Must...have...more...ammo...

[TGS]

I have the PMAG 21s on my vest for warrants because "why not?" I can't find a reason, they've been reliable and durable for the last 3 years I've owned them, ergonomics are fine and the weight penalty is negligible.

I'm usually just carrying a single spare 15 round mag when doing regular plainclothes work though, as you noted it's statistically sufficient and I found the 15 round is just *that* much easier to conceal universally, even though I can dress around double PMAG 21s if I wanted.

Extended MecGars were very common in my office when we still had SIG P229s.

[jnc36rcpd]

Magazine extensions are pretty rare here as they are usually prohibited by agency policies. When I still had relevance, I experimented with a couple on my ,40 SIG 226 magazines. While I didn't want the extended magazine on my holstered pistol, I thought they might have viability as reloads. They worked well enough, but I had a concern that if I were on my second or third magazine, things were desperate and I might be better off with a consistent shooting grip than a couple spare magazines. The extended magazines ended up on a plate carrier or in an active shooter bag. While I wasn't thrilled by our transition to the FNS-9, having seventeen round magazines rather than twelve largely allayed my ammunition capacity concerns and I never looked into extended mags for that weapon.

While carrying additional magazines was within policy, I never saw anyone except the Federal Protective Service roll with more than two. (FPS was issuing .357SIG 229's, if I recall correctly. We did provide our officers with the 239's with four magazines and a quad carrier which somewhat provided parity with the general issue 226.

A colleague who worked as a deputy sheriff in Texas did carry three magazines for his Glock 21 in a triple carrier. He also carried a Glock 30 as a back-up. Fortunately, he was never called to perform any water rescues.

As magazine extensions become more reliable, I think we will see more officers using them. People on this forum have used them and found them street worthy. Until weight or length become unwieldy, more ammunition is certainly better. We also like to keep up with the Joneses. As more officers utilize magazine extensions (or carry three mags or whatever), their peers will tend to emulate them, especially if the outliers are seen as gun people.

[TGS]

Magazine extensions are pretty rare here as they are usually prohibited by agency policies. When I still had relevance, I experimented with a couple on my ,40 SIG 226 magazines. While I didn't want the extended magazine on my holstered pistol, I thought they might have viability as reloads.

That's a good point to note. When serving warrants I only take the PMAG 21s on my vest, the holstered pistol remains loaded with a 15 round mag as the PMAG21 would get banged around much more, including just routine stuff like getting in and out of a vehicle.

[Vista461]

I currently carry a Beretta 92A1 with a TLR1 HL
In the gun I have a 20rd MecGar mag and three spare 17 rd factory Beretta mags.
I’m usually working by myself, with back up being the County or a neighboring city, so I’ll be by myself for at least a bit.

The weight of one mag isn’t going to break me and the off chance I’ll need it, I’ll be glad I had it.

[JF1]

I am not a fan of extended magazines due to reliability issues. However, when I first started, I carried a quad pouch of speed loaders for my 686. Not many of us carried them. The standard load out was two. About a year later, one of our officers got into a shooting where he ran out of ammo after 18 rds and was yelling at responding officers to fork over their speed loader. That incident pushed our chief to authorize the carry of personal semi-autos. Whether it's from the academy reviewing Norco or Newhall and other outlying events like North Hollywood, it kept me in a "more ammo" mindset.

While these incidents may not happen that often, the factors contributing to them seem to be more prevalent. Determined violent suspects and teams of armed suspects are being encountered frequently. As others have stated there needs to be a balance with functionality (in and out of the car, climbing over fences, fighting/chasing suspects, etc) and what your body can currently get away with supporting if you want "more ammo." Are your people being provided enough realistic information and training to make the proper choices on what/how to carry and the tactics/skill to prevail. Probably not based on varying opinions and admin priorities.

As for the statistics of distance, number of rounds being fired, or frequency, I'm seeing enough "current" video from dynamic (not including a static "toe to toe") LE engagements that tells me there's a lot of factors out of our control to train for. My back and belt can't support carrying more than two spare pistol mags, but I do carry extra pistol and rifle mags in a go bag provided I can get to them.

