I always carry a second mag, so the number of rounds carried depends on the firearm. With a 1911 I have 17, m&p m2.0 makes 35, Glock 19 is 31, xdm is 45. Will I need up to 45 rounds? Probably not, but does one ever really know? As far as legally defending myself, if I get 2 rounds into the first mag and something happens that I have to drop it or in the rush and all that accidentally eject it, I have a backup on the belt instead of only the original that I might have to hunt for on the ground.
I carry a significant amount of ammo, 3 Magazines. But mine is not just for SD. I carry my SD handgun, + an AR-15 pistol in a fastened to my car, safe. That also has 3 magazines, I also carry a 3 day supply of food and water, plus survival gear and a fully blown out IFAK.
I am not just worried about SD, I also worry about not being able to make it home whether it be a natural disaster, or some other event. Last year alone there were people stranded for over 48 hours on I-95.
So I am prepared for more than just a SD incident.
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That’s great to be prepared.
For the stranded on the interstate thing, the #1 most important, and simple, thing people need to do, don’t wait till you are almost out of gas to fill your tank
Fill up no lower than 1/4. Aim to fill up at 1/2 and if you didn’t budget time well or something comes up, you’ve got some buffer to still make it by 1/4. Never lower.
Keeping a liter of two bottles of water and seasonal appropriate clothing/coat/blanket also smart (and jumper cables)
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My tank is always full. It’s habit for me to stop and fill up at the Gas Station, that I have to pass before I get home. I try to get my wife to do the same but she isn’t as diligent.
Being prepared is a life style choice for me, just as being a CC is for me. I’ve seen to much bad in my life to not stay prepared.
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I believe you’ve hit the key point here. The primary thing is the skill you have with whatever you carry. I believe it was Jeff Cooper who said “if you can’t stop a goblin or two with 7 rounds (.45 acp was his choice) you don’t need more ammo, you need to learn how to shoot”. It doesn’t matter if you have 50 rounds if you can’t hit, quickly and effectively. In the real world You are ultimately responsible for every single round you fire-you’d better be able to place them where you want them. I too carry a spare mag, one up the spout on top of a loaded mag, plus the loaded spare.
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Would Cooper consider the heart, lung, liver and other lung to be good shooting?
“At the core of his desperate firefight was a murderous attacker who simply would not go down, even though he was shot 14 times with .45-cal. ammunition – six of those hits in supposedly fatal locations.”
“In this free-for-all, the assailant had, in fact, been struck 14 times. Any one of six of these wounds – in the heart, right lung, left lung, liver, diaphragm, and right kidney – could have produced fatal consequences, “in time ,” Gramins emphasizes.”
“Now unfailingly he goes to work carrying 145 handgun rounds, all 9 mm.”
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I think the good Col. would have said time for a headshot after two or three hits did not drop the subject. 
. The officer was lucky, both to survive and not to have hit anyone in one of the homes that were shot up. It seems today folks tend to rely on a lot of rounds vs accuracy. I frankly can’t imagine a human taking multiple hits like the thug did in this case and continuing to move-even if the good guy was using ball ammo the villain soaked up around 5k ft lbs of energy. That is elephant stopping levels of power…. They say “no drugs” so who knows.
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I carry a lot more ammo than most and it has nothing to do with not being able to hit my target. It has more to do with how many “goblins” there may be. On the crimes I’m concerned about they don’t line up one at a time. They tend to come in groups. But I also carry that ammo in case SHTF while I am away from home. I intend to get home.
I have people and family I need to be there for. Period, dot.
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If only called headshots against violent armed attackers were so easy in real life
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Wait…What? According to someone 1 round of 9mm will blow the guts out of anyone. Why would you need more than the round you have chambered?
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Many years ago, I read a similar account where the perp was loaded on PCP. He was shot multiple times…all of which would have been fatal (given time)…but he just kept coming and firing. With one remaining round in his service weapon the cop knee capped him when he was 10’ away and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.
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2 spare mags and a resupply in vehicle
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IN applying debilitating injury there are two actions, timers and switches. Timers usually target blood bags, e.g. liver, spleen, kidneys, major vessels. Switches stop function, e.g. brain, spinal cord, major joints including pelvic girdle…all potentially fatal or at least lead to non function. Reference the observation above, timers take time, switches are immediate. Reference Tim Larkin at Target Focus Training and Chris Ranck-Buhr at Injury Dynamics.
Given 114, I’m going to change my carry to a wheel gun for 6 shots plus see about a strip for 6-12 more 44 magnum and get some 10rd mags for my G40 and 2 spare 10rd mags.
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I like your planning of upping the horsepower to balance out the new capacity restrictions from 114!
What are your thoughts on a seven or eight round 357?
So, would Cooper consider heart, lung, liver, and other lung to be good shooting?
Sold one (8 shot 357 long barrel) to a customer the same day i bought my 44 mag.
If it wasn’t for me trying to keep the same caliber for revolver, being 44 mag (new to me caliber), i likly would have taken it home…
Lately I’ve bought calibers that ive never owned or shot before. The only one that worried me a little before shooting it was the 44 mag, so i loaded a single shot to try it the first couple times… I like the 44, and i think i may be going down the 44 mag path for a bit, lol…
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My snubby I carried 3 spd loaders
I follow Col. Cooper also 
I think the Colonel would consider lung and liver to be effective shooting. The heart would be efficient shooting. Effective is doing the right thing. Efficient is doing that thing the right way. Anything that allows the Colonel to walk away unscathed would be good shooting.
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