Shoobee said:
It just does not seem to serve any civil purpose to have a rifle magazine pouch with 3 pouches on it stuck to your chest. Only an infantry soldier going into combat would ever need something like that, realistically speaking.
What is this "civil purpose" flak? I pointed out several 'valid' uses before, to say nothing of the completely 'invalid' reasons like simply having three mags handy next to the rifle when you grab it to head out the door ... like, oh, to the range maybe, or even if you think you need to go somewhere (or STAY somewhere) where it is important to have a carbine with you.
As magazines are the primary failure point of all auto-loading firearms, having a spare or two with you is just smart. Most of the folks I know carry a couple spare magazines for their carry pistol. Not because they think they'll need 50 or 60 rounds, but because mags fail and a quick reload is much more likely to keep you in the fight. Why would a rifle be ANY different?
And why are you so hung up on what the "civil" purpose of a magazine pouch is? Why are you trying so hard to define away any "need" for this? If you don't want one, don't BUY one.
Also think about this. You are wearing 3 loaded mags on your chest. Bullet goes into one of the mags, sets of a primer, discharge starts a cook off in the mag, and now you have a nice hot flare cooking your chest.
Oh...kay. So this bullet is going to pass through the cartridge and mag, and you're worried about getting
burned? Kind of like being concerned that if you get hit by a dump truck you might break your glasses...
If a round does get set off outside a gun chamber, it pops like a firecracker. Bang -- done. The bullet doesn't go anywhere and the cartridge case bursts, but generally doesn't do much harm. It doesn't sit there and burn. And one round that pops doesn't set off the whole mag full of cartridges, either. "Cook off" requires a lot of heat over a fairly lengthy period of time. Like a round left sitting in a VERY hot machine gun barrel, or rounds thrown into a fire. Not at all the same thing as one nearby round popping off -- on the very unlikely event that that even did happen.
I believe in shotgun bandoleers and pistol mag pouches though.
Errrr....because while a rifle cartridge will "cook off" and burn you, pistol and shotgun shells CAN'T? While the premise isn't a good one anyway, this isn't even internally consistent.
No4Mk1* said:
A bullet hitting my chest directly or having to go thru 1 or 2 loaded mags on the way to my heart is an easy choice. I actually think that is the most useful feature of wearing lots of mags around your chest. Might really slow down a pistol bullet.
There have indeed been instances of bullets (probably mostly spent already, and/or ricochets) being deflected or stopped by mags in LBE vests. I doubt I'd plan on that, but lucky is better than good, right?