Speed Reload ?

[seb5]

I've got a question for the brain trust and hoping some of you can give me educated opinion.

I'm left handed and have always loaded from an empty chamber (ran dry) by using my weak (right hand) to grasp my mag from my weak side hip with the cartridges pointing to the rear, inserted, push/pull and then use my left trigger finger drop the bolt home.

After reading some AAR's it seems many well thought of trainers seem to teach to always pull the charging handle to re chamber. As a left hander that involves rotating the weapon inboard to accomplish. I've been training both ways lately and the trigger finger seems quicker for me. And more importantly it doesn't require me to push my weapon away from my body to clear the charging handle. With a fully loaded vest to include armor and plates this seems a big disadvantage.

My question is if there is any real advantage to using the charging handle vs. my trigger finger? Am I missing something or overthinking this?

[rushca01]

I've got a question for the brain trust and hoping some of you can give me educated opinion.

I'm left handed and have always loaded from an empty chamber (ran dry) by using my weak (right hand) to grasp my mag from my weak side hip with the cartridges pointing to the rear, inserted, push/pull and then use my left trigger finger drop the bolt home.

After reading some AAR's it seems many well thought of trainers seem to teach to always pull the charging handle to re chamber. As a left hander that involves rotating the weapon inboard to accomplish. I've been training both ways lately and the trigger finger seems quicker for me. And more importantly it doesn't require me to push my weapon away from my body to clear the charging handle. With a fully loaded vest to include armor and plates this seems a big disadvantage.

My question is if there is any real advantage to using the charging handle vs. my trigger finger? Am I missing something or overthinking this?

I think the people teaching the charging handle method are maybe doing so because they believe you cannot perform fine motor schools under pressure? This is just an assumption on my part as to why some teach that way. I don't buy it, one does not loose fine motor skills under pressure and the LAV doesn't believe you do either...if he says you don't it's good in my book .

[seb5]

I certainly understand loosing fine motor skills but I firmly believe that if you've used and trained a certain way for 100,000's of rounds that your training will allow you to do this task. I mean after all is it my trigger finger! I am wondering if there is a belief that it is more positive or more reliable?

[NCPatrolAR]

My question is if there is any real advantage to using the charging handle vs. my trigger finger?

Simply put; no. Unnecessary manipulation of the charging handle tends to lead to malfunctions

[Ironman8]

I certainly understand loosing fine motor skills but I firmly believe that if you've used and trained a certain way for 100,000's of rounds that your training will allow you to do this task. I mean after all is it my trigger finger! I am wondering if there is a belief that it is more positive or more reliable?

I think you've pretty much already answered your question all by yourself

[seb5]

Yea probably. I thought I might be missing something. So, no more feeling like a monkey with a football when reloading then.

[Ironman8]

Yea probably. I thought I might be missing something. So, no more feeling like a monkey with a football when reloading then.

The only thing I can think of suggesting is to add an "extended bolt release" (such as the Magpul BAD, Tactical Link, ect.) to give yourself a bigger "target"....but like you said, if you've trained tens of thousands of rounds a certain way and can do it consistently/smoothly/efficiently, then you should be ok.

[Failure2Stop]

I know very few trainers that advocate use of the charging handle for an emergency/dry/speed reload (depending on whose dictionary you happen to be using).
The bolt release paddle has demonstrated fewer failures to feed than racking the CH in my observation (Colt, FN, Diemaco, BCM, Noveske, S&W, Daniel Defense, and LMT guns primarily; both as a military instructor and open-enrollment class participant).
I have seen failures of the CH (bent, broken, worn) that stopped the gun when the CH failed.
Racking the CH is slower to get the gun back into action, once the shooter intuitively knows the location of the bolt release.
I won't say that this applies to ALL rifles, but for the AR, it works very well.

[Ando]

The bolt release paddle has demonstrated fewer failures to feed than racking the CH

Exactly this. Screwing around with the charging handle is much more likely to result in a failure to go into battery from riding the CH.

[Wicked]

I'm left handed and have always loaded from an empty chamber (ran dry) by using my weak (right hand) to grasp my mag from my weak side hip with the cartridges pointing to the rear, inserted, push/pull and then use my left trigger finger drop the bolt home.

My question is if there is any real advantage to using the charging handle vs. my trigger finger? Am I missing something or overthinking this?

I am a Lefty also, and I reload 'beercan' style and pop the bolt catch with my left index finger exactly as you describe. The process works quite well for me. Apparently, it works for you also. I've never found a valid reason to revert to using the C/H during a reload. My timed reloads prove it's faster for me and at this point it would be a major PITA to retrain and switch to a different method.