Reloading...

[ScottQ]

I've been shooting USPSA for only a couple of months, shooting first my HK USP .40 cause it's what I had, and then my 9mm Springfield XD. Until this past week, I've been shooting purely in production, even using the HK .40 in Production instead of Limited-10, as it's a good reminder to keep getting good hits.

Well, my XD was off having some work done, and I had a new 1911 that I wanted to try out, so off I went to my first club match with my 1911. It was going to be my first time shooting Limited-10, and my first time with the 1911, Safariland holster, and 771 mag holders.

I'd watched Matt's video, had the holster adjusted so I was happy with it, had the mag holders adjusted just so, and I'd been practicing draws and reloads at home the night before, to get used to the new setup.

So I get up to the line, load a round from the 8 round mag in my pocket, and then load up the furthest back of the four 10 round mags I had on my belt. Only a 24 round stage, so I'll shoot 8, reload, shoot 8, reload, and shoot 8.

Well, the first 8 go just fine, and I reload and take the next 2 targets with 2 rounds each. Somehow my brain malfunctioned, and while moving to the next 2 targets I reloaded again. Well, that's ok, I have an extra mag, so I'm not worried, other than the small amount of time I lost on the unnecessary reload.

Then I get to the last reload, and reach my hand back to find nothing there. Imagine my surprise. Well, I had to dig my extra 8 round mag out of my pocket and load it to finish up the stage, which was NOT very good for the old timer.

What do you suppose I found when I got finished? Sitting there right on the front of my belt was a full magazine staring at me. I'd been shooting Production so much, in the heat of the moment I just passed that one by.

Lets just say that was not my smoothest stage.

Scott

[John Dunn]

At the 2003 Area 1 match I was shooting Limited 10, on one stage I had a couple of misses on steel, and in the heat of action couldn't remember after the reload if there was one in the chamber or not. So I do what I thought was a quick press check while moving into a port. Afterward a squadmate said, "I think that's the only time I've ever seen anyone move slow enough to do a presscheck after a reload!"

It still cracks me up thinking about it, but it seemed the thing to do at the time!

[traxman]

Well, the first 8 go just fine, and I reload and take the next 2 targets with 2 rounds each.  Somehow my brain malfunctioned, and while moving to the next 2 targets I reloaded again.  Well, that's ok, I have an extra mag, so I'm not worried, other than the small amount of time I lost on the unnecessary reload.

I did this exact thing thing last week. I'm so used to shooting an array, reloading, and shooting another, that I shot four, reloaded, shot four, reloaded and moved to the last 8 shot array...

At least I'm getting good reloading practice.

What I learned from this is: I have conditioned myself to shoot and reload based upon a pattern and rhythm. (see Benos' book) This is a bad thing. It lets me know I need to practice different arrays and learn to reload acoording to a need, not according to a reflex.

traxman

[Stuck in C]

And by the way, under the new rules all mags have to be in pouches (whatever that really means)-pulling a mag from a pocket is supposed to be a procedural, although I haven't seen anybody get dinged for it.

[JFlowers]

Stuck,

I would think, given the wording of that rule, that you could arbitrate such a procedural. The rule states "5.2.4 Spare Ammunition, magazines, and speed loading devices should be carried in a retention device specifically designed for that purpose, to reduce the risk of loss during a course of fire." There is a lot of difference between SHOULD and MUST. Plus, how many people have enough mag pouches to handle 6 mags (for PRD and L10) when they start?

[Bear23]

I've done the same thing.

First time i shot the star last July (04') i emptied 4 magazines. i had 1 mag left for the rest of a 32 round stage. I was shooting L-10.

[diehli]

I had the same problem, even though I'd never shot Production. The way I'm built, it's neither comfortable nor fast to pull one from my belly. I found that out by continually missing it and grabbing the second one. I just moved everything back and put my first mag where my second one was.

[Stuck in C]

JFlowers-you're probably right, I just skimmed that rule, I'll have to read it again.

Edited April 19, 2005 by Stuck in C

[litman252]

I shot a IDPA match that required 18 rounds for a stage, I like to keep the gun full so I decided when to reload ahead of time. I hear the buzzer and my brain dies, shoot 6 and reload, shoot 4 and reload, I have a full gun for the last "window". Problem is I reload again as I come to the window, nothing like diging in the pocket for a mag, only one to find was the one with 3 rounds, could not finish the stage........................

Tony

[Jasonub]

My worst match this year was yesterday. 5 stages. I did well on the first 3. then i dont know if its the heat 36 degrees in our country, the glare (im using yellow lenses on my rudys), or the hunger\. I did not eat my lunch and it was 1:30 pm.

Or the fact that i assumed that i need to win my last 2 stages to win the match ( shot very fast, over what im capable of)or a combination of the above.

anyway the last 2 stages was a 32 round stage and a 9 round stage.

on the 32 round stage i shot quickly and had to reeingage 3x due to misses. the reeingage is ok if i knew i missed, i did not know i had to look at the targets and counted holes, shot those without the required 2 holes

stage time was 29 seconds! I know i could get it at 23 seconds with great hits at my pace. But i needed a 22 or 21 seconds to ensure a win.

next was the 9 round stage. i was hungry now. its 2:30pm already. i was 4th on line. then as the third shooter was shooting the wood holding the activating plate broke.

15 min later he shot. so im next

shooter in the box holding stop sign condition 2. on the first box you can see 3 targets. 2 ipsc boards and 1x 8 inch plate that activates a hardcovered swinger at around 20-22 meters. on the second box you can run forward and see another ipsc target hidden by a car and you can see the plate and the swinger also another target that you can see at 20 meters. This time the distance was around 18-20 meters.

So i shot the activator at 20 meters then 2 statics. ran to the next port aiming at the swinger. i shot it and was transitioning to the last target but i dont remember what was the target that i did not shoot. i hesitated, shot the farthest left target, cursed, hesitated shot the other target. time was 11 seconds. I could have done it at 9.

i dropped to 12th place with all of the screwups! (rant mode off)

guess what i did not really need to shoot that fast to win. if i shot my pace i could have won

[Fireant]

Hey, things like that happen even in limited. Last month I went to the line with the min. number of mags for a speed shoot stage(never carry the min.). When I went to do my reload I commpletly missed my gun. That's right, I never even touched the huge magwell I have. I threw the mag clear accross the bay. I'm on video asking the RO why he didn't catch my mag as I searched for another in my pocket. Did I mention to always carry all your mags to the line?

[prestonj12]

Welll.... I was at Area 1 a couple years ago for the Area 1 3-Gun championship. Rifle stage, requiring around 40 rounds. In my infinite wisdom, 2 30 round magazines should be more than adequate. Moving from the first array to the second, moving my trigger finger out of the trigger guard to the MAGAZINE RELEASE, magazine falls out of the rifle, I attempt to catch it, miss, and a magazine with 24 rounds falls to the ground and EXPLODES! The base plate pops off the magazine and the spring shoots 24 .556 rounds all over the ground. My brain screams to me at this point that my second 30 round magazine won't be enough to finish the stage. I press on, shoot my 30 rounds to a slide lock, and leave 4 steel targets Failure to Engage and 4 Misses.

I always carry all the magazines I think I'll need, plus one more. JPF