Spare Magazine or not Backcountry Sidearm

[markuslanders]

Hey everyone and thank you for your time. This is my first post since I am new to backcountry hunting and online forums.

My current debate is how much sidearm ammo do you carry with you. I’ve seen a lot of posts on whether or not you should or shouldn’t carry a sidearm and what the sidearm should or shouldn’t be. What I want to ask is how many rounds do you bring IF you choose to carry a sidearm. What sparked this thought is a recent article from Georgia where a guy was attacked by three dogs. He was not carrying a sidearm and had almost 300 puncture wounds. Putting myself in that situation with a Glock 20 and 15 rounds I would assume I could eliminate the threat to my life. However what would I have left after the encounter? In a situation a few miles from a road could I safely navigate my way back and continue to defend myself if the rest of the “pack” showed up? I choose to carry a Glock 20 with an rmr as my sidearm. I conceal carry a Glock 19 and used a 19 during my time in the Army. I’m very familiar with the platform hence why I carry it over an arguable more ballistically superior revolver round.

The question to answer is, if you decided to carry a Glock 20 would the 15 round magazine be enough or would you carry a second magazine bringing the total to 30 rounds.

I choose to stick with stock magazines in order to avoid potential reliability issues from aftermarket magazines.

Thank you all!
Markus

 

[Ucsdryder]

Archery or rifle?
Grizzly or black?

Either way the answer is no. Depending on your answer the answer might be no pistol.

 

[sacklunch]

Pretty bad day if you have to fight your way out to the truck through multiple multiple dogs, wolves, yokes, etc. Guess it just depends if the weight is worth it to you or not.

15+1 is enough for me to have a fighting chance...at least that's what I tell myself. I rarely carry a spare mag day to day either, fwiw.

 

[JohnnyB]

I never carry an extra magazine for my G20 while hunting (black or brown bear territory. Sometimes I don't even fill up the 15 round round magazine.

 

[markuslanders]

Archery or rifle?
Grizzly or black?

Either way the answer is no. Depending on your answer the answer might be no pistol.

I rifle hunt with a bolt action 30-06 in places around the United States holding hogs, black and grizzly bears, cougars, and in the unlikely event a person decides they like my stuff I’d like to defend myself. I appreciate your response. I am leaning towards no, but was curious what other individuals like myself thought.

 

[markuslanders]

Pretty bad day if you have to fight your way out to the truck through multiple multiple dogs, wolves, yokes, etc. Guess it just depends if the weight is worth it to you or not.

15+1 is enough for me to have a fighting chance...at least that's what I tell myself. I rarely carry a spare mag day to day either, fwiw.

Yea, this guy was defiantly having the worst day possible. Here is the article if you’re interested.

Wild Dogs Attack Hunter

Editor’s Note: The below story about wild dogs attacking a man took place on Sunday, Jan. 15. The event was extremely traumatic for the victim's family, and he asks that only his first name be used. However, he wanted to share his story with GON readers so that no one has to experience what...

gon.com

 

[SuperDUECE22]

no extra mag, most of the time I won't even carry a sidearm when I'm hunting unless I'm in a grizz hot zone.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

If I have a pistol...

I have one mag with hollow points for humans and one mag with hard cast for 4-legged. I will usually leave the hollow point mag in my vehicle while out in the field and swap back once at the vehicle.

When hunting solo on or near the border I will have a pistol on me and typically will have two magazines. This is based upon a prior experience where doing so saved my ass. But if hunting with others, only the rifle goes into the field (unless I bring along my LCP II in 380 which weighs nothing including two mags).

 

[Justin Crossley]

I rifle hunt with a bolt action 30-06 in places around the United States holding hogs, black and grizzly bears, cougars, and in the unlikely event a person decides they like my stuff I’d like to defend myself. I appreciate your response. I am leaning towards no, but was curious what other individuals like myself thought.

I don't even carry a sidearm if I'm rifle hunting.

I do carry a G20 when archery hunting bears, and I've never carried an extra mag.

If I'm archery hunting deer or elk, I sometimes carry a G43 with one magazine.

 

[5MilesBack]

If I have a pistol...

I have one mag with hollow points for humans and one mag with hard cast for 4-legged.

I carry my G20 while bowhunting and the mag I take is loaded with alternating rounds of hollow point and hard cast. So one in the chamber and 15 additional rounds.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

If I am rifle hunting in grizz country, I carry a glock 29 with no extra mag. If not grizz country, I carry a glock 43 with no extra mag. More worried about Mt Lions than black bears or a pack of wolves.

If I am bow hunting, I carry an extra mag.

 

[markuslanders]

I carry my G20 while bowhunting and the mag I take is loaded with alternating rounds of hollow point and hard cast. So one in the chamber and 15 additional rounds.

I have thought about doing this. Seems like a good strategy.

 

[2KHEARTSHOT]

I like to carry 30rounds of pistol ammo, i carry extra in case I need to use it for distress signaling purposes. Pistol ammo is light so I don’t think twice about packing it.

 

[Dos Perros]

Never an extra mag. If one mag won't do it, what makes you think two will?

 

[Beendare]

We can’t own a 15rd mag in Ca

So odds are that bear or whomever I meet will have more rounds than me- I need to make them count- grin

I typically just carry the one mag with 10rds….but after all of the Vince Flynn novels I’ve read….I probably should be packing more- grin

 

[ARK_Ginger]

I'm not an ounce counter. I carry my typical p365x with an additional 15rnd magazine on my sitka bino harness regardless of bow or rifle hunting. It's more than I could ever need but that's how I roll.

I would likely do the same if I was carrying a G20, but I see no advantage of 10mm over 9mm so I'll save the weight in carrying a lighter/smaller gun.

 

[Eleven]

personally, if I've decided that where I am going (wilds or not) needs me to carry, then I carry a spare mag.

 

[WCB]

2 mags always on me...100% of the time.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I carry a loaded 45 long colt with 6 extra on the belt every day I am in the field and have since 1968 except a couple I regreted. One of those I had to kill a crippled horse with a knife. If for no other reason than they can correctly identify the sob that killed me. I wouldn't want to think that something innocent was killed in my behalf.

I have even had a bunch of drunks shoot at me while I was working my way across a cliff while working for the federal government. They thought it was fun until I returned fire. Follow the boy scout motto- think ahead. Stuff happens!

 

[SoloWilderness]

I carry my G20 while bowhunting and the mag I take is loaded with alternating rounds of hollow point and hard cast. So one in the chamber and 15 additional rounds

I will typically carry the same when bowhunting or packing meat. Nothing when rifle hunting. 2 loaded 15 rd mags is a lot of extra weight to carry, when I'm already counting ozs.