Reloading Revolvers with the Weak Hand.

[BN]

Actually, it will be getting him to take his strong hand off the gun to handle his speedloaders. He's got a solid background, and worships at the altar of Thy Shalt Never Take Thy Strong Hand From The Gun…

I saw this in another thread and didn't want to drift. :)

Here is Michael de Bethencourt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjRTdXvjBmE

Here is an aging IDPA Gamer :) with a left handed reload: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgvCGcD-FAg

[LSP972]

Here is an aging IDPA Gamer :) with a left handed reload: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgvCGcD-FAg

That's about as good as it gets. Interesting that he keeps his spare ammo on the strong side; but it certainly didn't slow him down.

Thanks, Bill... good food for thought.

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[BN]

Since I'm the aging IDPA Gamer, I can answer your questions. :)

I made that video about 5 years ago to see what I was doing when I reloaded. The speed loaders are in front of my strong side because IDPA says they either have to be right in front of my holster or behind my hip if on the weak side. Also, when I bring my revolver down to reload after ejecting, it is right there where my speed loaders are. My gun and speed loaders are close together.

In the video, I was shooting at 3 IDPA targets at 10 yards. A smooth reload is about 2.5 seconds from shot to shot. I use cut down Comp lll loaders like the one in my avatar.

[LSP972]

Do you think you would be a bit more efficient if you could carry them just to the left of your belt buckle?

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[BN]

Do you think you would be a bit more efficient if you could carry them just to the left of your belt buckle?

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I doubt it. I am reloading with my revolver at #2 of a 4 count draw, so it is familiar.

[taadski]

A smooth reload is about 2.5 seconds from shot to shot.

I beg to differ!












:p

[BN]

I beg to differ!







:p
Maybe I should have said a smooth reload for me is 2.5. :) Others are much faster. ;)

[taadski]

Maybe I should have said a smooth reload for me is 2.5. :) Others are much faster. ;)

And yet others (me, for example,) are MUCH slower. ;)

While I appreciate the idea of never losing a firing grip, I haven't ever gotten comfy with the weak hand wheelie reload. It's the 'holding the cylinder open during ejection' part that feels the most odd. Feels like I want my index finger to be about 2 inches longer.




t

[SLG]

If everyone could reload a revolver like that, the auto might have had to wait longer for its day in the sun. Good stuff. Plenty of guys can't reload an auto that fast.


Does anyone do a weak hand reload with a speed strip? I have stuck with my strong hand reload because i often use a strip instead of a speed loader and find it much more secure. Id love to learn otherwise.

[Dagga Boy]

Being a dinosaur and a generally very N frame big bore shooter, the weak hand reload was never much of an option for me. Often limited to Comp 1 loaders or HKS, the HKS usually won out for duty use, and that was always my priority. I was shooting heavily competitively to augment my work skills (often shooting the Friday night matches in uniform and with my black and white in the lot at the range), so I kept my reloads "patrol oriented". I love watching the fast guys with the better loaders and those with moon clips as it looks magical. Honestly, if 8 round guns with moon clips had been out and optimized sooner....revolvers would still be viable cop guns. For me, I find the strong hand reload better under all conditions, while it is obvious that you can clean a lot of speed with a support hand load in a more controlled environment.

[Lyonsgrid]

I started shooting revolvers way after learning on semi-autos. The non-transfer, support hand load always seemed more intuitive for me. I guess all the years of reloading the semi-auto with my support hand was already burned into my mind.

I find the newer style angled cylinder release to work much better with this method. At least on my snubby S&W 64’s I like to carry. Pretty easy to push off the release with the thumb and press out the cylinder and hold it steady with my index finger in one motion. This may or may not work on larger frames and is really dependent on hand/finger size.

I suspect most guys who learned the strong side, transfer loading technique originally will mostly default to that.

[scott]

I switch hands to reload in general, but sometimes I carry an extra speedstrip on the weak side, and for that I use my weak hand. I tend to be able to get the first 2 rounds loaded just as fast as with my strong hand, but then I start to slow down because of worse dexterity (and not enough practice), so I load 2, then go back to shooting while keeping the partial strip in my hand.

[rsa-otc]

I started with the old FBI reload back in the day and have worked through them all. Using my support hand to handle the loader never really caught on with me since you can never get a clean angle on the cylinder and must always work at an angle to the charge holes. Whereas the strong hand always gets a straight shot at the charge holes.

At this point I tend to favor the Ayoob Stressfire style reload unless I instinctively fall back to the modified FBI reload under stress (happens from time to time since I ran that style reload for decades.)

