Tactical Reloads

[tkoglman]

I decided to start this thread from what I was reading in the Green Eyes Black Rifles thread.

This became a "hot button" issue for me at the last police academy range and last in-service pistol qual.. When we did our Glock transition I attempted to formalize two specific reloads in our shooting program. The main reason was because of the lack of common terminology. One man's "tactical reload" was another man's "speed reload" etc. etc.

I decided on two reloads and named them each according to their function. I have to admit that I blatantly stole the terms from IDPA. I went with the "Slide Lock Reload" and the "Reload with Retention"

The "Slide Lock Reload" is exactly what it sounds like. The weapon is shot dry and the slide is locked to the rear. I teach it in a step-by-step manner:
1. Reach for your spare magazine
2. Depress mag release and discard the magazine. Even if it needs to be ripped out for some reason, the magazine is discarded.
3. Bring weapon into "work space"
(Note: I found that thinking of the steps in this specific sequence results in a faster reload. The part that takes the longest is retrieving the fresh magazine. That is the movement that should be started first. There is plenty of time for steps 2&3 while you are still working on step 1. The natural tendency, I have seen, is to do steps 2&3 before even beginning step 1. Much slower.)
4. Insert fresh magazine
5. Release slide as you present weapon.
(Note: I show both slide release techniques. I don't buy into the whole fine/gross motor skills thing. The whole technique of reloading a pistol is a pretty fine motor skill if you ask me. I see pro's and con's with both. I've seen people try to load pinkies into ejection ports, milk the slide, miss the slide stop, etc.)

The "Reload with Retention" is presented as a voluntary reload. I teach this technique:
1. Remove magazine from the pistol and retain
2. Attempt to stow partial magazine. If you begin to fumble with it - consider discarding it based on the situation
3. Retrieve fresh magazine
4. Load fresh magazine.

I think the two magazines in one hand technique is garbage. It is difficult to perform under ideal circumstances and saves no time. I have seen, in competition, numerous shooters accidentally reinsert the partial magazine they just withdrew. The biggest problem I have seen with the execution of the Reload with Retention is finding a place to stow the partial magazine. Most LEO's duty belts are so crammed with gear that pants pockets are virtually inaccessible.

The big problem I had with these reloads was in the understanding of the concept by my Senior Range Officer. He liked the idea of not discarding ammunition, but still believes in round counting and thought that shooting a gun dry was a cardinal sin and that little time should be devoted to my "Slide Lock Reload". The biggest problem was that he began to demand Reloads with Retention while "on the clock" in the middle of firing strings.

This created a furor. We had a very good firearms instructor and retired FBI SWAT member working with the students with us. He got into a huge argument with my Senior Range Officer over the matter. The shooters (both academy students and my own officers) also saw the problems trying to conduct the Reload with Retention in the middle of firing strings.

My Senior Range Officer's problem, I believe, is that he approached the strings of fire from the perspective that he knows exactly how many rounds he needs to fire to complete it, and can pre-plan when to conduct a reload. This has no "real world" applicability. My offered solution was to download magazines to a set number of rounds (or randomly)to force Slide Lock Reloads in the middle of firing strings (if that's what he wanted or the State Qual. called for) and we would mandate Reloads with Retention after strings of fire were complete.

Thanks for reading. Now I need to order Kyle Lamb's book so I can get into the original thread.

[Jay Cunningham]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=11523

[ToddG]

Well written!

You are right, the terminology can be confusing if you don't define it precisely. A major (3k+) federal agency I've dealt with refers to a slidelock reload as a speed reload and an IPSC-style in-battery reload as a tactical reload; they do not teach a retention reload.

For folks who do believe in using retention reloads, I highly suggest you practice it in your everyday uniform (as opposed to your in-class plate carrier, unless you wear that every day) and you do it standing, kneeling, prone, still, walking, running, etc. Furthermore, I'd recommend going back to that saved magazine standing, kneeling, prone, still, walking running, etc. Unless you've got a dump pouch on your belt every day, most people find that the "always put it in one place so I know where it is" concept goes tango uniform when dynamic reality sets in.

