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Thread: Dominant Hand AR Reload

  1. #1

    Dominant Hand AR Reload

    Does anyone have any video or experience with or seen/heard of someone doing an AR reload with their shooting hand? What I'm imagining is the support hand stays on the handguard and keeps the rifle shouldered and pointed downrange, the shooting hand then (in some order, not necessarily this one) leaves the grip, drops the mag, retrieves the new one, seats it, drops the bolt catch or runs the charging handle, and then goes back to the grip.
    Last edited by GRV; 07-04-2018 at 10:35 PM.

  2. #2
    When I qualified in the Army I tried to maintain a firm grip on the rifle with my support hand and do everything else with my shooting hand. My rationale was that if I had a good steady hold with my support hand and the rifle in the "pocket" off my shoulder the shooting hand could come off the grip and handle reloading, and/or reach over the rifle to release the bolt catch. Thumb manipulates the safety, trigger finger does magazine release.
    ETA: Perhaps I should add that we were always firing either prone or foxhole supported.

    Wish I could tell you that's why I always qualify Distinguished Expert, but that would be 2 lies...
    Last edited by Drang; 07-05-2018 at 03:26 AM.
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  3. #3
    When you insert the mag using the support hand, your thumb is in the ideal position for releasing the bolt catch.

    I can't see any reason for this. It's cumbersome, it's slow, it's finicky. Why would you do this?

    There's no reason to keep the rifle pointed downrange if it's empty. It serves no purpose pointing downrange when it is empty. You would be better served getting the gun back up and running as fast as possible.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by jellydonut View Post
    When you insert the mag using the support hand, your thumb is in the ideal position for releasing the bolt catch.

    I can't see any reason for this. It's cumbersome, it's slow, it's finicky. Why would you do this?

    There's no reason to keep the rifle pointed downrange if it's empty. It serves no purpose pointing downrange when it is empty. You would be better served getting the gun back up and running as fast as possible.
    Agreed.

    What is the purpose for doing a dominant hand reload ?

    We have spent years trying to do as many manipulations as possible with the support hand. I don’t see a purpose for this.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Drang View Post
    When I qualified in the Army I tried to maintain a firm grip on the rifle with my support hand and do everything else with my shooting hand. My rationale was that if I had a good steady hold with my support hand and the rifle in the "pocket" off my shoulder the shooting hand could come off the grip and handle reloading, and/or reach over the rifle to release the bolt catch. Thumb manipulates the safety, trigger finger does magazine release.
    ETA: Perhaps I should add that we were always firing either prone or foxhole supported.

    Wish I could tell you that's why I always qualify Distinguished Expert, but that would be 2 lies...
    You may have even been taught this, along with SPORTS, and the myth that resting your magazine on the ground would induce malfunctions but all are bad info.

    Put it on a timer and you would do it differently.

    This kind of thing is why they are changing the Army Rifle qual to include a reload under time pressure.

    If anyone is wondering why reloading as quickly and efficiently as possible is desirable please read Paul Gardner’s account of how he was wounded in Iraq:

    https://www.swatmag.com/article/al-t...rned-hard-way/
    Last edited by HCM; 07-05-2018 at 08:52 AM.

  6. #6
    Leave the charging handle alone for bolt lock reloads regardless of what hand you’re using.

  7. #7
    The Marine Corps used to teach this back in the days of loop slings and hasty sling use on the rifle range qaulification. It made it harder to retrain new privates at ITB to use the support hand when "fighting with a rifle vice target shooting". Its one of the reasons that we got rid of the range officer warrant officer position in the USMC and put Marine Gunners (CWO) in charge of the ranges as well. Too much "gravel belly" had snuck into our qual ranges as all the range officers cared about was divisional matches and going to camp perry...
    Last edited by rcbusmc24; 07-05-2018 at 10:39 AM.

  8. #8
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    If your support gets injured you may need to do a strong hand reload. I dunno, stranger things have happened.

    I'm right handed, What I do is grab the new magazine, get it oriented in my hand with a beer can grip, use my thumb to hit the mag release, insert new magazine, reach over and hit the bot release.
    Last edited by txdpd; 07-05-2018 at 10:45 AM.
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  9. #9
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    As others have stated, when I need to reload my rifle FOR REAL, the last thing I'm worried about is maintaining my shoulder pocket/cheek weld. What I want is 30 more rounds in the rifle RIGHT NOW. That is most efficiently and effectively executed using the support hand - at least for me and darn near every other rifle shooter I've ever seen/met/trained/trained with.

    Interesting theorycrafting on reloads, but I wouldn't want to get into that habit...

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by txdpd View Post
    If your support gets injured you may need to do a strong hand reload. I dunno, stranger things have happened.

    What I do is grab the new magazine, get it oriented in my hand with a beer can grip, use my thumb to hit the mag release, insert new magazine, reach over and hit the bot release.
    All of that is true, but it’s not what the OP is referring to. He is referring to a training scar from high power rifle competition.

    If my support hand is too injured to execute a reload I’m either gonna be cradling the rifle with my support arm or if that is not feasible loading the rifle while hanging on the sling, using my legs or even reloading while it’s laying on the ground, what ever I need to do. What I won’t be doing is maintaining my shoulder pocket and cheek weld.

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