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There are two categories of gun owners. Those who have had a magazine-related failure with their gun, and those who haven’t shot enough yet. Given a sufficient timeline and enough rounds, your magazine will fail you. And your pal Murphy will inevitably assure you that a failure will occur at the worst possible time. As such, carrying an extra mag for your EDC pistol is a very wise choice. As is practicing reloads under stress. The problem is that an extra magazine is sort of a pain in the rear end to carry. But very few companies offer a magazine carrier that is anything other than a sad afterthought. Except for the guy(s) at 2A Holster . . .

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When I reviewed 2A’s Pancake Holster, many of you called it fat, ugly, and various other terms I can’t print here. Too bad, because its a damn fine — if a bit odd looking — holster. Similar, albeit somewhat nicer, adjectives were thrown around when it came to their Stick Up! holster. Though I wasn’t able to find a great deal of use for it, I appreciated the holster for what it was. But arguably the finest widget that 2A makes is their magazine carrier.

A magazine carrier, you say? How far has TTAG sunk that we’re going to pen a few hundred words about a $30 piece of Kydex? I know, I know. But if you’re serious about planning for failure, you need to carry an extra mag. And if you are going to carry one, it has to be carried in the same place, firmly retained, when you go to reach for it. It also needs to remain unobtrusive and generally forgotten. Like a bottle of 18-year-old Macallan.

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On paper, 2A’s mag carrier looks a little big, and obtrusive, but in practice, it’s quite slim (though not slimming). The external retention screw would seem to provide an opportunity for snagging fabric, but I was unable to make that actually happen in my testing. Those truly worried about it can opt for a much slimmer panhead screw during the ordering process.

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Donning the 2A carrier is a breeze as it simply clips over your belt and stays in place with an aggressive little lip. To remove, simply pry the clip flange out, and lift up. Thanks to this design, you can move the carrier around on your belt so you can change mag position from say 10 o’clock to 8 o’clock to fit your needs.

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The best damn part, and the reason I rave so hard about it, is that hard to discern dimple that engages the same spot on the magazine as the latch in the gun. Every other magazine carrier I’ve ever tried has used friction alone to hold mags. I’ve never had a problem with that system per se, but it does require a bit of tuning to get just right. Too tight, and your mags won’t come out. Too loose and they’ll fall out the first time you go running while gunning. Somewhere, there’s a video of me at the SIG Academy dumping two loaded mags on the deck in the first three steps of my run to a second stage of a shooting course. An improperly tuned magazine carrier was too blame.

The 2A carrier’s little dimple engages the mag tightly, giving you that audible Kydexian pop to let you know that everything is where it’s supposed to be. I’m surprised that I don’t see it on more magazine carriers.

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Overall Rating * * * * *
Magazine carriers are admittedly boring, but finding one that works well is immensely satisfying. The 2A mag carrier does a great job of keeping a spare mag at the ready without getting in the way. And thanks to its nifty retention system, you know your spare magazine is securely retained. You can pick one up online at their website. Cost is $30 and they’re available for most popular pistols. Custom orders can be accommodated as well.

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34 COMMENTS

  1. I wish I could find a horizontal mag holster for the Glock 30 brick-mags. i think a horizontal orientation would make carrying around this ballistic masonry more unassuming, comfortable and easy to draw. Can’t find one that fits though.

  2. Extra mags are not a pain to carry. If you’re already going to the trouble of carrying a firearm, it doesn’t take much more hassle to carry a spare mag or three as well.

    • I pocket carry my handgun. That uses up one entire pocket, so I can’t stick mags in that – and I have enough other stuff that there aren’t really any more pockets available for mags.

      Not that I care, because I carry a revolver anyway. The chances of getting into a situation where you need more than a few rounds is so remote that I’d be more worried about being struck by a lightning.

      • When I pocket carry my PM9 it’s no big deal to carry the 7-round reload in a Concealco mag carrier. It’s flat and unobtrusive.

  5. For what it’s worth, I have PJ Holster mag carriers for both of my carry guns. I’ve tried wearing a Raven Concealment mag holster, and it was just too darn fat. It felt like I had a plate strapped to my hip. Sitting down or bending was a literal pain.

    Granted, PJ Holsters use friction to keep mags in – although my PPS mag holder also has a strip of the “hook” side of velcro inside to aid in retention. I’ve never had a magazine pop out on me, though. And the biggest benefit to me is that the holders are only fractionally bigger than the magazines they hold – no clips, like on the 2A or Raven that stick way out past the magazine.

