Reload practice

[CraigS]

My wife started shooting idpa w/ me 4-5 months ago. She was having trouble w/ reloads and I got a lot of help in a thread here. She has it pretty much nailed down now and in the process of helping her I have improved myself. One of the problems trying to figure a way to practice is you always need to pause to manually rack the slide. Or you leave the slide locked back and practice just part of the process. This weeks range practice we tried a new technique. I load a bunch of mags w/ just one round. I stand just behind her mag pouch and keep replacing the mag she just grabbed w/ another single round mag. So she keeps shooting one shot, reload, shoot a shot, reload... We did have her shooting at one of our paper plates at maybe 5 yards just to keep it real. We did two 10 mag cycles and it worked really well. So I had her load for me. This really helps. I could go as slow or as fast as I wanted so our plan is to keep doing this. We start out slow and deliberate concentrating on doing it correct and smooth. Speed seems to come along as a natural consequence of the correct and smooth. One thing we had already learned was that her grip strength was causing a her lot of trouble actuating the mag release button w/ her strong hand thumb. So she decided to use her week hand thumb. There was some debate on that but at the end of her second 10 rnd string I commented that all 20 of her mag drops were 100%. In theory that may be a part of a second slower because, otherwise, her weak hand could be moving toward the mag pouch. I am 74 and she is 67 so neither of us is going to be an idpa master but it sure is a lot of fun working on this stuff.

[David S.]

A place to start.





Steve Anderson's Grand Master standard for a Burkett Reload in about 0.6s from gamer gear. A consistent 1 second BR should be very achievable and probably put you on a path to significantly improve your overall reload times.

If you want to drop mags, then do it over the edge of your bed so you don't have to bend down as far to pick them up.

RE: hand strength. Assuming she can reach the mag release, keep working on it and the strength will come.

[JCN]

If you want to drop mags, then do it over the edge of your bed so you don't have to bend down as far to pick them up.

Better option is a cardboard box with a towel in it, on top of a chair or stool.

That way you can move it around or put multiple in a mock stage. And not dirty the bedsheets.

I do this even at the indoor range to prevent hammering mags onto concrete.

[Jim Watson]

Right, when we get around to the classifiers tonight, somebody will lay some targets in front of the shooting box to cushion dropped magazines.

I shot revolver in a recent novelty match and spent time with dummies and speed loaders over the bed, snapping in at reduced targets across the room. That got me counting to six and manipulating the speed loader.

[JAD]

In theory that may be a part of a second slower because, otherwise, her weak hand could be moving toward the mag pouch. I am 74 and she is 67 so neither of us is going to be an idpa master but it sure is a lot of fun working on this stuff.

If you're both solely interested in competition then ignore the following*: it is a really good practice to at the very, very least have your hand on the spare mag before you hit the release. It is very embarrassing to have to pick up your magazine off the ground because it's the only one you have.

Regarding thumb strength, is your wife trying to hit the mag release without shifting her grip, or is she rotating the pistol so that she can hit it squarely?

Reloads are really rare IRL, and even in competition they aren't a huge chunk of your time, so I think one can be judicious in how much they sacrifice for speed.


*Mostly; it is also not fun to reach for a mag that isn't there in the middle of a match

[Mark D]

For dryfire reloads from slide lock, using concealment, what par times would be considered "decent", "good" and "great"?

(For context, practicing reloads for a FAST drill).

[Moylan]

For dryfire reloads from slide lock, using concealment, what par times would be considered "decent", "good" and "great"?

(For context, practicing reloads for a FAST drill).

IIRC, Jedlinski breaks down the 5 second FAST this way: 1.5 draw to 1st shot, .5 follow up, 2 second reload and .25's on the 3 remaining body shots. I am likely remembering it at least partly wrong, but I think I'm sort of mostly remembering it right. If that's true, it seems like a 2 second slide lock reload from concealment would be viewed as good enough for this test.

[JCN]

For dryfire reloads from slide lock, using concealment, what par times would be considered "decent", "good" and "great"?

(For context, practicing reloads for a FAST drill).

Reload time is partially influenced by the difficulty of the follow up shot. Same as the draw.

[Mark D]

Reload time is partially influenced by the difficulty of the follow up shot. Same as the draw.

Valid point. Lets say an 8" circle at 7 yards.

[Totem Polar]

I’m digging this conversation. Cool vid @David S.