Igloodude Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 I shoot SS, and over the last half-dozen matches, have had sporadic trouble with seating the reload magazine all the way in (along with occasional misfeeds and noob mental errors). A couple days ago, after a gunsmith tune-up of my old .45 1911 and using couple-month-old new mags, I'm feeling confident about today's match now and do my first dry-fire session in a couple months, focusing on draws and reloads - the reloads with a handful of plastic snap-cap rounds I have, a couple per mag in three magazines. In the dryfire training I get to the point of doing the reloading with my eyes closed. Fast-forward to the (local club) match. First stage, start with the magazines in a box, so went into a shirt pocket for speed, and... failed to seat either of the reloads completely. I thought maybe it was because of the reloading out of my pocket rather than my belt. But then pretty much the same thing on the next stage, with conventional reloads. The stage after that was a classifier, and suspecting the problem, I loaded to six rather than eight, and had no problem with two reloads. Then, fourth stage, and... one of two reloads, same problem. It was during the classifier that I think I figured it out, that I'd essentially trained up to fail on reloads - the one out of eight rounds meant a much less tensioned spring, so the mag seating was far easier than it was with full eight round loads, and I trained up to not seat a full magazine with enough force. This week I plan on loading up a couple dozen powder/primer-less dummy rounds, and practicing my reloading that way with full mags, to finally fix this unfortunately ingrained behavior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djp55 Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 When I started reading this I knew right where it was going. Been there, done that. The handloaded dummy rounds are the best approach, cost effective and serve the purpose well. Moreso than the seating for me, since I'm production running 10 in a 17rd mag, was the weight. Empty mag or partially full mag doesn't weigh near as much as a stuffed one, especially with proper weight bullets. Good that you identified the problem, always the first step. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Better to learn that now, rather than during a "social emergency". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlmiller1 Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Sounds like a good step. May I suggest you do your practice reloads with the gun up in front of your face with your eyes OPEN. Best reloaders in this game reload with gun up & watching mag go in gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetToof Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Do you have any mags that seat easily with 1 in chamber and full magazine? I have an SW 1911 that had the same mag seating issues with anything non-factory. I just bought 6 more from SW. Find ones that work and stick with those only for matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, SweetToof said: Do you have any mags that seat easily with 1 in chamber and full magazine? I have an SW 1911 that had the same mag seating issues with anything non-factory. I just bought 6 more from SW. Find ones that work and stick with those only for matches. For ..45? Wilson ETM seat easier than the 47Ds. The tube is a hair longer but the gun still fits the USPSA box with the factory base pads. Edited September 4, 2018 by ChuckS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igloodude Posted September 4, 2018 Author Share Posted September 4, 2018 53 minutes ago, ChuckS said: For ..45? Wilson ETM seat easier than the 47Ds. The tube is a hair longer but the gun still fits the USPSA box with the factory base pads. Thanks, that's really helpful to know, I've been getting ready to buy a few more mags anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perttime Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 I haven't noticed any issues with full eight round Tripp magazines and one in the chamber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetToof Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 2 hours ago, ChuckS said: For ..45? Wilson ETM seat easier than the 47Ds. The tube is a hair longer but the gun still fits the USPSA box with the factory base pads. 1 hour ago, Igloodude said: Thanks, that's really helpful to know, I've been getting ready to buy a few more mags anyway. yeah they were .45 Issue was with the wilson 47D's as you said, difficult to seat properly, never tried ETM's. The Chip Mcormick 10 rnds go in fine but aren't legal. The stock SW which I think is ACT works the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverBolt Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 In SS wouldn't reloading from your shirt pocket bump you to open? Magazine forward of your hip bone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stick Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 It's always good to train with matches in mind. I had a similar problem seating mags in matches since I would always use empty mags. Now I use mags loaded with dummy rounds to simulate the weight and force required to properly seat the mags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Igloodude Posted September 4, 2018 Author Share Posted September 4, 2018 3 hours ago, SilverBolt said: In SS wouldn't reloading from your shirt pocket bump you to open? Magazine forward of your hip bone? Yes, but this stage explicitly specified an empty (holstered) pistol, and pulling full mags from a bin, and putting them away however you wanted while proceeding with the stage. My shirt pocket was faster to re-stuff than my belt pouches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlmiller1 Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 On 9/2/2018 at 7:48 PM, Igloodude said: In the dryfire training I get to the point of doing the reloading with my eyes closed. Thats not in your best interest..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmeh Posted September 5, 2018 Share Posted September 5, 2018 General rule: think of everything you can safely do to recreate the environment you are training for, and go from there! Just make sure you wear shoes and have padding to catch the mags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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