How much ammo do you carry total?

Tactical Gear Tactical Gear
1

I’m trying to develop a loadout for classes, SHTF, and shooting for fun. This rig will support a handgun as well as an AR-15. It will be based around a belt kit, plate carrier and chest rig. It will also carry a knife, a first-aid/blowout kit, and a dump pouch, as well as various and sundry admin items, spare socks, weapons lube, etc.

Currently, I have 4 20 round magazines that I trust, the rest of my magazines seem faulty. The ones I trust are Lancer L5 AWM’s. I’m thinking I’ll keep one of these magazines in the rifle, one on the chest rig, and two on my belt kit. The rationale behind this would be that having a 20 in the rifle makes my rifle lighter and more compact in its vertical profile, and the vast majority of uses will require only 20 rounds. having two 20’s on the belt kit and one on the chest rig is just how I’d distribute them

That’s only 80 rounds though, I know I want more ammo than that. I’m not sure whether to run a rig made entirely of 20 round magazines and just buy more Lancer’s, or to supplement those 20’s with 30 rounder’s. If I were to buy more 20 round magazines I’d put four across the chest rig, three on a drop-leg panel, one on the belt and one in the rifle. If I were to add 30 round magazines I’d put three on the chest rig, one on the belt, and I’d put two 20 round magazines on the belt, plus one in the rifle.

Both of these setups add up to 180 rifle rounds total, this was my goal. I figured that 180 rounds should get me to allies, more ammo, or both. If I’m going far enough that I can’t get backup, I’ll bring a pack with more ammo. The reason for a chest rig over plates is that the chest rig could be removed to save weight. In the case of an all-20’s setup, I’d still have 100 rounds if I removed the chest rig. In the case of the combination setup, I’d have 90 rounds if I removed the chest rig.

The potential gains from going with the all-20’s setup are: smaller magazines, fewer rounds lost if a magazine fails/is lost. Also, more compact weapon profile, greater amount of ammo in the first-line setup.

The gains in the combo setup are: Larger magazines, less reloading. Still has 20’s for getting prone.

So, with all that in mind, what do you do for ammo carriage, and what would you recommend I do?
Thanks.

2

I think you’re overthinking it…

I’ve never been to a class that I couldn’t handle with one 30 in the gun, one on the belt and three on the chest. (I actually have capacity to carry 6 on chest rig but all I ever seem to do is carry loaded mags back and forth from the line to the reloading area). I don’t know about you but when I see pics of guys in a class with 3, 4, 6 mags on a belt and/or a sub-load, and more on a chest rig, I think they’ve never had to move much or stand around for very long…

and as for the zombie/SHTF gig, if this confuses you, just look what the guys who get paid to shoot people do. I doubt you’ll see many 20 rd. mags in a warfighter’s kit, unless he’s got special needs. I can’t think of a single instance where carrying more mags of reduced capacity and having to go through more reloading manipulations is a plus.

and if you only have 4 20 rd. mags that work, you need more mags. 30 rounders. regardless of the weight or compactness in the vertical profile, or tactical loading sequence, etc…

3

For handgun only classes, I have 3 reloads on my belt using cheap Blackhawk mag carriers.

For Carbine/handgun work, I have an ATS war belt with 4 rifle mags on it and two pistol mags (plus the mags already in the firearms) all in Eagle FB mag pouches.

4

You may want to check this out…

http://www.tacticalyellowvisor.net/8301/index.html

rob_s does a good job laying out his ideas. FWIW.

5

Thanks for all the replies. I’m going to mull this over some more.

6

I carry two each of AR and pistol on the belt, 3 on the chest although I can go 6 if needed. I rarely do.

7

My loadout is what I carry for work and while deployed. On my belt there’s always 2 AR and 2 pistol mags, my holster sidearm, dump pouch, flashlight and multitool. On my chest rig there’s 3-4 AR mags, blowout kit, boo boo pouch, and then anything else the mission requires, smoke, bangs, radios, chemlights, pens notebooks,etc. With the exception of mission added extras that’s what I train with, work with, and deployed with.

Even if it’s a pistol only class I still use the battlebelt set up , leaving the M4 pouches empty and adding additional pistol pouches if needed for administrative reloads.

The important thing is to be realistic with what you’re trying to accomplish. All the gucci gear in the world with the training repetitiveness and knowledge to use it will not do you any good if you are in a real life situation and don’t have it with you.

Whether in plain clothes, SWAT gear, patrol uniform or on military work my pistol mags, flashlight, sidearm, etc. are in the same general location.

8

For work I run 3 30 rounders on my carrier. For class I drop in a kangaroo pouch that carries another 3 for six total. The main reason I do so is to always have loaded mags in the event I can shoot an extra relay or the like since I don’t have to load. For work purposes, 120 rounds of 5.56 will either solve the problem or get me to my trunk where I have another 90 readily available. After 210 rounds of 5.56 I’ll pickup a dead persons ammo and weapon if need be, there should be plenty laying around at that point.

I’m currently experimenting with a modified South African LBV, that carries 12 30 round mags (yeah 12). It doesn’t carry plates so it actually works out to be a little lighter then my carrier. At the moment I have zero need for that many mags, so I’ve re-purposed several pouches for other gear. I have it trimmed down to 8 mags, and am carrying everything I want. I’m actually not sure if I want to drop more mags and find some more gear to stuff in there, or just carry the extra ammo compared to what I carry normally. It seems silly to have the mag carriage space and not use it.

-Jenrick