[WobblyPossum]

For context, I am primarily in a plain clothes, investigative role. When I was carrying a Glock 19 in my day to day, my spare magazine was an OEM 24 round mag carried in a Dark Star Gear Koala. I had been carrying a 17 round magazine when I realized that if I removed the magazine depth adjustment screw, I could carry the 24 rounder in the Koala and the base plate would only extend as high as the 17 round magazine’s base plate at the position I had set that screw (4th hole from the bottom). Since I normally only carry the one spare magazine, it was nice to have on that held an additional 7 rounds without affecting my equipment or concealment. When geared up in a duty belt and body armor for enforcement actions, I carried 2-3 spare 17 round magazines instead.

Now I’m carrying a Sig P320 X Carry until I can qualify with my P365X. My spare magazine is a 17 round OEM mag without an extension. I’m wary of the OEM +4 extension because of incidents in which agents over inserted the magazines and bent their ejectors, dead lining the gun. The SWAT team guys are all carrying 17 round magazines with the +4 extensions, but their P320s have magazine wells that don’t work with the regular base plates.

I occasionally see magazine extensions on the spare magazines of some of the local agency officers and deputies but it’s not very common from what I’ve seen.

[Screwball]

Our agency approved +2 Glock 19 magazines (difference is it has a 17 magazine spring inside instead of just adding the extension), as well as the 24 rounders… but we have a manager that is a handjob with anything related to firearms. Same issue when we have lights approved, all are signed off on them, but he refuses/threatens if we consider getting anything. It’s a real scumbaggy thing, especially going into winter where it is dark a good chunk of the shifts (northern ME).

I personally would rather the +2s over the 24s. But I did grab a few and 33 rounders for the AR pistol I built… which will be ran suppressed.

For magazine carriers, I have seen the 3 magazine pouches… and just ordered one. I run my pouch horizontal, in front of the holster… and going to give it a shot. The Safariland one says you can run it both ways. I keep an extra magazine on my vest, but don’t wear it all the time.

Worst case, I can use it with something else that takes similar magazines.

[Joe Mac]

Our agency approved +2 Glock 19 magazines (difference is it has a 17 magazine spring inside instead of just adding the extension)

This is the Glock-approved formula for adding factory +2 extensions to a 19 or 17 mag: go one spring size up, to a 10- or 11-coil spring, respectively. This results in reliable function. (No need to do so on a G26 mag -- the 9-coil spring is plenty stout for the short mag body + extension.)

[UNM1136]

My first agency required a mag in a "speed source" open top pouch and a "secure source" flapped pouch. Most of us through group buys in the academy had a double flapped pouch and a speed source. Several of us as we gained experience with foot pursuits and fights went to a double open top carrier and a single flapped pouch. This was in the pre-TASER days. I graduated the academy at 155 pounds with a 32 inch waist and carried three pistol mags. My classmate was 135 pounds and ran one open top pouch and one flapped pouch. We both used cut up mouse pads under our belts to keep our boney hips from bruising.

Extended mags were available and allowed, but not reliable nor durable enough at the time. And we were making $11.80/hr, and didn't want to pay for two more rounds per mag. It was cheaper to buy a new 12-17 (or larger) round mag and keep it nearby

My second agency mag extensions were common and allowed. One of the motor guys carried a happystick in his left Go-Go boot. Most settled for +2s. Most of us carrying 1911s had at least two CMC or Wilson 10 rounders until those of us who shot them a lot started having terrible magazine related stoppages due to feed lip spread. Twice in two different classes the feed lip issue was bad enough to require tools to safely get the mag out of the gun. I went with 4x8s after that rather than 2x10s for reloads.

pat

[TC215]

My agency investigates nearly every OIS in the state (and we have plenty), so I have a fairly large amount of data available. From what I’ve seen, having to reload is uncommon, and running out of ammunition is even more uncommon. I can only think of one, and that was an OIS last year involving a plainclothes detective who left all of his spare mags in his vehicle.

That being said, there are the rare outliers that make carrying multiple extra magazines worth it. I carry one extra 17-round magazine that will work in either my 19 or 45. I keep an OEM 24-round magazine in my door. There are three pistol mags on my tac belt (rarely worn) and two mags on my vest (worn more often than my belt, but still not often). If I went back to an agency that did uniformed patrol work, I’d probably carry 3 mags in one of those open-top triple mag pouches.

As far as extensions, FBI is issuing factory +2’s to SWAT agents for the 19M MOS pistols, FWIW.