How Many Rounds Is Enough

[The Annoyed Man]

My thought has always been with multiple attackers. I thought about being injured and out of ammo. That is when I started carrying more in the vehicle. Thinking that if I could get to the vehicle I stay in the fight. Otherwise, no ammo, throw the pistols (but they would have probably have ammo and kill me with my own pistol)! LOL

That's why we carry an AR in the car with several 30 round magazines.....right?

OTH, if I can make it to the car and have time to get the rifle out, then I have time to jump in the seat and drive away. Really FAST.

[LSUTiger]

I know this is not in the context of the OP's question but one round is too many when your'e that good guy obeying the 30.06 signs and the bad guy doesn't.

3-10 rds of .45acp or 3-15 rds of 9mm, so for about the same weight and size 30 - .45 or 45 - 9mm. It's what I can carry comfortably and concealed. .45acp is my normal carry for everyday, but I am setup for both so when I get into the stopping power vs firepower debate with myself, I always win.

[The Annoyed Man]

I know this is not in the context of the OP's question but one round is too many when your'e that good guy obeying the 30.06 signs and the bad guy doesn't.

3-10 rds of .45acp or 3-15 rds of 9mm, so for about the same weight and size 30 - .45 or 45 - 9mm. It's what I can carry comfortably and concealed. .45acp is my normal carry for everyday, but I am setup for both so when I get into the stopping power vs firepower debate with myself, I always win.

I'm like you. My most often "EDC" is an XDm-45 Compact, which is a 9+1, plus 1 back up mag of 13 rounds. That's what I can comfortably carry. If that ain't enough, I'm not interested in sticking around. But for the last few days my back has been bothering me a lot, and so I've been carrying a scandium .357 snubbie with one speedloader for a total of 10 rounds. (Like you, I also have a min-9mm I can carry if I want to. The extra mag gives me a total of 14 rounds.)

You can get into endless debates about how many rounds is enough. Well, in a perfect world, there's a guy from AmmunitionToGo.com pulling a wagon, following me around everywhere I go. The world isn't perfect, and we all have to make compromises. CHL involved shootings in which 2-3 rounds were fired outnumber CHL involved shootings in which 20-30 rounds were fired by about a million to one. Ditto police involved shootings. OK.... I'm exaggerating....it's only about half a million to one.

[Jumping Frog]

I've never heard a gunfight survivor say, "Darn it, I had too much ammo!"

[texanjoker]

As many as you can comfortably carry and have more in your car.

Agreed... during my encounters I never went through the first magazine, but had more. I also reloaded when done and was asked why I reloaded. Well I didn't want to holster a less then full gun because another threat could emerge.

I carry several extra glock mags in my bag.

One of my coworkers went through 2 1/2 mags in a shoot out with a bank robber. He finally took the guy out and was fortunate enough to not be hit.

[TexasVet]

I read the story about the cop going through almost all his rounds. In training and reading I heard that if you knew you had several good upper COM hits and they do not seem to be effective then instead of shooting him more in the same place faster, SLOW DOWN, asses, he might have body armor. Take your time and place a precision CNS shot if possible. Shoot the pelvis. and like others said, try to get to a bigger, better gun !

[The Annoyed Man]

I've never heard a gunfight survivor say, "Darn it, I had too much ammo!"

True, but I have no intention of getting into or staying in a gunfight. If I run out of ammo, I run out of ammo and I've had a good run. I don't see anything wrong with what other people choose to do in this regard, but I only know what I choose to do. I want to carry a loaded pistol. I want to carry a reload, maybe two reloads if they are 1911 magazines. I want my pants to stay up, but I don't want to cinch my gunbelt down so tight that it causes me constant pain.......which it does if my belt is tight enough to hold up 4 magazines and a gun.......and I don't want to have to wear suspenders all the time. Some of these things are conflicting demands, and I'm getting to be an old man who doesn't want to have to fight if he has a chance to run.....or at least to hobble.....away.

I'm not averse to having a personal defense rifle with standard capacity magazines stored in the car, and I have done exactly that; but there is a narrow limit to what I am willing....or able.....to carry on my person. And then we come back to that philosophical issue—IF I can make it to the car and deploy the long gun, do I really need to hang around and shoot it out? Can't I just drive away?

So if the question is, seriously, "how many rounds is enough," then the answer is "as many as you think you're going to need, plus at least 100 more." But if the question is, seriously, "how many rounds do you think you need," then the answer is another question: "what are my intentions if I come under fire?" You'll derive the "need" answer from the "intentions" answer. If you plan to stick around, then you "need" a whole lot more ammo than if you plan to run like hell away from the gunfire. I admire those who are willing to run to the gunfire, but that is no longer my role in life.

My intention is to run like hell as fast as I can get away, so if the 23 rounds of .45 I'm carrying isn't enough, then I'm either running in the wrong direction, or my tactics suck.

THIS is me:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=A2_w-QCWpS0[/youtube]

Serpentine, Shelly! SERPENTINE!!

Anyway, that's how I feel about it today, in a relatively stable world. If everything goes to hades in a handbasket and the balloon goes up, then I might easily feel differently about it. Just not today.

[fishman]

The question was how many rounds are enough? My answer is, ask the government they're still buying it all up.