if you only have two spare... will the distance between them really matter?
if you only have two spare... will the distance between them really matter?
legitimate deliverer of combat power and manager of violence - Col. D.A.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pro ... 2292641963
Please keep in mind I can't carry here and have limited experience carrying elsewhere (as in CCW). My routine for carrying my mags and loading in IPSC. All mags loaded all the time, gun as full as possible (11 in Canada and 16 in Europe Asia etc [again, IPSC]) I put my stripper mag on the magnet on pouch one, and the mag that will go in the gun on the magnets on pouch two. I load one round, toss that mag aside and insert the main mag. My stripper mag is usually a practice mag, the best of those ones. My main mag is then cycled through my belt through the stages each day, so that every mag gets a chance to be the mag in the gun at the start, as well as the first mag out of a pouch on the reload. All mags are marked with numbers so I can keep track. When reloading I do not aim for a specific pouch (I don't remember if it was Ernest or Todd G or Todd J that taught me this), I outward rotate my palm so that my thumb is down and touching my body as the hand blades back (works with cover garments that are open fronted), the thumb essentially rides across the top of the mag pouches and my palm will run into the first available mag. I carry 5 mags when competing, so I can end up going almost to the middle of my back and don't have to change how I grab them. When practicing if I'm topping up, I'll load the gun, pop the mag, holster the gun, top up the mag, and admin load (gun usually stays holstered, but not always, sometimes I draw and insert, depends on the training environment). I will usually use the last mag on my belt for this and run 4 on the belt, again depending on what I'm doing. I've hit oh shit moments when competing and never missed a mag in my grabs, first mag available is the one I grab, I've occasionally hooked the next mag and popped it out, but that's rare. Typically don't notice I did it until after the stage, or when I need all my mags and have to go hunting for the one that fell out. I don't buy all this "training scar" stuff as much as I used to, while there are certainly times where one might develop a bad practice, I don't think how you select mags for the initial load is going to be one of them. If it was I'd be reaching for the mag on the magnet when I kitten the bed on a stage, but I don't. When participating in FOF I also don't reach for the 3rd mag that doesn't exist on my belt (always carry two if able). I know when I'm out, even when getting hammered by the role players. I think that people often over think some of this stuff, and create phrases just to make themselves sound good.
...and to think today you just have fangs
Rob Engh
BC, Canada
if you have two spare... would the distance between them really matter?
legitimate deliverer of combat power and manager of violence - Col. D.A.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pro ... 2292641963
Not sure if these would be considered training scars, but they might lead to real scars:
1) having no extra magazine when you need one.
2) putting crap on your support side besides magazines -- so you end up trying to speed load your Leatherman or cell phone.
I almost always carry one spare Glock 17 capacity or two single stack magazines. However, I carry 4 or 5 spare magazines in USPSA, and have no trouble figuring out which to grab and in what order.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
ooh ooh me me, I loaded a Motorolla Star Tac into my Elite II back at the start of my IPSC career. Only carried 4 spares at the time, in body hugging "concealment" leather pouches, ran through them all, and grabbed my cell phone and slammed it into the magwell. It fit, sort of. Cut the hell out of my hand, ruined the phone and got laughed at pretty good. Still managed to not be last on the stage though I did have two misses and an FTE. Last time I carried anything other than mags on my belt. Also upgraded to a proper IPSC rig shortly thereafter.
...and to think today you just have fangs
Rob Engh
BC, Canada
I also half loaded a Star Tac into my Heinie 1911 at one of the first IDPA matches at the S&W indoor range. That holster that came with the Star Tac made for a natural and fast reload -- unfortunately wrong device and slow mag change.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
When I carried a duty rig, this is how I did it. Granted, I kept pistol mags right up front, just left of the belt buckle and oriented vertically, so I just dropped my hand to the side of the buckle and started sweeping left along the pouch, grabbing from the first full cell available. Made it easier that I had a snapped flap over each mag, so if I undid a snap in my sweep, I grabbed the mag from that cell.Originally Posted by KevinB
As to admin loading, I never did decide which way I wanted to do that. So a few times I pulled the rear mag, a few times the front mag. Not until after I'd been away for a while did I look back and wonder why I hadn't picked something.
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