[shootist26]

If everyone could reload a revolver like that, the auto might have had to wait longer for its day in the sun. Good stuff. Plenty of guys can't reload an auto that fast.


Does anyone do a weak hand reload with a speed strip? I have stuck with my strong hand reload because i often use a strip instead of a speed loader and find it much more secure. Id love to learn otherwise.
I Learned it from debethencourt last year. I can't do it well enough for me to be confident with it.

I reverted to holding it in my left hand, smashing the ejector rod with my right, and reloading with the strip with my right hand.



Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Dagga Boy]

I also found the Ayoob reload to be the best for me as well for a variety of reasons. Seems to be the most positive o
Under all conditions and also gives me a cup under the cylinder for single loose round loading.

[BN]

I would almost say that my weak hand re-load is a competition trick. I'm not sure I would use that reload if I carried a revolver. I've shot revolver off and on in USPSA and IDPA since 1980 or so. I started using the weak hand reload around 2002 or 2003. I don't remember ever blowing a reload using the weak hand. I have trapped a spent brass under the ejector if I don't raise the muzzle enough when ejecting.

I don't hold the cylinder when I reload. I let it be able to spin free. I did a lot of reloads to see where the cylinder would spin to when opened and ejected. I spin my speed loaders in the pouch so they line up with the charge holes. Notice in the video, my first reload on the clock. There is a slight stutter. That is the cylinder spinning slightly to line up with the bullets. I use round nose bullets. I don't know how this would work with hollow points or semi wadcutters.

The only revolver I carry these days is a pocketed J-Frame with usually one speed strip. I use a speed strip with my strong hand. I think de Bethencourt teaches the weak hand for speed strips.

Jerry Miculek uses a strong hand reload.

I have a hard time re-acquiring my grip if I change hands. Using my weak hand lets me keep my grip during the reload.

I do know that I would use a spring loaded loader of some sort if I was carrying a service revolver. It gives the little extra push to seat a round in a dirty chamber.

[jetfire]

Does anyone do a weak hand reload with a speed strip? I have stuck with my strong hand reload because i often use a strip instead of a speed loader and find it much more secure. Id love to learn otherwise.

I do with j-frames/SP101 sized guns. It looks pretty much exactly like my regular weak hand revolver reload, the biggest difference is I stick my index finger through the frame window to stabilize the cylinder while I load.

I don't have a whole lot of 3rd person videos of reloads; this is a 2.5 par time from concealment.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0FsPOp9BUg

If I'm using speed strips, I keep the strip in a pocket, but other than location it looks pretty similar.

[BN]

Watching Caleb's reload reminded me. An open front concealment garment is no problem, because my hand just comes in behind the garment. No need to sweep anything out of the way.

[jetfire]

Watching Caleb's reload reminded me. An open front concealment garment is no problem, because my hand just comes in behind the garment. No need to sweep anything out of the way.

I actually switched to carrying the speedloaders on my strong side after the 2013 IDPA Nats. I ended up saving about 0.25 per reload from having to reach behind my weak side to get them.

[Rex G]

When I learned Michael de Bethencourt's reload at the Snubby Summit in 2005, I liked it immediately, though in my case, my "strong" hand for DA revolver shooting is (well, was*) my right hand, whereas I am a lefty with most detailed tasks, so I was using my best hand for each part of the speed loading process. I soon learned that Michael's reload only works for me with up to K-frames; anything bigger requires me to break my firing grip, as my hands may be size L in the wrist-to-finger dimension, but are narrow, and my index fingers are medium-length. So, with my Ruger GP100 or Speed Six, or an N-frame, I am better-off using the "traditional" Seventies/Eighties police academy-style speed load.

Michael's left-handed reload was academic to me. When shooting a snub lefty, I found it ideal to simply switch to his standard/right reload at the point where the hands come together on the weapon.

*Age/afflictions in my right wrist and hand have relegated my right hand to now being the weaker hand. "Primary" may still be carried at 0300, in case I reach there by conditioned reflex, but most of my training shots are now fired lefty, and when I carry a second gun, which is much/most of the time, it is not the "back-up," and if not an equal, may well be the larger weapon.

[LSP972]

For me, I find the strong hand reload better under all conditions...


Yup.

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[LSP552]

Since the only revolvers I carry now are J-frames with speed strips, I'm a strong hand reload guy. At this point, I can't see trying to completely reprogram my software for what is essentially a backup or very low threat/NPE thing. I have played with weak hand and speed strips but it didn't feel as sure as strong hand.