Useful Weight Figures

[BarryinIN]

Just in case you have to go for a long walk sometime, here are some weights for various ammo and mags.

Figures are given empty, loaded, and in some cases, slightly downloaded (some guns won't let some full mags seat with the bolt closed).

Ammo used in the figures:

.223/5.56 ammo has 55 grain bullets,

.308/7.62x51 uses 147 grain,

7.62x39 has 123 grain,

45 ACP uses 230 grain,

9mm uses 125 grain

.22 uses 36 grain HP

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Ammo Only first:

5.56 ammo

10 rounds: 4 oz.

20 rds: 8 oz

30 rds: 12.125 oz

42 rds: 16.75 oz

.308 Ammo

5 rds: 4.25 oz

10 rds: 8.5 oz

20 rds: 16.875 oz

7.62x39 Ammo

10 rds: 5.75 oz

20 rds: 11.5 oz

30 rds: 1 lb, 1.25 oz

9mm Ammo

50-rd box: 1 lb, 2 oz

45 ACP Ammo

50-rd box: 2 lbs, 7 oz

.22 LR

50 rd paper box: 6.25 oz

100-rd plastic box: 13.25 oz

550-rd bulk carton: 4 lb, 1 oz

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Magazines, unloaded and loaded

AR-15:

Alum 20-rd mag.

Empty: 2.75 oz

Loaded with 20 rds: 10.75 oz

Loaded with 18 rds: 10 oz

Alum 30-rd mag.

Empty: 3.75 oz

Loaded with 30 rds: 15.875 oz

Loaded with 28 rds: 15.375 oz

P-Mag (30-rd)

Empty: 5 oz (yes, slightly more than alum)

Loaded with 30 rds: 1 lb, 1.25 oz

Loaded with 28 rds: 1 Lb, .5 oz

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FAL (Metric) M1A/M14 should be close.

20-rd steel

Empty: 8.125 oz

Loaded with 20 rds: 1 lb, 9.125 oz

Loaded with 19 rds: 1 lb, 8.375 oz

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AK-47

30-rd steel (Unknown origin, but has full steel rib down back)

Empty: 11.75 oz

Loaded with 30 rds: 2 lbs, 11.375 oz

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Garand

Clip loaded with 8-rds of .30-06: 8 oz

Clip loaded with 8-rds of .308: 7.75 oz

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10-22

10 round factory mag

Empty: 2 oz

Loaded with 10 rds: 3.25 oz

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SCAR 17S

Empty mag: 9.375 oz

Loaded with 20 rds: 1 lb, 10.5 oz

Loaded with 19 rds: 1 lb, 9.625 oz

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Steyr AUG

30-rd mag empty: 4.25 oz

30-rd loaded with 30 rds: 1 lb, .625 oz

30-rd loaded with 29 rds: 1 lb

42-rd mag, empty5.25 oz

42-rd mag, loaded with 42 rds: 1 lb, 6.5 oz

42-rd mag, loaded with 41 rds: 1 lb, 6 oz

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1911 8-rd Mag

Empty: 3 oz

Loaded with 8 rds: 8.125 oz

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Browning HiPower Mag

Empty: 2.675 oz

Loaded with 13 rds: 8.375 oz

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Glock 19 Mag

Empty: 2.375 oz

Loaded with 15 rds: 9 oz

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Ruger MKII Pistol

Empty 10-rd mag: 1.5 oz

Loaded with 10 rds: 2.75 oz

[BarryinIN]

I wanted to add that the 7.62x39 ammo was steel cased, in case it matters.

And...

Different load outs (with some rounding) for some guns I like goofing around with:

3 fully loaded 30-rd AR alum mags (90 rds): 3 lbs.

4 fully loaded 30-rd AR alum mags (120 rds): 3 lbs, 15 oz

6 fully loaded 30-rd AR alum mags (180 rds): 6 lbs

4 fully loaded SCAR mags (80 rds): 6 lbs, 10 oz.

5 fully loaded SCAR mags (100 rds): 8 lbs, 4 oz

3 fully loaded 42-rd AUG mags (126 rds): 4 lbs, 4 oz

4 fully loaded 42-rd AUG mags (168 rds): 5 lbs, 8oz

5 fully loaded 42-rd AUG mags (210 rds): 6 lbs, 10 oz

6 fully loaded 42-rd AUG mags: (252 rds): 8 lbs, 7 oz

6 .308 Garand clips (48 rds): 2 lbs, 14 oz

10 .308 Garand clips (80 rds): 4 lbs, 13 oz

15 .308 Garand clips (120 rds): 7 lbs, 4 oz

My chest rig is made for AR mags, although some others will fit. I can get eight 42-rd AUG mags in it, plus another in my belt speed reload pouch. Not that it's a good idea, because that's 12.5 lbs of mags!

Some more thoughts:

Notice how much a loaded rifle mag weighs compared to a pistol. Even a relatively light handgun like a Glock 19 will weigh what two loaded AR mags weigh. A pistol could be handy, but is it worth 60 rounds of rifle ammo? The circumstances might dictate an obvious choice there.

A pistol mag is roughly equal to half a rifle mag. That might be useful for decision making.

I've noticed before that three Garand clips loaded with .308 take up about the same space as one 30-rd AR mag. Line three loaded clips up next to an AR mag and they are close in size. Admittedly, that's a 20% reduction in the amount of ammo with the Garand, but I bet some would be surprised about it anyway. The compact Garand clips make carrying .308 ammo less bulky than it first appears.

I knew about that, but the weight is closer than I realized. One loaded P-mag is 16.5 oz, and three .308 Garand clips are 23.25 oz. Just 6.75 oz difference.

I'm not saying there aren't advantages to smaller and lighter 5.56. Rather, don't discount a Garand as needing too much big, bulky ammo to feed.

The WWII-era Garand cartridge belts (actually "repurposed" 1903 belts) carried ten clips (80 rds), which was five pounds of ammo, not including the belt.

The standard load for the M-14 varied, but a pair of the double mag pouches gave you four 20-rd mags- the same 80-rd loadout as the Garand. Those loaded mags would be 6.25 lbs.

M16 ammo pouches took a long time to settle out, after re-using M14 pouches for a while. A pair of the ones holding four 20-rd mags would give you 160 rounds, for just under 6.5 lbs of weight.

The later 30-rd M16 mags were usually carried six at a time (in two pouches), which is right at six pounds.

For all the talk of the 5.56 lightening the soldiers' load, it stayed about the same. They just did the natural thing and carried more ammo. Besides, a change of around a pound in ammo weight is hardly anything with all the other gear soldiers have always carried.