Gunfights

[JPR]

Just curious.......I am restricted to ten round mags because I am a lowly "citizen" in the golden state.....

I was just wondering.....Does anyone know if someone has written up the stats of shots fired in gun battles?.....I'm wondering what the average number of shots fired (per participant) in gun battles truly are.

Logic would dictate that if you are engaged in a gunfight, the more ammo you have the better, but that said, my guess is that the vast majority of gunfights are over with less than 10 shots fired per participant.

I'd like to hear other opinions and/or experiences on this.

[Blackdog F4i]

Just curious.......I am restricted to ten round mags because I am a lowly "citizen" in the golden state.....

I am restricted to 8 round magazines becuase that is what fits in a standard 1911. I carry one in the weapon and two spares. That is 25 round to allow me to figure out how to get to my long gun. I feel that is plenty for a concealed carry. Now if I am going into combat then the more ammo the better, and I sure am not going to be taking a pistol.

Worry more about precisely using what you have instead of worrying about carrying more.

[JPR]

.........Worry more about precisely using what you have instead of worrying about carrying more.

I concur wholeheartedly.

[jwise]

The FBI keeps stats, and it is something like 3 rounds fired, or something similar. At least, that's what it was the last time I looked into it...

[Surf]

Sorry, someone beat me to the mag capacity issue, however I do have some 10 round single stack mags for my 1911's. So I guess the lowly citizens need not feel so "lowly", just carry the correct pistol and learn to shoot it well.

[JTShooter]

I was told the FBI stats from 2007 said the average shots fired was something like 2.3 rounds.

[TimK]

Nobody's ever been shot at and wished they'd brought less ammunition.

As civvies, those rounds are good for getting us out of trouble. Police need to carry enough to take themselves into trouble. The amount of ammo you hear about as a typical police loadout will be a lot higher than what you need.

When you reconcile those two thoughts, let me know. I've acquiesced to letting wardrobe decide it for me, most days. I always have at least my P3AT and an extra 6-rounder on me. When I can, it's the 1911. My reasoning is that if I can't get away from trouble that necessitates more than two mags, having more ammo isn't really going to help.

[JPR]

Nobody's ever been shot at and wished they'd brought less ammunition.

As civvies, those rounds are good for getting us out of trouble. Police need to carry enough to take themselves into trouble. The amount of ammo you hear about as a typical police loadout will be a lot higher than what you need.

When you reconcile those two thoughts, let me know. I've acquiesced to letting wardrobe decide it for me, most days. I always have at least my P3AT and an extra 6-rounder on me. When I can, it's the 1911. My reasoning is that if I can't get away from trouble that necessitates more than two mags, having more ammo isn't really going to help.

Wardrobe isn't a factor for me since where I live CCW doesn't exist (for all practical purposes.)

You make a good point contrasting the tactical difference between a purely self defense scenario and an apprehension scenario.

[TimK]

So, are you planning on open carrying? Are you one of the privileged few? Is this an academic question?

There's a very good thread over at The High Road forums called It Happened To Me: Carry Stories. There are a lot of interesting anecdotes regarding how civilians carrying firearms (legally or not) approached various social problems. In practically none of those stories was a firearm actually employed against another human being. There are a few reasons why that might be.
A) Individuals who'd been in deadly force encounters may be less likely to want to speak for legal or traumatic reasons.
B) The confluence of events that bring together multiple parties of armed men is fairly rare*.
C) Typically when confronted by resistance, many criminals will seek less difficult prey. Largely because they count on B.

Your best bet to surviving a gun battle isn't to carry superior hardware, but rather to not be in any in the first place. No Nonsense Self Defense has some great coaching on the proper mindset to stay out of trouble, as well as a variety of other self-defense related topics.



*Unless you're dealing smack. Then all bets are off. Void where prohibited.

[55-502]

Just curious.......I am restricted to ten round mags because I am a lowly "citizen" in the golden state.....

Do you folks in California have a restriction on the amount of spare ammo you can carry on your person?

502

[marty33]

For officer involved shootings, it is 2-3 rounds, 5-7 feet, in darkness or night conditions.

[Oldnoob]

Do you folks in California have a restriction on the amount of spare ammo you can carry on your person?

502

No, there is no law in CA limit how many mags you can carry. How ever, we need to carry 2 10rd mag to match 1 standard Glock 17 mag.

[baycop72]

In our area, officer related shootings have a grossly high number of shots fired. The officer related shootings shot count are above the national average and the officer usually completely empties their first magazine in most cases.

All incidents are not the same, but it doesn't hurt to carry an extra magazine regardless of number of rounds in your magazine. You can always do a tactical reload during the lull in the action.

[Oldnoob]

Also, don't bather with those stats. Stats can be view from many different way. The famous FBI officer fire stats was true (2.3 or 3, I don't have the stat in front of me), but remember stats are average of high and low. For every officer that didn't fire a shot in a gun fight, there are an officer reloaded 3 times with standard 17rd G17 mags.

Carry the biggest gun you can and bring most ammo that you can.

[Unistat]

I follow Massad Ayoob's advice and carry an extra mag, not just to have more ammo. He makes the point that magazines are a mechanical componant and mechanical devices sometimes fail.
So even though here in Michigan I can carry the full 13 rounds in my G23, I also have a spare mag. Of course since I'm going to be carrying an extra, I got a 15 round G22 mag because I can.