Are you leaving the house without extra ammunition? Was carrying extra ammunition a part of your regular program that has fallen by the wayside? It may be time for you to re-evaluate your habits.
Can you ever really have too much ammunition? Some don’t think so. Certainly you can only carry so much ammunition concealed, and that must be taken into consideration. But it is prudent to comfortably carry some spare.
Here are some points that may sway you into carrying that extra ammunition:
You may run out of ammunition. Here is a basic point—running out of ammunition puts you in a dangerous situation. We hope we will never have to draw our guns; that is the goal, after all. But if we do, and the battle wages on, running out of ammunition could spell deadly consequences.
You’re less accurate under stress. This is obvious, but important to remember because it can give us a false sense of confidence—your accuracy in a high-stress situation will be greatly diminished. You may have been caught off guard, without sleep, in low light or without cover—all situations vastly different from target practice in a controlled environment. In these circumstances it simply may take more shots for the desire result.
You may be outgunned. In these days of mass shootings, it is not so far out to expect to be outgunned. The bad guys are carrying multiple weapons and rounds upon rounds of ammunition. What then, we might ask ourselves, can we do? The answer is: Not much, unless we are making perfect shots or carrying extra ammunition.
Addressing a malfunction. We see it happen in movies all the time. But it happens in real life, too. You attempt to fire your handgun and nothing happens. Instead of addressing your puzzlement and wasting precious time trying to figure out what happened, clear your gun and reload. It’s the quickest way to address a malfunction.
Check your ammunition. Don’t take it for granted that all your ammunition is up to snuff. Boxes can be mislabeled. Bullets and cartridges can be defective, so look them over carefully before use.
Dedicated use. Buy the best quality magazines you can afford and reserve them for carrying. Have some others dedicated for practice. And remember, while you are defending yourself, let the empty magazine fall and move on.
How much ammunition do you carry? Please leave us an answer in the comment section below.
