Originally Posted by
DMF13
I will probably be decried as a heretic, but here goes.
I don't practice "tactical reloads," "mag exchanges," or whatever else you want to call it. I did practice them a little when I occasionally shot IDPA, but that's been a long time ago.
If there is a "lull in the action," (oft mentioned, but rarely defined, and if an attempt at a definition is made, it's often very vague), that means I'm not actually fighting with the gun, or anything else for that matter. If the fight has changed to a point I'm willing to temporarily turn my gun into a single shot, I will very consciously have decided that I can exchange mags. It's a conscious decision, to take a very deliberate action, and it should be at a time of greatly reduced stress (much reduced from the time when I thought someone had created a threat of imminent death, or serious bodily injury, and I was using deadly force). It won't be a time I need subconscious skill to complete it rapidly. If I'm in a situation where I need it done rapidly, with subconscious skill, I'm not turning my gun into a single shot, and doing a "mag exchange."
Any other reload, will be under great stress, will require subconscious skill, to get it done very rapidly, and will be either a "slide lock reload," or "speed reload," and the mag that's in the gun will be dropped free. Those are the skills I practice, often.
I'm not wasting my limited time, developing a subconscious level of skill in something that I won't do under extreme stress.