Trying to imagine the pouches and rucksack needed to store 31 loaded 20 rds mags, all strapped to a boy at 90% humidity sunshine and 28 °C in the shadows...


That being said, the prospect of carrying only 120 7.62 for our G3 rifles in a European war was not popular among the German soldiers I knew.
(2 mag pouches each 2x20, 1x20 in rifle, 1x20 as last reserve in small combat bag)
Most thought it wasn't enough for the scenarios of warfare that we imagined.

Then again, the Bundeswehr practically stuck to the dominant '34-'43 model of a squad being a machinegunner (80% firepower) with his escort and porters (20%) until few years ago. The average peacetime rifleman never really understood that his rifle was not his dominant raison d'ętre.

('44-'45 saw experiments with an emphasis on assault rifles or with two GPMG per squad).