Always buy spare magazines

[Grey Bearded One]

Years ago, i don't remember when, I bought a new bullseye pistol. I'd been shooting a Ruger MK II for decades and wanted something better but never could justify $1,500 for a Pardini or Hammerli. I almost had my hands on a Hi Standard Victor but that's another story.

One day I see an ad for a Russian pistol, the IZH-35M for about $400. Hmmmmm . .. I looked into the gun and found that Russian shooters used the gun and had a good opinion of it and that Walther thought enough of it to buy them, polish them up and sell them with the Walther banner.

I scraped together $400 and ordered one. Extra mags, if I remember correctly, were $25 but the gun came with two and I figured that I could buy more after the fun fund recovered a bit.

Shortly after I got mine, it went off the market. Production stopped as did production of magazines. The few mags that could be found were going for $50 to $100 each.

I figured that I could live with my two mags. Until now.

The mags have disappeared. Going to the range one day, I thought that I'd like to dust of the IZH and shoot some bullseye so I got out my bullseye box and opened it to check that it had everything. Sure enough, everything was there except the mags.

I checked my other shooting bags, my mag stashes, under the workbench, under my bed, behind the couch . . . no mags.

Now I have this great pistol that I can't shoot :-(

The moral is always buy extra mags and put them away.

[Emptymag]

I have a similar fear and have on several occasions been unable to find the two mags for a particular handgun. (or two)
Luckily I found them later in a dumb place where I must have set them down for a moment and forgot to put them where they belong.
One is no big deal because I could buy more since the mags are still stocked. The other would cost a small fortune to buy just one mag - a fortune I haven't been wiling to part with when I see them at a gun show.

[Remington788]

Yep,
I have an old Remington Nylon 77 (the box magazine version of the Nylon 66). Only one original magazine, plastic and wearing out. Obsolete, it has not been in production for decades.

I look at very gun show, and so far found one 20 rounder. One day in my local shop, I found two 10 round mags, mislabeled, in a box of odds and ends marked "make an offer". It was a lucky day.

[aubie515]

I had an IZH 35M...great pistol. I agree with you about those mags drying up. The one I had I had spare mags for, so I sold it for double what I paid for my 35M.

I have a Remington 591 5mm and those spare mags are $100-150 a mag. Thankfully, there is an online vendor on RFC that is offering 3D mags, which are $475, but half the cost of factory mags.

At the end of the day, you will have expensive clubs if you don't have mags and ammo.

I see so many folks with a lot of firearms and little to no amm/mags.

[Bang]

I may have one better. A Mossberg 146 with a missing bolt. I have been on a few lists standing by for a few years now. Meanwhile, it is looking more and more like a tomato stake.

[R L Suehr]

I have a small collection of Spanish pistols, Stars and Llamas. I'm always on the lookout for spare factory mags. There are aftermarket mags for some of them, but they're of poor quality and are hit or miss from a function stand point. God forbid you break a firing pin or extractor too.

[gghbi]

Yep,
I have an old Remington Nylon 77 (the box magazine version of the Nylon 66). Only one original magazine, plastic and wearing out. Obsolete, it has not been in production for decades.

I look at very gun show, and so far found one 20 rounder. One day in my local shop, I found two 10 round mags, mislabeled, in a box of odds and ends marked "make an offer". It was a lucky day.

Love those kind of days. My personal goal is at least 5 mags for any pistol and 3 for any rifle. I have a Walther TPH 22 and that is another one where mags routinely hit the century mark in price. My last one was $55 (at auction) because it was listed as 25 ACP, and those I can get for about $5 just about any time. (I have some because they use the same plastic base which sometimes cracks so I have spares)

Good luck on finding them, they are in a side pocket or on the bottom on a lesser used shooting bag, maybe under something else.

[eyecanshoot]

Years ago my dad gave me a Colt Huntsman with only one magazine. CTD had factory new magazines for $10 or $12 and I'm really glad I didn't wait to order a few. Today I see used magazines selling for much more than what I paid.

When I placed my order I was tempted to buy them all. I knew it would have been a safe investment considering it was for a Colt that wasn't produced in many decades.

[Democrat Gun Owner]

Years ago, i don't remember when, I bought a new bullseye pistol. I'd been shooting a Ruger MK II for decades and wanted something better but never could justify $1,500 for a Pardini or Hammerli. I almost had my hands on a Hi Standard Victor but that's another story.

One day I see an ad for a Russian pistol, the IZH-35M for about $400. Hmmmmm . .. I looked into the gun and found that Russian shooters used the gun and had a good opinion of it and that Walther thought enough of it to buy them, polish them up and sell them with the Walther banner.

I scraped together $400 and ordered one. Extra mags, if I remember correctly, were $25 but the gun came with two and I figured that I could buy more after the fun fund recovered a bit.

Shortly after I got mine, it went off the market. Production stopped as did production of magazines. The few mags that could be found were going for $50 to $100 each.

I figured that I could live with my two mags. Until now.

The mags have disappeared. Going to the range one day, I thought that I'd like to dust of the IZH and shoot some bullseye so I got out my bullseye box and opened it to check that it had everything. Sure enough, everything was there except the mags.

I checked my other shooting bags, my mag stashes, under the workbench, under my bed, behind the couch . . . no mags.

Now I have this great pistol that I can't shoot :-(

The moral is always buy extra mags and put them away.

Hmmm...if you lost/misplaced two mags, what's to say you wouldn't have lost/misplaced more?

Maybe, the thread title should be "Always Keep Track of Your Magazines"

As I read the post and figured out where it was going, I expected the ending to be broken magazine springs or followers from an out of production magazine.

Lost magazines...I'm sure they are exactly where you left them. Give it time, they'll show up.

[American1776]

For all my autoloaders I make sure to have at least five magazines.