Understanding Magazine Capacity The detachable magazine is the heart of a semiautomatic weapon, whether handgun or carbine. The magazine is a feeding device which holds the ammunition supply for the weapon ready for use. Most defensive handguns were designed with a specific magazine capacity in mind. First, let’s get our terms straight. The magazine capacity for which the handgun was originally designed and intended to use is its “normal capacity magazine”. If one designs a magazine of the same overall dimensions, but that holds less ammunition than the original design, that is a “reduced capacity” magazine. For example, the Glock 17 was designed with a 17 round magazine that fits flush with the bottom of the grip frame. During the ridiculous Clinton magazine capacity restrictions, these same size magazines were limited to 10 rounds. Thus, the 17 round magazine for a Glock 17 is not a “high-capacity magazine” it is a “normal capacity magazine” or a “standard capacity magazine”. The 10 round magazine for a Glock 17 is a “reduced capacity” magazine. It is interesting to note that organizations from the US Department of Justice to the Centers for Disease Control conducted extensive studies after the sunset of the 10 year magazine capacity restrictions. None of those studies found any evidence whatsoever that limiting ammunition capacity had any effect on crime. None. What such limitations do have an effect on is your ability to adequately defend yourself in a life-and-death situation. The purpose of higher capacity magazines is not to let you shoot more. Their purpose is to reduce the likelihood that you will have to take your pistol out of action to reload it during a fight in which a couple of seconds can mean the difference between winning and losing. Once your pistol is empty and it must be reloaded it is out of action and cannot be fired until the reloading process has been completed. Master level competitive shooters, real champions, need somewhere between 1 and 1.5 seconds to reload a semiautomatic pistol, using competition gear. A very skillful shooter working with concealment carry gear will need more like 2 to 2.5 seconds to complete a reload. Persons with less skill and practice will require even more time. In simple terms that means that once your pistol is empty you are out of the fight for some period of seconds until you can get it reloaded. During that time you just might lose the fight. The amount of time that elapses between shots is referred to as one’s “split time”. A pretty decent shooter typically has a split time around .25 seconds from shot to shot at close distances. A very good shooter will have splits around .20 seconds. These split times represent the ability to fire four or five shots per second. This means that when firing at combat speed a five shot handgun will only be able to stay in the fight for about one second. A 10 shot pistol gives the shooter two seconds of firing before he has to stop and reload. A 15 shot pistol has three seconds of potential fighting time before it runs out. This is the true purpose of magazines that hold more rounds. They simply allow you to stay in the fight longer. No matter how high your skill level , once your pistol is empty you are unable to shoot for some period of time. I prefer to have a pistol that will let me stay in the fight longer before I have to stop and reload it. rangemaster
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 20:51:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015