Concealment question

[JadeFire]

Hey everyone,

Just a question that I couldn't get answered by searching the forum, so I thought I'd throw it out to the general public.

I'm in the habit of carrying with 2 spare mags when I go out. My train of thought runs as follows:

The most likely culprit of a FTF is a bad mag, so carrying extra is good.
If 1 extra is good, 2 is better.

However, I realized today that my mag pouch tends to occasionally show when I reach for my wallet to pay for something. My question is, as the firearm is still concealed and all someone will see is a flash of a black pouch on my belt, is this a failure to conceal in the legally enforceable sense, or am I just worrying too much?

All opinions appreciated.

/Jadefire

[seamusTX]

Texas law has no restrictions on ammunition, magazines, or speed loaders. You can hang them from your ears. Furthermore, most mag pouches look like a cell phone holster or similar common item.

- Jim

[Target1911]

Texas law has no restrictions on ammunition, magazines, or speed loaders. You can hang them from your ears. Furthermore, most mag pouches look like a cell phone holster or similar common item.

- Jim

[M9FAN]

Texas law has no restrictions on ammunition, magazines, or speed loaders. You can hang them from your ears. Furthermore, most mag pouches look like a cell phone holster or similar common item.

- Jim

+2

[Liko81]

Texas law has no restrictions on ammunition, magazines, or speed loaders. You can hang them from your ears. Furthermore, most mag pouches look like a cell phone holster or similar common item.

- Jim

The only exception to the above would be a "quick-access" clip-type "pouch" that shows the mag for what it is, and even then like Jim said it's not considered "printing" by law. However, it's not hard to make the leap that when someone's carrying spare ammo they have a gun on them even when you can't see it, so if your pouch allows bystanders to easily see and identify the mag, you might as well be OCing for the attention you will get. Your average velcro pouch would look like a cell phone pouch or a pouch for a folding knife or Leatherman tool and nobody would think twice about it.

About carrying extra ammo; it's always a good idea to have at least one spare mag of defense rounds, but not for your stated purpose. If your gun FTFs in a defense situation, in all likelihood you're dead or otherwise incapacitated before you can fix it, certainly before you can load a fresh mag. Therefore, buying quality mags (I personally don't buy anything other than factory anymore after some bad experiences with Pro-Mag) and maintaining them is key in a defense weapon. Make sure you rotate stock on your defense rounds (keep the mag with your newest rounds in the gun; fire off your oldest rounds at the range every month or so) and when you unload a magazine, tear it down and clean/re-lube it (use a moly grease or Chap-Stick instead of gun oil). If a mag spring starts getting weak and causing FTFs, you can stretch it out to buy some time but it's best to replace it.

[AEA]

Additionally there is no law in Texas for failing to conceal your EMPTY holster!

[NcongruNt]

About carrying extra ammo; it's always a good idea to have at least one spare mag of defense rounds, but not for your stated purpose. If your gun FTFs in a defense situation, in all likelihood you're dead or otherwise incapacitated before you can fix it, certainly before you can load a fresh mag. Therefore, buying quality mags (I personally don't buy anything other than factory anymore after some bad experiences with Pro-Mag) and maintaining them is key in a defense weapon.

Although all of the FTF's (probably 3 or 4 total) I've had with my Hi-Power have been user error (failure to fully insert the mag until it clicks), there are some situations where a mag could fail without rendering the gun unusable. I remember a recent post about a follower jamming in place, causing no rounds to rise when the top round is fed into the chamber. Changing to a spare mag would be an immediate fix in this situation.

As far as factory mags are concerned, I agree mostly. A factory mag is made to original design specs (presumably, if no error has been made in the manufacturing process), and is usually the best choice. I will say that I have found Mec-Gar mags to be superior for me. I do realize that they do OEM for FN, but it seems to me that their own branded mags for the Hi-Power are better-finished and function better than the factory FN mags. I've gone to them as my sole carry mags (flush 15-rounders instead of the factory 13-rounders), and have been very satisfied with their quality and reliability.

[JadeFire]

About carrying extra ammo; it's always a good idea to have at least one spare mag of defense rounds, but not for your stated purpose. If your gun FTFs in a defense situation, in all likelihood you're dead or otherwise incapacitated before you can fix it, certainly before you can load a fresh mag. Therefore, buying quality mags (I personally don't buy anything other than factory anymore after some bad experiences with Pro-Mag) and maintaining them is key in a defense weapon. Make sure you rotate stock on your defense rounds (keep the mag with your newest rounds in the gun; fire off your oldest rounds at the range every month or so) and when you unload a magazine, tear it down and clean/re-lube it (use a moly grease or Chap-Stick instead of gun oil). If a mag spring starts getting weak and causing FTFs, you can stretch it out to buy some time but it's best to replace it.

For the Glock, I use factory, but for my 1911 it's Wilson Combat and Novak's, the only mags that I've never had jam up on me. Here's why: I was visiting my Uncle back home when I came across a Novak (Act-Mag) 8 round 1911 mag in a drawer. I pulled it out, asked him how long it had been in there. He shrugged, looked at the drawer, and said about 3 years- fully loaded. I blew the dust off of it, and we took it out to where we shoot (rural area- very rural) just to see if it would function. The Wilson mag was included with the pistol, so I figure there's no harm in using it- as the 3rd mag full of old ammo.

All 8 rounds fed just fine. What really surprised me was that all but 1 went boom as planned, the most likely culprit being a bad primer. Kinda cool, huh?

Thanks for the advice about cycling the ammo, though from a financial standpoint I'm going to have to stretch it to a bit longer if possible.

Mag maintenance is done just like the weapon itself- once a week strip, clean, lubricate, reassemble, also done after every trip to the range. I've discovered it's much easier to be disciplined now that Grad school has gotten rid of that pesky social life for me.