  6. Snag mag most days and a iwb hybrid dual mag carrier from firearmholster.com if I’m wearing my upsized pants.

    The dual carrier is really comfortable as long as those pants are the right size.

    The snag mag is great because I never go without a spare mag because it’s so easy.

  7. ‘There are two categories of gun owners. Those who have had a magazine-related failure with their gun, and those who haven’t shot enough yet.’

    Shouldn’t that say ‘those who have had a magazine-related failure with their gun, and those who shoot revolvers.’?

    • I’ve actually seen people grip the gun wrong and dump their mag on the ground. On a square range. With no pressure and no life and death in the balance.

      My mak has the old school european style mag release. You have to push the latch and pull the mag at the same time. It’s just about a murphy proof system. And murphy is a bigger danger than that tweaker wanting your wallet.

      • To be honest, the only auto I’ve got these days is a Beretta 92 and if there’s an auto that’s as reliable as a revolver, it’s it.

    • Aw, ya beat me to the reply!

      I was going to say that, after thousands of rounds, my Ruger Single Six has never had a Magazine Failure…

      Guess I need to go shoot some more…

      Darn…

      • Yes, I think I need more testing with my GP100 and my Blackhawk. Oh, who are we kidding? If I wanted a failure with a revolver I’d be shooting Smith & Wessons.

  8. Check out the mag holders by KYTEX Shooting Gear. You can’t get more low profile, it’s a single piece of kydex folded in a very clever way. They’re my go to when I get a new gun and need backup mags. Also a Texas company.

    http://www.kytexgear.com

  9. SHTF Gear has a nice horizontal mag holder. I have both Gen 1 and 2, and they are very secure and low profile. They look like a knife case and are made of leather.

  10. Come on, extra mags for fear of equipment failure is silly. Mags can and do get damaged / gritty from being abused in practice at times. Your EDC should be loaded with a pristine mag, cleaned, inspected and tested. If you are not 100% confident that it will run as a system, its NOT the right EDC, much less the right mag.

    On top of that, a pistol has many more moving parts under higher stress which would logically make it more likely to fail than a mag with 2 moving parts.

    Now carrying a spare mag for capacity reasons is perfectly sound.

  11. Well Tyler, You admitted you’re not into reading directions, Haha! But in this case there is a video on the website http://2aholster.com/?product=mag-carrier Just click on the 30 second demo and voila.
    You put the mag carrier on and take it off with one simple twist.

    Great review Tyler. It’s one of my popular products!

    tom

  12. been chunking around a brace of glock 19 mags in my front left jeans pocket for a while. its ok comfort-wise, but i cant get at them fast enough. this review, and the suggestions in the comments are just what ive needed. thanks, fellas.

  13. Tyler, is there any possibility of a round becoming dislodged or shifting due to the open bottom of the mag carrier? Kahr mags are very susceptible to the top round getting out of whack or popping out, so they need a well-fitting carrier to keep everything in line.

      • Had to laugh here. If someone sees you OC a magazine, it would seem only logical they’d assume you also had a gun. People don’t run screaming and faint when they see the magazine? Why not, if OC is so bad? I’ll never understand Texas and this argument over OC, even just printing.

        I love my 2A bedside “stickup” holster and encourage everyone to give Tom’s products a try. 🙂

        • Well, I already knew “printing” was legal, the operative term is “concealed”. I think large numbers of people see my SneakyPete holster as “not concealed”, but the firearm IS concealed, whether everybody knows it’s there or not. There is no way to tell whether the holster is empty without opening it. My question was concerning clearly NOT concealed parts of a firearm (magazines), and the answer was pretty much as I expected, I just didn’t know, never heard it addressed.

          What people “assume” does not change the law.

          • Maybe I’m mistaken, but I thought that, in Texas, it is “illegal” to print, show any part of the gun or holster, and accidentally exposing anything is treated as a serious crime… all of which seems stupid to begin with, but especially if there is no restriction on OC of a magazine for said gun. That just doesn’t track, no matter what your carry or holster/magazine choices are.

              • Thanks! Interesting and a hopeful sigh… but now I’m wondering just why I was thinking that is the case. I know I’ve read it more than once about somewhere. Florida? Oklahoma? I just can’t remember. 🙂

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