Improving mag changes

[Trey]

In trying to improve my reloads, I notice the the first one is fine but as my hand moves across the belt the reloads suffer with slight fumbles or slower times.

I've been looking at the magwell and trying to watch it in but the "grab" is what I'm having problem with.

Do you see your hand remove the mag with your peripheral vision or not? Then switch your attention to insert/seat the mag?

I've been trying to move my head as little as possible to have economy of motion.

What do you do/see? Your thoughts?

[pwalker]

Practice, practice and practice...

I always move my hand to the first mag pouch, regardless of which pouch contains the next full mag. Then, if the first pouch is empty, the hand slides rearwards along the belt to the next pouch and so on. (If you reach the last pouch and still have not found a full mag, you are in deep doo-doo). This all happens very fast - I don't think you will gain time by trying to remember which mag is the next full one and then moving your hand straight to that pouch.

Mag changes can be improved in dry-firing.

Put on your belt, fill your pouches with (EMPTY) mags, gun in holster.

Have something to aim at (spot on wall, flower pot, etc).

If you have a hard floor, put a piece of carpet or something soft in front of your feet.

Get your wife, son, daughter, friend, housemaid, whoever, to stand next to you on your mag pouch side.

As the mag falls from the gun, get them to catch it and put it back into one of your empty pouches. My son and I play games with each other by randomly holding onto one or two of the mags to ensure that we are practicing pulling the next mag from a different pouch.

Draw, click, change mag, rack, click, change mag, rack, click, change mag, rack, click, change mag....

Do this until your arms are tired. Then rest. Then do some more.

After a while, your weak hand will instinctively go to the right place and grab the mag every time.

Then go to the range. Set up four targets in a row. Three mags on your belt, one in your gun.

Draw, fire 2 shots, change mag, fire 2 shots, change mag, fire 2 shots, change mag, fire 2 shots.

But, to answer your specific question: your eyes should be on the gun. You should never need to look down at the mag pouches. Often, mag changes are done on the move, so you need you peripheral vision to keep moving in the right direction...

Regards

Peter

PS. I suggest you change the topic to "Improving Mag Changes" to avoid confusion with reloading brass.

[Trey]

Thanks pwalker.

I so "try" remember where the next full mag is and that is part of my problem. At home with dryfire no problem but it doesn't work well in practice/matches.

[Unleashed]

I have started practicing my mag changes and draws with dummy rounds (no primer, no powder...just case and bullet) loaded in the mags. I used to always use at least one dummy round in the mag so that the mag would insert easier. I do it now for the weight. I started noticing the difference between dry fire mag changes and practice mag changes at the range. The weight makes a big difference when you have 19-20 rounds of .40 in the mag. So now I put about 12 in each mag (I can't bring myself to load too many dummy rounds). I feel like my "real" mag changes are starting to pick up in speed now that I am practicing with mags that are closer in weight to a loaded mag. I also do the same thing for draws. A fully loaded mag in the gun really makes that draw feel different. Just food for thought.

Just be careful not to mix up dummy rounds with real ammo! My dummies are clearly marked so I don't become a dummy!

[pwalker]

I do like the idea of dummy rounds to simulate the weight of real bullets for dry practicing mag changes - if I could overcome my fear of getting real rounds confused with the dummy rounds...

I do use a handful of those red plastic dummy rounds, to better simulate the mag sliding into the magwell, but they have almost no weight.

In a recent match, I dropped a mag as the first round fired after a change. In practice later, I discovered that I was not always pushing in the mag hard enough to properly seat a fully-loaded mag.

If I was using your idea of dummy rounds at about the right weight, this problem would never have happened.

But, I think that it would be better if you did fill the mags completely, as you would in a match. Because a completely full mag needs that extra push to get it in. Even one less round makes a big difference becuse, when a mag is tightly packed, there is almost no give left in the mag spring, so you have more force pushing back from the slide release.

Regards

Peter

[Skywalker]

Walker,

I use dummy rounds for my (rare) dry firing sessions, and I feel they give me a better practicing than empty mags.

Having said the obvious, I'd like to point out the following:

- my dummy rounds are assembled with bullet and brass only, the throath of each round (between rim and brass body) is painted in bright green to clearly identify them,

- I keep my dummy rounds in a clearly marked box, separated from live ammo,

- I double check when I load my mags for dry fire,

- I never chamber a round during dry fire practice.

Does it sound safe enough for you to try it?

