Range mags and carry mags
The Mini 14 was hands down the gun that was hit the hardest by the AWB in the 1990’s. Ruger is now making 20rd and 30rd magazines available to the public and those magazines were going for close to $100 at one point in the later 1990s’. There is nothing wrong with having magazines for firearms that are not the best, sometimes it’s better to rotate through cheap magazines and practice malfunction drills or just toss them when they were out. You don’t want to use your carry mags all the time because if you are shooting through hundreds of rounds of ammo using the same mags that you use for your daily carry, you may find out at the wrong time that the springs need to be replaced. I picked up a good supply of Mil-Spec 1911 7rd magazines that I rotate through my guns and save the Wilsons Combat Magazines for the serious shooting. When the mil-spec mags start jamming too much, I just toss them.
I’m not so sure there is as much of an issue in the gun industry as there once was concerning factory mags vs. aftermarket. Most gun manufacturers can legally get their products to the civillian market without major legal issues. Back in the 1990’s trying to get “Standard Capacity” magazines meant paying 4-5 times what they should have cost. I remember avoiding certain firearms just because I knew that the magazines would cost $50-$100 and that just didn’t seem like a good investment at the time. I noticed sales of the Beretta 92FS were very common back then because they were one of the few firearms that has resonable priced pistol magazines. Finding good deals on used Glock magazines was a whole other issue, but if you weren’t buying guns back then, you probable have a hard time understanding how complicated the situation was.
And the answer is no, we do not, so why do people expect us to be able to shoulder the same size rifles or grip the same size handguns comfortable? Even if you’re a guy, you’re not all built the same, and luckily the military has caught on to this. If I had a nickel for every WWII vet I know that made a comment on how big the Garand was and how many of them had trouble shooting one, I’d be rich. The M1 Garand is a very accurate and powerful rifle, but not everyone could hand them. If you field a rifle of the same caliber today, and allowed people to adjust the stock for their comfort, recoil issues go away.
Every time I get asked a question about which firearm or accessory someone needs I follow up with the question “For what?” I have seen plenty of well trained concealed carry owners walk around with a 5 shot j-frame and none of them feel under gunned. The reality is that in some nightmare situation, you’ll never be full prepared, and sometimes we just have to be practical when we are CCW every day. For most practical purposes, I’d recommend keeping a spare magazine in your gun safe in your home, or keep one in your car if you don’t think you can comfortable carry a backup. When most of us are out and about, the ammunition you have on you is all you’re going to be able to fight with, but keeping something near your car and easily accessible in your home is a good idea.
We’ve all seen skyrocketing ammo prices and a run on various styles of weapons. There was a run on guns and ammo as the economy started to tank and also a shift in the Political climate. Back in 2006 there was a hint that the now Democratic controlled Congress might get cocky and try putting another 1994 assault weapons ban in place and gun owners became concerned, then there was the Obama administration win in 2008. For those old enough to remember the political climate in the 1990s, we’ve seen this shift before.
You might want to think about collapseable stocks or folding stocks. Guns can take up a lot of space depending on the optics and accessories you put on them. I’ve seen plenty of my friends go from 12 or 18 rifle safes to full size gun safes just because of the optics they had on rifles. One thing they never advertise when you are shopping for a gun safe is what kind of rifles it will hold. Cramming your guns in will only cause damage and make getting guns in and out a headache. Instead of worrying about having to find a new gun safe, you might want to think about spending a few hundred bucks on changing the stocks of your military style weapons to something that can fold or collapse.
Back in the 1990s there was a lot of Eastern Com-Block guns coming into the Country. There were also a lot of MAK90s and SKS Rifles coming in from China. Not sure why there were so many Chinese guns coming in, but there must have been some house cleaning from the Militarys over there. You may be able to find a well made 7.62×39 rifle being made in the USA now, but they are pretty expensive and will cost you about the same as a new AR15 or more. Some of the nicest AKs are being by Arsenal Arms and they look and shoot great.
There are several well known secondary rifle and pistol magazines, but Factory magazines are usually the best to obtain. Factory magazines are made by the companies that manufactur the firearms and that’s usually where you’ll get the best magazines. There are exceptions to the rule with rifles. Magpul isn’t making firearms, but they do one heck of a job of making a reliable and durable rifle magazine. Sturm Ruger is the largest firearm manfacturer in the United States. They make more guns and sell more guns than anybody else.
Promag magazines have gone through the decades being one of the top end of the replacement or after marketa magazines and they are still holding up. Pistol reliability has drastically increased over the last 15yrs and so has the machining and manufacturer of rifle and pistol magazines. Whether you have a Keltec P32 or a Mini 14, you can find Promag magazines at a reasonable price and use them for primary or secondary uses. During the assautl weapons ban of 1994 until the sunset of the ban,