Why so many non-matching mags?

[Edward Tinker]

Originally Posted by pitsword

Appears to me to be a major breach of military procedure. Those mags were numbered to the pistol for a reason and knowing our Teutonic warriors, I doubt that they, UNLESS in a serious "fistacuffs", would show up for parade with a mismatched rig. ...

War time is much different than peacetime

This year I saw M4's and M9's (M16 carbines and the 9mm pistol) carried in 20 different ways and in many, many conditions (used, abused and pristine), I assume all were working fine, but GI's carried them everywhere in Iraq, chow, latrine, even the gym.

Back in the 'real-world' they would be carried on the hip and cleaned and if finish was missing, then they would be fixed (unless at a training fort)


Ed

[Norme]

To shift this discussion somewhat to my own area of interest, Imperial Navy Lugers, which have an even lower rate of matched mags than Army, particularly when one considers that each gun was issued with three, not two, numbered mags. My theory is as follows: Most of the world's Navies kept, and still keep, their small arms under lock and key (probably because of that nasty business with H.M.S Bounty). In the case of the Imperial Navy this would have meant that the guns were locked in a rack or case, while the rest of the rig, with two of the mags, would most likely have been hung on a hook or stuffed in a cubby. When a landing or boarding party was formed, an officer would have unlocked the guns and the men would have grabbed a gun and rig without regard to matching numbers. It wouldn't take long before guns, stocks and mags were well and truly mixed. Remember, it's just a theory. Regards, Norm