[Loves2Shoot]

It doesn't hurt to look at the mag you are going to grab. It doesn't take any more time and you don't even have to move your head. Just a thought. That is how I reload in pretty much the same time from any pouch.

[kevin c]

I've jammed my gun by dropping the hammer on a primerless practice round - the FP decided to stay in the flash hole. So for reloading an empty gun, I use snap caps or fired primer in, well marked practice only rounds, so I can rack in a round and drop the hammer. For just mag changes, it doesn't matter, primer in or not, but I do like to match the weight of a match mag (there are those who disagree, though).

Back to the original topic. Like pwalker, my initial hand position for reloading is straight to the first pouch, but with a sweeping motion back towards the second pouch, and, if not stopped by picking up a mag, back on around to the other mags. That way the movement from the gun always is the same for me. If the first mag is gone, then the hand moves on the the second, third or fourth (if I'm shooting L10 or Prod.) as necessary.

The drawback is that the sweeping motion means the reloads after the first aren't as fast as they could be if I went straight to each pouch.

[Trey]

Thanks everyone! Great stuff to work on.

Here's my idea for the weighted mags...

I have dummy rounds that are machined from brass. They are solid brass and weigh pretty heavy. Put 4-8 of those in a mag and then top off the mag with the orange plastic rounds. That way there could be no confusion.

[Mad Scientist]

Hey guys,

For me the key to fast reloads was not full speed practice.

Ibreak down the different aspects of the change.

(1) break grip weak hand to belt keeping the gun up out front at eye level. the gun never moves from this level.

(2) rollgun hit button. This is very important we all know what happens if we miss the button.

(3) roll gun back over and acheive proper grip with strong hand.

Grip for me after mag change is more important to me as readjusting and hunting for the sights slowsdown that smoking reload.

(4)with first finge along top of mag LOOK mag into the gun Gun slightly canteed.Agin gun has not moved bring mag to mag well.

(5) follow thru on the mag change with the heel of your hand. this puts your hand into position to slide up into firing position. this also avoids that nasty time robber of mag falling out of gun.

(6) as the hand moves up find target center sights will follow (look up)

break shot follow thru break shot follow thru.

Note when you are making a reload the tendacy is to rush the last shot to get to it. I have found that this results in a mike and negates even the smokenest reload.so I gues the 1st step yo a reload would be to complete the previus shot.

after you break down the reload you can practice each individual aspect

until it is instinct. once you get to this point put them together as one fluid motion and you have a smoken reload.

I would strongly recomend video taping your practice and look at them at a time when you can be totaly subjective.look for the gun droping wher your head is (are you looking the mag in)

For me mag changes are done in kind of a slow motion aditory slowdown in a match. I see the mag fall,the mag, the opening ,the seat ,the grip ,the sights .

Mag changes are not a place wher a competitor can make up large amounts of time in a match but at the same time they can cost you a huge amount if they are bobled .smooth is fast.

my.o2 Johnnie

[AWLAZS]

Do any of you guys use the blue pratice mags?I like the weight of the dummy rounds in a mag. The mag sure takes a beating if I mess up and it hits the ground.

[kevin c]

Do any of you guys use the blue pratice mags?I like the weight of the dummy rounds in a mag. The mag sure takes a beating if I mess up and it hits the ground.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have them, but for there are a couple drawbacks that I have found (at least for me).

First, the mags are, IIRC, standard length, and weighted as though a fully loaded standard mag. If you run a nonstandard length/basepad/# of rounds in the mag, the feel of the blue mag won't match what you run in competition. That may or may not bother you (it does give me some problems).

Another thing is that the repeated slamming of the the mag into the gun has, even with a light mag catch spring, caused a gradual denting or wearing to the blue mags in a groove running from the notch for the mag catch up towards the feed lips. All the mags I used in practice, and I had four of them, developed this groove, and two of them have it so deep that they will not stay in the gun anymore.

Now I mainly use the blue mags to weight the gun on practice draws, and load the dummy rounds into my match mags for reload practice.

If you are doing dryfire reload practice, you can do it over a bed or sofa or cushions on the floor. I use a cardboard fruit crate, about 8" deep, padded with towels, on top of a stool over my concrete basement floor.

Out of doors, if you aren't keen about dropping a full mag onto hard surface (though we all do it), I've seen people put down a layer or two of old targets. Provided your range surface isn't as flat and hard as asphalt or concrete, that seems to be enough "give" to prevent damaging the harder/more brittle plastice basepads, or to at least prevent the scuffing or scratching of the metal ones.

fwiw

Kevin C.