If you are dabbling in handguns like so many of us, you realize that if you want capacity – more rounds at your disposal – there are two essential pathways you can take: get a big handgun or increase the capacity of the magazines for your little handgun. It might be unsurprising, but most people are opting for the latter. Instead of competing with or carrying a massive chunk of a handgun, people are going with smaller options that fit their hands, are shaped more aesthetically, and have easy-to-manipulate controls. Compacts, micro-compacts, and mid-size firearms typically aren’t sporting 20+ round magazines though (because everybody loves a good extendo). So, to circumvent that people add magazine extensions to their handguns.

One of the obvious benefits of adding a magazine extension to your factory magazines is increasing the capacity. This could be so you have more hollow points on board for self-defense, more bullets to compete with, or you simply love the look and love doing mag dumps. Whatever your motivations, increasing the capacity of a small-ish handgun is a great way of giving it more value or utility.

Another reason that people might chase a magazine extension is not only for the extra rounds but also the extra real estate for a more assured grip. If you have your pinky or any fingers falling off the bottom of your pistol, you have a compromised grip. That is where a magazine extension can give you more length to grasp to better command your firearm. This can help give you better control of the recoil on otherwise difficult-to-shoot, small-carry guns.

Another reason I always mention because people like to skirt the issue is the aesthetic improvement; how it looks. It’s a perfectly valid reason to get a magazine extension because a splash of color or the overall appearance looks cool to you. If your mags and firearm still run reliably – and they would with Tyrant mag extensions – it’s completely OK to get mag extensions because they make you happy. Life is short. Buy the cool upgrade because it gives you dopamine.

Tyrant CNC Magazine Extension

If you happen to shoot a lot at indoor ranges, it could be helpful to get mag extensions for the simple reason that it saves you time. If you are paying for your range time by the minute, you probably have heard to show up at the range with your mags pre-loaded, so you are “spending your time shooting and not loading mags.” In a similar vein, if you have mag extensions, you are getting more lead down range with the same number of mags that you own. It’s an economy of time issue. Make your training – and your time – as valuable as possible.

So, if you have been on the fence about gobbling up some mag extensions for your handguns, get off the fence already! Tyrant makes some dope and reliable mag extensions that will give you all the benefits we discussed. In the end, make sure to get out there training, honing your craft, getting reps with your firearms, and likely Tyrant can help you along the way with some rad accessories. Until next time, continually check out our blog, join our newsletter, and watch the website for new and exciting updates! As always, let us know all your thoughts in the Comments below. We love it when you participate in our articles and keep the conversation going!