Is there a reason a gun magazine catridge holds 20 rounds of ammunition

[npk]

Seems like mass shootings increased about the same time as high capacity magazine cartridges.

[aikoaiko]

1. Pistol and rifle mags over 10 rounds have been around for a long time

[Man from Pickens]

2. So you can fire 20 shots

it's not a new invention

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. "I really feel like I had too much ammunition," said no one ever.

[npk]

4. So for your personal protection you feel that rapid gun fire is needed

So would you agree that even high capacity magazines for assault riffles should keep getting larger.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. "So would you agree that even high capacity magazines for assault riffles should keep getting larger

There are practical, mechanical limits to magazine capacity. The tactic-cool models with 50+ rounds one often sees in movies are prone to failures which is why the military doesn't employ them.

[Drahthaardogs]

16. they are heavy too

Not practical to shoot.

[Lizzie Poppet]

12. There are practical limits, and those have already been reached.

Larger magazines than the ones commonly available tend to have some pretty significant problems. Many don't function properly, like the somewhat notorious 100-round drum magazines for some semi-automatic rifles (they tend to jam a lot). In the case of rifles, magazines larger than 30 rounds (for AR and AK style rifles) and 20 rounds (for rifles that shoot full-power rounds like .308) tend to be really heavy when fully loaded, making the rifle harder to handle and somewhat unbalanced.

[demmiblue]

5. To kill innocents more efficiently. n/t

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. "To kill innocents more efficiently."

Behold! The enforcers of gun control!

[Maedhros]

6. Hunting rifles typically have magazines with smaller capacities, and in most states

there are laws limiting the number of rounds allowed while hunting.

A 20-round capacity magazine is intended for combat firearms.

[GeorgeGist]

9. IQ

[sarisataka]

10. Magazines holding 20+ rounds

Have been available for nearly 100 years.
Tommy guns were available in the 20s holding 30-100 rpunds, the M1 carbine came out in the 40s holding 15-30 rounds and in pistols the Browning Hi Power has been around since 1935 with 13 round magazines

There is no correlation

[dumbcat]

11. "...high capacity magazine cartridges."

I'm sorry, but I have to ask, WTF are "high capacity magazine cartridges."?

[npk]

13. Accrdording to gun advocates any magazine that holds 10 or more rounds

[Nuclear Unicorn]

15. I think the poster is referring to your mixing of "magazine" and "cartridge"

A cartridge is the complete assembly of the bullet, powder, primer and casing. A magazine holds cartridges but the two are not a combined mechanism that creates a "magazine cartridge."

Personally, I wouldn't nit-pick over that mixed-up term so much as your designation of "high capacity." Thirty rounds is the standard issue; ergo, anything 30 rounds or less would not be "high capacity."

[npk]

18. But some clearly do define any magazine that holds 10 or more bullets as being high capacity

I am not saying it's universal but it is at least an accepted definition for some.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. Some with an agenda. The term "high capacity" suggests "greater than normal."

Yet, 30 rounds is normal. To paraphrase Foamy the Squirrel, "When was the last time you went to Taco Hell and ordered a High capacity taco only to get a medium-sized taco?" *



* - YouTube search Foamy the squirrel Starschmucks for the reference.

[Recursion]

14. 20 round magazines date back to WW1 or so

The only technological change in the past 70 years is rifles being made of plastic rather than wood.

[hifiguy]

17. You never know when you might run in to these critters

AFAIK their only real purpose is to make it easier to kill more people without reloading.

[Skittles]

20. so cowards can fire 20 shots