Looking at the Magazine Well

[DonovanM]

Here's another alternative on the Benos forum, more of a barber pole look for contrast: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/inde...dpost&p=881199

I usually look at the magwell. The consistency difference is slight, but it's there.

I dig practicing reloads with my eyes shut though. I like to be able to do it by feel, especially when there's other things going on that demand attention, like a moving target, me moving somewhere, or hell even if it's dark and I can't even see my magwell.

[jetfire]

I like to be able to do it by feel, especially when there's other things going on that demand attention

PHRASING

[Mr_White]

For the longest time I tried to not look at the magwell because it wasn't tactical, until an instructor told me "you're going to look at the thing anyway, so just get your gun up in your eyeline and do it quick."

I dig practicing reloads with my eyes shut though. I like to be able to do it by feel, especially when there's other things going on that demand attention, like a moving target, me moving somewhere, or hell even if it's dark and I can't even see my magwell.

I was taught to keep eyes on target/threat throughout the reload. And I still do, but am re-evaluating it.

My personal belief is that for me to look at the magazine well, even briefly when guiding the new magazine in, reduces my ability to assess or track the threat immediately before I shoot again.

It’s not that I am always opposed to looking anywhere but the threat. I recognize there will be times to glance another direction, such as when preparing to move and I want to visually fix on the spot I am moving to, or that the path I expect to move in actually be clear or to note obstacles.

But when I glance at the magazine well during a reload, I feel disorganized. That is, I go from looking at the magazine well to closing-slide-forming-grip-shifting-visual-focus-pressing-out-firing, but without having gaze fixed on threat for any amount of time that lets me continue to verify that I still want to shoot, after having broken gaze mid-reload to glance at the magazine well. I hope that description makes sense. It also seems to give the threat a chance, however short, to begin to maneuver against me or otherwise do something that I had better respond to or take into account at the earliest opportunity. Looking at the mag well feels like it delays that opportunity.

When I reload keeping gaze fixed on target/threat the whole time, I feel like more information has gone into my shooting decision, because I was receiving more visual information from the target/threat later in the process, closer to when I am resuming shooting.

I have the gun close to my eye line during the reload, like in front of my chin and face, not quite the eyes, but the mag well is lower, and for me to glance at it I would have to glance down. Are people who look at the mag well reloading so high up that the mag well itself is directly in your eye-target line? For me, the slide/barrel/sights sit just below the eye-target line, so the mag well is lower still.

Maybe when I look at the magazine well I am looking for too long a time? Or I should reload with the gun even higher? But I don't like that because then it is blocking some of my vision and again reducing incoming visual information.

Is this a point of doctrine where ideal mechanics are taking precedence over a tactical necessity (more better threat assessment and tracking)? Or is this not a problem that anyone else perceives?

What happens to looking at the mag well in low/no light? Is gaze shifted to the magazine well for no real gain?

I've really only played with glancing at the magazine well a little bit. Maybe I need to really try it for a while to give it a fair shake. I do not doubt that it is a mechanically advantageous way, but obviously, I have other concerns...

[jetfire]

When I say "look at the magwell" I don't necessarily mean "stare at the damn thing during the entire reload." For me it's more like the concept of "see what you need to see" - just like I try to see just enough of my front site to get the hit I need, I only look at my magwell for as long as I need to. Depending on what I'm doing that could be a long time for a tac load or a very brief glace during a static slidelock reload.

[JDM]

I don't look at the mag-well. When I reload, the gun is in front of my face, and I'm looking through the trigger guard. I have a visual reference of the gun, but I can still see the target.

Works well for me.

[DonovanM]

Are people who look at the mag well reloading so high up that the mag well itself is directly in your eye-target line? For me, the slide/barrel/sights sit just below the eye-target line, so the mag well is lower still.

No. Here's a video I just made for comparo. Sounds about the same for me.

Or I should reload with the gun even higher? But I don't like that because then it is blocking some of my vision and again reducing incoming visual information.

I wouldn't, for precisely that reason. When you're looking down at the magwell, at least you have a chance of seeing something happening out of your peripheral vision. Unlike if your gun's in the way by default.

Or is this not a problem that anyone else perceives?

I don't think it is. But I don't put a whole ton of thought into everything I do. I just go with it. YMMV

PHRASING

[YVK]

I fumble even if I look at the magwell, so yes, I look at it. Todd showed me the trick with paint in early 2010, used it ever since on all my pistols.

[ToddG]

Just another name on the "I look, I paint" bandwagon.

The idea that you're missing something important downrange just seems silly to me. You can keep looking downrange so you see the bullets headed your way while you fumble your reload, or you can glance for a fraction of a second at your pistol and make sure you don't fumble in the first place. YOUR GUN IS BROKEN until you reload it. Suggesting that your priority should be on the broad strategic situation in front of you instead of the acute tactical problem in your hands makes no sense to me...

[JDM]

Let me clarify a little.

I don't avoid looking at my mag well because I think it's important to be looking elsewhere, I don't look at my mag well because after thousands upon thousands of reloads without looking, looking at it actually slows me down.

If there is one part of my shooting that I am absolutely happy with, slidelock reloads are it.

If I were starting out today, I would look for the magazine well, and be better off for it. I took the long way to fast reloads. I have no doubt that looking for the lime green paint would've sped up my progression measurably when I was first learning, alas, I'd never heard of it.

[David Armstrong]

Just another name on the "I look, I paint" bandwagon.

The idea that you're missing something important downrange just seems silly to me. You can keep looking downrange so you see the bullets headed your way while you fumble your reload, or you can glance for a fraction of a second at your pistol and make sure you don't fumble in the first place. YOUR GUN IS BROKEN until you reload it. Suggesting that your priority should be on the broad strategic situation in front of you instead of the acute tactical problem in your hands makes no sense to me...

+1. If you need to reload, then reload in the most efficient and effective manner possible. If you really need to be watching the BG because he is so much of a threat you can't take your eyes off him then maybe that is not a particularly good time to be doing a reload.
Personally I pull both arms in and both hands back and do the reload slightly above the belt buckle, and rarely find a need to look at it. That is what gives me the best combination of reliability and speed for the reload.