[Harv]

tkoglman

The "Slide Lock Reload" is exactly what it sounds like. The weapon is shot dry and the slide is locked to the rear. I teach it in a step-by-step manner:
1. Reach for your spare magazine
2. Depress mag release and discard the magazine. Even if it needs to be ripped out for some reason, the magazine is discarded.
3. Bring weapon into "work space"

If I'm going for my fresh mag with my left hand (Right handed shooter) and As I bring it up to insert and find the mag in my pistol did not drop free.. it may make "ripping" the mag out of the pistol difficult when you left hand already has something in it... Perhaps ripping the mag out each time may be a better option so as not to rely on drop free mags that always drop free, except for that one time when you really needed them to and they don't..

Just food for thought..

and the two mags in one hand reload is not garbage. it's a technique .. some like it.. some don't..

[ToddG]

There are places that teach you to rip the mag out of the gun as part of the initial step in the reload. It's slower -- not so much due to the act itself but because it requires you to have both hands moving together just right -- can actually be a little fumble prone, and really only seems popular among Glock shooters (because Glock mags aren't as reliable at falling free as metal mags tend to be).

The two other techniques I've seen taught and used are:

The Jerk: since you are looking at your mag well, you'll see if the magazine hasn't fallen free. Jerk your gun hand up and down violently while depressing the mag catch button and the mag will most likely fall out.

The Chop: when the new mag comes up to the gun in your support hand and you find the empty mag still in the gun, use the fresh magazine to chop at the baseplate of the mag stuck in the gun, pulling it out.

Personally, I'd make sure my mags drop free whether loaded, partially loaded, or unloaded. It's also worth remembering that "partially loaded" doesn't just mean you put half a mag's worth of ammo in there, put it in the gun, and then eject it. Rounds move around under recoil; some guns have a propensity to let the top round of the mag slip forward enough to get hung up a bit on the feed ramp. So to test how your mag will drop free (or not) after firing half your rounds, fire half your rounds and then hit the eject button.

[Charles]

"Personally, I'd make sure my mags drop free"

Agreed. Ripping the mag out every time you reload, is about the same as racking the action every time you look at the mag- superfluous for any moderately trained user.

[Failure2Stop]

Depending on environment, ripping your magazine out can be less than superfluous .

[tkoglman]

I think that most techniques are really a compromise between what is the theoretically most reliable and what is the fastest. Whether you are talking reloads, malfunction drills, or otherwise.

I think that experience with your particular weapon and gear is the best way to come to that perfect compromise.

I know for myself that the only pistol I have ever used consistently that ever needed to have a magazine ripped out occasionally was my Sig P220. That was easy to deal with though because of the very large "lip" on the magazine base.

All of my Glock and 1911 magazines have always dropped free. I've never had to rip one out.

So, my thinking is that in finding my perfect compromise in this situation with my equipment, I would choose the slightly faster technique - especially on a Slide Lock Reload. If you think about the actual situation, you are in a gunfight and have fired between 13-17 rounds. My calculus is to go with the absolute fastest technique I have and I'll take the very slim chance that my magazine fails to drop free for the first time ever right now in order to more likely gain the time advantage that may or may not be "the rest of my life"

[JSandi]

I'm about to speak bad about my fellow officers but anyone who works in LE will know exactly what I'm referring to.


I feel that tactical/combat reloading is a very good thing, just as I feel that we should all move away from the old scripted courses of fire and gravitate to combat courses, stress courses, night fire, kill houses etc...

This is how it will go down in real life, not "at the sound of my whistle you will draw and fire two rounds and reholster"...


But, having seen the ability of some that I work with I would not feel safe on a live fire range doing a full stress course with them carrying a loaded gun and then expected to shoot, maneuver, shoot and cover etc...