with a Jennings .380?.. or a Beretta .25 ACP?
How about a Hi-Point C9?
Not suitable. I say pick the gun that fits your needs and train around/to it.
Don’t pick the gun you ‘‘shoot best’’, ‘‘or fits your hand the best’’ and build it around your mission, that’s retarded.
It’s always better to have too many than not enough.
Well stated
How many rounds minimum is the wrong question to ask IMHO, because if God forbid you have to shoot to defend your life, then you’ll never rue the fact that you brought too much gun or too much ammo to the encounter, so the question ought to be how many rounds can you comfortably carry on your person.
When my dress permits me to conceal my G19, I carry a spare G17 mag loaded to 16 (to make seating of the mag easier with the gun in battery), and I do not feel underarmed.
I think carrying an extra mag with an auto is good also from the point of view of being able to replace a potentially malfunctioning mag during a stoppage.
When I have to carry something smaller I carry a 638 with an extra 6 rounds in a “speed” strip, but that is obviously being underarmed compared to the G19 set up if one is dealing with a multiple attackers scenario.
I am currently debating getting an LCP, or a Walther PPS/Kahr PM9 for when I’m in very formal dress, and I would definitely carry an extra mag with those as well, not only for the extra ammo, but also for dealing with a potential stoppage.
It’s hard to argue with these results. If this guy had gone with whatever he’d shot best, or whatever fit his hand…
He’d be using a gun with 6 (revolver), or 8 (1911) rounds, with a slower reload (revolver), a debatable worse shot to shot recovery (.45 ACP, .357, or other revolver calibers vs. 9x19mm NATO), heavier gun (1911), and IMHO, a gun that wouldn’t be suited to multiple attackers, with standard capacity magazines, that shoot back.
I wouldn’t want a revolver OR a 1911 in that situation, and in a shooting… as another poster in another thread said better than I:
I’m already on the wrong side of the statistics, I don’t want to be counting on them being in my favor now.
Or something like that.
He picked a gun for his mission, and trained around it. And he’s now a more capable individual, with a more capable weapon now, in my honest opinion.
Answers in red.
Agreed.
My current set up is:
Gen 4 G19, 15+1
2 Spar mags, 5 apiece n124 gr +P GD
1 Ruger LCR, with 135 gr GD short barrel, and a speed strip with same on my belt.
That’s alot of ammunition.
I also live in St. Louis. :ph34r:
Now, to be fair to my city, the vast majority of the heinous criminal acts that occur are usually happening in the North Side, say from Martin Luther King Blvd northward. That is the bad section of town. Imagine dozens of square miles of abandoned factories, burned out housing developments, and ramshackle slums, and you have the idea. At the risk of sounding racist, it’s the place where white people don’t go unless they bring guns, know how to use them, and have lots of friends by side with similar skills. The county, Central West End, and South Side all used to be relatively safe, but not any more. We are seeing lots and lots more filth escaping from the north side to run amok in other areas. St. Louis is a cess pit because it is run by idiot democrats, and one of their pet projects has been expanding the public transportation systems, which has allowed the shit to filter into other previously safe areas. I’m not seeing to many gangs roving around my area yet, but they are starting to make their presence known on the south side, both in the city and in the county. An elderly vietnamese couple got fatally beaten there by a group of them just a few days ago.
Honestly? With the areas I currently run in, I would have felt perfectly protected with my Ruger Sp101 with .38’s and no reloads just a few years ago. Nowadays? I won’t go out with anything less than 30 rounds. The criminals will travel to do what they want. Case in point the last CCW related shooting I was aware of locally was when a man was taking a walk around his neighborhood at night in an upscale local suburb, when he was held up by a thug from the north side who traveled 20 miles with the sole intention of robbing someone. The civilian was uninjured and the thug got a dirt nap, but it just goes to show the areas where you thought you might be safe aren’t anymore.
I started carrying with a 3" GP100. I was a revolver man. I carried a double action, but I was in love with single actions. I carried two speedloaders and a speed strip for a total of 24 rounds. After my children were born, I decided that the revolver was no longer ideal for many reasons. With children in tow, its a real possiblity that I may not have both hands available to defend us. Double action revolvers are generally difficult to shoot one handed and almost absolutely necessitate two hands to reload. With only 6 rounds on board, the likely hood of needing to reload are quite high, even if it amounted to nothing more than fully dumping the cylinger and bringing it back to full capacity after the action stops. It’s also much more difficult to use a handheld light with a revolver than an auto, in my opinion.
With all this in mind, I switched to a Springfield Loaded 1911 that I already owned. It was outfitted with Novak tritium sights and 9 Wilson 8 round magazines of which two spares were carried. This improved my situation tremendously, however, I still felt that the need to reload was too high with only 9 rounds in the gun.
I now rely on an M&P9 with 18 rounds of 124 gr +P Gold Dots. I carry one spare mag, giving me a total of 35 rounds. I feel much more comfortable with this set-up as I truly believe my chances of needing a reload mid-fight are pretty low with 18 rounds on board. It is also much easier to shoot the M&P one handed than the 1911.
My children being born made me realize that, if I were ever in need of my gun, the chances are good I will not be in an advantagous situation and therefore need as much help as I can get from my equipment. Having a gun that is easier to shoot, easier to reload and has 2-3 times the ammunition capacity of my previous choices was a good idea.
As much as I can have in a package I can still conceal, assuming a cartridge I can trust.
Currently that means a Glock 17 and a M642. I have two more magazines and two extra speedloaders in the car just in case.
In some cases, the dress code won’t allow me to carry the Glock, but I might get away with a pair of snubs and a ton of prayers.
You don’t sound like a racist. Facts are facts, and if people are too stupid to realize that then fuck them. I live and work in Atlanta, a shitty city that’s in the running with the top 10 murder capitals of the U.S. on a regular basis. Now my office is moving deeper inside the scumbag area, lucky me right? I’m definitely hanging up the SA 1911 and putting the M&P .40fs on my belt in a M-tac worn at 3:30 with a reload. That will bring me up to 31 rounds of 180 HST’s total I’m going to practice and shoot IDPA with it exclusively now, a role held by my 1911 until I joined M4carbine, read, and started this thread. I feel comfortable with this decision and that helps some mentally dealing the the office move. Thanks to all who posted and helped me “wise up” about the capacity vs. caliber internal dillema that was pacing through my mind.
Very good point. 
I don’t think someone can have too much ammo. (I’d rather have it and not need it than not have enough.)
I carry a P30 loaded with 15+1 rds. of 124 gr. +P Gold Dot ammo and a spare 15 rd. magazine.
I carried a Glock 19 for a long time, with one spare magazine, when off duty/CCW. Love that gun.
I was issued an M&P9 in 2006. I’ve spent so much time with the M&P’s that I can now shoot my M&P9c slightly better than my Glock 19. So I find myself carrying my M&P9c more often.
With the M&P9c, I carry 12 + 1 in the gun and one spare 17 rd magazine.
I fully load all my pistol magazines. It is a requirement with the agency I’ve been with for the last 19 years. (This is due to accountability after the fact.) I’ve never had an issue seating a fully loaded magazine in my pistols with the slide forward. To include my Glock 19 and Glock 26.
I’ve kept Glock 9mm magazines fully loaded for as long as two years without issue.
If you feel more comfortable downloading your pistol magazines, I won’t try to dissuade anyone.
For civilian CCW/off-duty LEO, I feel that 15 - 17 rounds in the gun plus a spare magazine should handle most realistic incidents.