Mag Change Procedure

[halodog]

Todd, one of the things that impressed me at the training in Indy this fall was how smooth your reloads are. I would like to develop a solid dry fire drill for practicing reloads. I recently read that Ken Hackathorn doesn't drop his mag until he has his hand on the new mag. Could you post a walk-through of your reload process and suggest some practice drills (live or dry) fire? Thanks

[ToddG]

I tend to drop my mag after contacting the spare at the belt, too, but this is more an artifact left over from extensive tactical reload practice than thought out technique. There is a slight speed benefit to dropping the mag instantly and in fact I spend some time once in a while trying to build that habit.

[JHC]

FWIW in Dec Ken did not teach the reload that way (waiting). His point that the reload is your most likely cause of a stoppage in a fight so get good smooth and fast at it and we certainly worked on fast. Which for me was dumping the mag right away while reaching for the spare.

[jetfire]

One of the things I've spent a reasonable amount of practice time on is tying my thumb to my feet for USPSA shooting. Since I shoot L10 and have to reload very frequently, I try to practice hitting that mag release button as soon as a plant my push-off foot.

What's interesting is when I watch my static reloads on video, I don't hit the button until the gun is almost back to a 45 degree angle. This usually isn't a problem, but if a mag decides it doesn't want to drop free that day, I've got less help from gravity to get it out of the gun.

[LeeC]

Isn't the idea behind touching your reload mag before dropping the one in the gun that if you're doing a tactical reload, you want to confirm that you have another mag? Some rounds on board are better than no rounds in the mag you thought you had? If you're doing an emergency reload, then you'll be needing to head for cover and maybe find more ammo. But if you drop your last empty mag on the ground, then what?

This isn't me remembering competition experience or tactical--just a noob trying to understand the trade-offs. And I'm only half the time conscious of which comes first, as I'm still trying to unlearn the expectation that the damn mag isn't going to drop. :eek:

[Ptrlcop]

But if you drop your last empty mag on the ground, then what?

What good is an empty mag going to me? No bullets is no bullets.

Emergency Reload=Slide locked to the rear on an empty mag, the empty is of no use of me and I want it gone soonest. Speed is the priority here.

If I am doing a tactical reload I'm doing more than just touching the fresh mag before droping the partial, I'm bringing it all the way to the gun.

Tactical Reload= I have shot some, have no immediate need to shoot, but want the gun full in case i neet to shoot more. The process reads: scan to make sure I shouldnt be shooting, (communicate in team setting), grasp the last mag(hardest to reach) in my pouch between my middle and index fingers, grasp partial mag between thumb and index finger, seat fresh mag, place partial in my last mag pouch. In this case speed is not as crucial. However, I want to take the time the gun is without a mag as short as possible.

With the tactical reload there are some things that may change the standard sequence. If when I remove the mag in the gun I find that it is empty I continue seating the fresh mag, drop the empty, and rack the slide(in case the gun did not hold open on the last round). If at any time in the process the situation dictates that I need to shoot I abort the reload and shoot.