[Have you ever bought a firearm, "just because"? No practical value?]

Yep! I have a handful of “Bulldog” - pattern pocket pistols I bought for no other reason than I thought they were cool. Most aren’t even functional. My Nagant revolver fits that description as well- cheap (at the time) and interesting. 

[Part of my “Grail Gun” quest is complete. Do you have guns you have always wanted?]

I’ve got several “bucket list” guns that I’d like to own at some point or another:

 

Browning High Power

Freedom Arms Model 83 in one of the 50 calibers

8 Gauge hammered double (realistically it’ll probably be a 10 gauge, since shootable 8 gauges are so hard to find)

MP5K (unlikely given the cost of a transferable one…)

M1 Garand

Ruger Redhawk 7.5 inch

Remington 1863 pocket

And of course, any time I see a USFA single action for sale, the wheels start turning

 

[would you carry loose rounds?]

On 3/25/2025 at 5:42 PM, Alpo said:

Am I the only one that does not imagine myself getting in a gunfight every time I walk out the door?

 

I have been carrying a gun for 40 years. I have never pulled it on anyone. I have never had to shoot a criminal. I don't expect to get in a gunfight with a Mexican cartel or mutant zombie bikers.

 

But that appears to be the thoughts of everyone that's responded to this thread.

 

The only reason they carry a gun is to defend themselves against people that are attacking them.

 

If I'm walking around in the woods, I've got a gun. If I shoot a rattlesnake, my gun is now one round shy of being loaded. Taking out a loose round and topping it off just makes all kinds of sense to me.

 

And it doesn't matter whether it is a revolver or an automatic. I like to carry a loaded gun. If I fired one round - whether it a tin can or rattlesnake or a mugger - I want to reload the gun.

 

Yes, trying to reload a magazine with loose rounds in the middle of a firefight with a bunch of gang bangers would probably be a bad idea. But that was not the point of the question.

 

But it sure seems like everybody thought it was.

I carry a gun for self defense, and have no illusions of being able to fight mutant zombie cartel bikers with my J Frame or my G43 or G19. Reading the thread, it doesn’t appear that anyone else does either. 
 

I also don’t carry loose rounds in my pocket for my semi-autos. If I have the G43/G19 on me, it’s one mag in the gun, and one or two spare mags. (When I carry the J Frame, it’s a speed strip or speed loader in my pocket.) I can’t picture a scenario where a few spare rounds in a pocket would be preferable to another loaded mag. But then again, I’m also not shooting locks off of gates, so maybe I’m missing something here. 
 

IF I were to carry loose rounds, I’d want them in some sort of container (maybe one of those clear flip top ones that I see some gum packaged in), but that just leads me back to potentially throwing another mag in my pocket or on my belt.