How many mags do i need for a handgun?
Back when the 1994 assault weapons ban was into effect there were more headaches in the gun world due to the fact that factory handgun magazines were so expensive. People cut corners with other brands and had issues. When it comes to owning a handgun, especially an auto, I highly recommend having atleast 3 magazines. Not only can guns malfunction, but magazines do wear out and break at some points and its always good to have some extra comfort if one goes down. Most of the time it’s the floor plates that come loose and a loaded mag will just dump rounds on the ground. I’ve seen it happen with rifles and handguns. If you ever run a Carbine course, you’re defanitely going to want to have atleast 3 mags for your pistol, too.
It’s very rare these days that I work as a firearms instructor but I still work with a lot of people that are just getting into carrying firearms for the first time. I must admit that I made a lot of the novice mistakes in buying holsters and accessories when i first started carrying, and sometimes its nice to give first hand accounts of what NOT to do. I’ve seen a lot of people pick up a good quality handgun and then completely ruin the firearms reputation by using 3rd rate pistol magazines that jammed the gun up. The 2nd most common thing I see are people shooting with cheap ammo. I don’t get the whole Wolf handgun ammo thing. I own and shoot many Com-block rifles and the Wolf ammo works flawlessly, but I have never had good experiences with their handgun ammo.
Which gun is best for CCW? Which caliber is better than X? 9mm Vs. 45acp, which has more stopping power? I’ve been shooting guns for decades and carrying for close to 30yrs. I remember the early days when I was carrying a full size 1911 because I expected the worst and wanted the biggest possible gun I owned to be on me 24/7. As the years went by I got more involved in reloading bullets for handguns and then I started to notice the differences from caliber to caliber. I was amazed at the number of guns that are being used nowadays that all shoot the same bullet, but at different velocities.
1 was a Colt 1991A1 and It came with 2 Colt 7rd magazines. I shot about about 500rds through it and I had an occasional malfunction. The problem I kept having was the slide would close on an empty chamber. I did some reading and found that it was most likely the magazine slide stop tab was bending and wasn’t full engaging the slide stop. A pair of needle nose plyers fixed that for a few hundred rounds more then the problem came back. I found out about 
Promag and Mec-Gar make decent magazines, I wouldn’t suggest them as primary magazines, but factory new magazines can be pricey. I would suggest regardless of which number of magazines you are normally carrying, keep 3 or 4 range mags for each handgun you own.
We’ve all heard about how the 1911 isn’t as reliable as a Glock, but firearm reliability has increased for just about every semi-auto that is in production these days. Guns that were made 50-80yrs ago are manufactured better, magazines have become more reliable and ammunition is far more reliable now than it was even 30yrs ago. When using a semi-auto, we have to think about the purpose for it and what we think we need in a certain situation. I love the people that think they are going to fight off 50 bad guys with there Glock, but the reality is that if you think you are going into that bad of a situation, bring a rifle.