I get anxiety when I don't press check and see/feel brass. Every pistol I've carried had some form of a LCI, but I always have a personal problem trusting it. Some people are okay with an LCI, and some think you should rack the slide and see a round come out/round chamber, etc. I've used a press check going back to being a boy hunting with my dad, just prefer it.
I'm not following, hatchet; why in the world would you perform a reload after you are holstered? If the gun is going back in the holster, you have time beforehand to tac reload. Is it a gamer/rules thing?
I teach topping off from and then and backfilling the speed reload pouch; I believe it is an excellent habit to create and foster, and I started to do this after trying to stuff an M&P 9 mag in my AR a few times in as many minutes during a class once (my pistol speed reload mag is just behind my primary speed reload mag on my belt).
I have never owned a pistol with a tactile loaded chamber indicator; I teach a press check with the trigger finger in the ejection port to touch the chambered round, followed by a smack to the back of the slide, though also that the same can be accomplished by simply touching the LCI if your pistol is so equipped. I'm sure there is some good sense to the idea of one manual of arms with any pistol, but I think there are obvious limitations to that line of thinking...
Outrunning my headlights since '81.
(d) it adds additional mechanical fiddly bits to break, and (e) gun controllers love 'em.Originally Posted by ToddG
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Uhm, no. If you are in a class with, say, 12 shooters on the line and the drill is to work out of holster putting, say, 3 to 5 rounds on target and the drill is called over you might find yourself with a partially loaded gun holstered up on the line. Across 12 shooters there will a wide range of firearm capacities; it's difficult, when a break is called, to make sure everyone has a full firearm for the next drill unless you do an "admin reload," i.e. hit the mag release while the gun is still holstered, pull out the partial mag, put in a full one. Been to my share of classes; have yet to be in one when some sort of admin reloading has not occurred.
"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Lets start with typewriters."
Frank Lloyd Wright
I press check my bolt rifle, my battle rifles, my carbines, shotguns and my pistols. As far as the pistol goes, some LCI's are hard to feel with a gloved hand. Some pistols as mentioned lack one. It would be a very rare occasion that someone in one of my courses would be allowed to do a mag swap with the pistol in the holster. Generally ammo management is up to the student, however when specific drills or instances forgo the student from managing their own ammo, prior to the starting the next drill I will have a preparatory command to load or verify your weapons status. Students will perform status checks of their weapons / mags / mag placement etc then back to the holster, ready or starting position. I have seen more failures from in holster mag swaps. Everything from a failure of the weapon to lock back on the last round so the holstered weapon does not have a round in the chamber, to mags failing to seat and dropping out on presentation, to a combination of both.
I think the confusion started when I termed it an admin reload. I probably should have called it an admin LOAD.
I had been doing a press check and then tapping the rear of the slide with the heel of my support hand, but I kept thinking to myself "This LCI tells me the same thing and I don't have to risk a possible malfunction with a press check. Why am I press checking?"
I'm taking DocGKR's advice and will try to master one pistol. Personally, if I ran multiple platforms and any of them didn't have a nice tactile LCI, I probably press check across the board to keep my battery of arms consistent.
We can be getting into terminology issues again.
This I would call an "administrative load" or, preferably, an "initial load". The weapon was stored empty...you aren't "re-" anything. Why would you do such a thing in the dark? If your pistol is stored empty and you are suiting up for the day, I fail to see any cause for duress. A home defense weapon should be secure, yet loaded and ready.
while I have no issues with the concept of LCI's, on some brands they are a pin out the back, or a lever on the top, or a separate lever near the extractor, or an integral part of the extractor, etc. Some are large and easy to see/feel, and some are so tiny as to be functionally useless. Still other brands have no tactile protrusions. In my case, my carry guns are Glocks with non-LCI extractors, and none of the other guns in the house have useful ones.
If your situation is different, and you are comfortable and confident in your weapons condition, then rock on.
As long as you are following the 4 cardinal safety rules, there is no "One Right Way" to do this stuff.
Admin load or admin / tac reload does not matter I still press check everything long guns and pistols. The one time I will forgo a press check is if I have just shot a string of fire and I am performing a tac reload. If there is ammo in the mag I don't press check. If the mag is empty I will check the chamber status with a press check.
I have no issues if someone has an easily recognized LCI on their weapon and chose to use it.
I prefer a press check to an LCI simply due to the fact that the press check is universal. For an LCI to work there has to be an LCI in the first place.
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When I read or hear the term "administrative load", I flash back to being a rookie and that being the term used to encompass all of the steps to load a pistol to include topping of the mag, and the written test for the firearms training had a question for which THE correct answer was listing each and every step. A press check was one of those steps.
I don't see a press check as being part of a reload. I certainly wouldn't do one mid-string.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
I press check like a fiend, especially during dry fire. I'm trying to evolve to where I only press-check every time I holster, whether I'm expecting the gun to be loaded or not. I've never really used the LCI - no really good reason, it just seems less direct than, you know, looking in the chamber. I press-check slowly and deliberately, grabbing the front of the slide with my support hand, whereas all my "real" slide manipulations are of the overhand rack variety.
FWIW - as BaiHu said, I'm just some dood.
The answer, it seems to me, is wrath. The mind cannot foresee its own advance. --FA Hayek Specialization is for insects.
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