I'll drift with ya, but just for a little bit and will try to keep it with this topic.
The reload started when he went to grab for his magazine as he stated in his post. "I went for a mandatory rifle reload and squeezed off a round before releasing the mag" So here, since he said I was reloading when this happened, he was in the "reload".
I think the "when does the reload start" is an area that is not as easily defined but in this topic, it is.
When would you say his reload started?