Reloading While Shooting Weak Hand?

[ExtremeShot]

My search didn't come up with much so I apologize if this has been discussed:

I was thinking about buying an ambi mag release for my SV (at a whopping $80.00) and it got me thinking about technique and how I would actually use it.

I'm right handed and all my mags are on my left side, therefore, if I had to reload while shooting weak hand (left hand), I'd either have to transfer the gun back to my strong hand then reload, or reach around and grab a mag (which would be backwards) with my right hand.

In the two years I've shot IPSC I've never had to do a reload while shooting weakhand. How often have you guys had to do a reload while shooting weak hand and what is your technique?

Thanks,

Darren

[Guy Neill]

There are two or three or four means of reloading a semi-auto weak hand only, but I cannot remember the last time such was required in competition. It thereby becomes something of a non-issue. I can explain if you like, but, as said, there seems little need these days.

Guy

[BritinUSA]

Weak-hand only reloads were used in the old days of IPSC. They pretty much stopped doing them as they were considered a little dangerous.

I doubt that you will ever see a course of fire stipulate a weak-hand only reload.

[ExtremeShot]

Now that I've asked the question, I can see something like this coming up in a future match.

I would imagine the reach-around method would be the quickest, however, releasing the empty mag would be difficult without the ambi-release.

Darren

There are two or three or four means of reloading a semi-auto weak hand only, but I cannot remember the last time such was required in competition. It thereby becomes something of a non-issue. I can explain if you like, but, as said, there seems little need these days.

Guy

[BritinUSA]

... releasing the empty mag would be difficult without the ambi-release.

You should be able to do it with the trigger finger, that's how most left-handed shooters do it.

[ong45]

Let me take a shot at this,

1. Drop the mag using the trigget finger.

2. While keeping the muzzle pointed downrange, flip gun upside down and pinch it between your knees.

3. Insert mag using weak hand.

4. Pick gun back up and rack against your thigh to chamber a round.

Am i missing anything?

[ima45dv8]

I don't think you can require a WHO reload any more:

10.2.8 "If a course of fire stipulates shooting strong or weak hand only, a competitor will not be penalized for using the other hand to disengage an external safety, to reload or to safely correct a malfunction."

[mcoliver]

Rewind several years back while I was still shooting a singlestack, I practiced something similar to this (and no, that's not me in the pic ):

[tightloop]

ong45

why would you shoot the thing dry weakhanded...we used to have one left in the pipe, put on the thumb safety and put it between our knees, reload and then regrasp with your weak hand again..

[BSeevers]

ong45

why would you shoot the thing dry weakhanded...we used to have one left in the pipe, put on the thumb safety and put it between our knees, reload and then regrasp with your weak hand again..

Those were the days. Crossdraw holsters, tie-down rigs, I remember a guy who used to put a mag pouch on his wrist.

Or does anybody remember the "special" rig for weak hand reloading? Picture a mag pouch that placed a bullet side up mag so you could kind of "slam" the empty gun to reload fast and go to shooting. Kind of a "Are you happy to see me" rig to really game out these stages when they were allowed.

[tightloop]

:-) Yes, we built a couple of the "happy to see you" mag holders especially for weak hand reloads.. worked great, but looked funny....

[Jim Norman]

Been to a three gun that required a disabled stronghanded reload. We shot dry, you had a certain number of rounds allowed to be loaded, dropped the empty mag, holstered, grabbed a mag, inserted it into the gun, and drew, IF your gun locked back, you dropped the slide and were good to go. Most of us were faced with reloading to a closed slide. Hook the rear sight on your holster and push down, away from your body, that racked a round in just fine.

Not something that I would want to see in practice by many of the people I have seen shooting. Also, thankfully I don't have low profile snag-free rear sights on My Para. That would have been a bit more interesting.

Jim

[Nik Habicht]

I've got a couple of wrong side mag pouches ---- they came in handy on a stage requiring nothing but weakhand shooting. Everybody else was fumbling the gun between hands, I reloaded like normal, only slower.......

[tightloop]

Nik

That was what we tried first, put the regular mag holder between your belt and pants, but nearly every stage that demanded a W/H reload assumed weak hand only and you could not use your right at all...so..the happy to see you mag holder...

[RPMartin]

At our club, BSPSC, the last match of the year, in October, we have the "Shiny Nickle" side match.

The whole match has to be shot weak handed. If you win, irreguardless of class, you win that years "Shiny Nickle" award.

This is not for the weak of heart, we are talking about 100+ rounds, 5-6 stages, all weak hand. It is fun, but brutal.

Those of us that play, practice weak hand reloads......a lot!

RPM

[Nik Habicht]

Nik

That was what we tried first, put the regular mag holder between your belt and pants, but nearly every stage that demanded a W/H reload assumed weak hand only and you could not use your right at all...so..the happy to see you mag holder...

TL,

I've seen some videos of long ago stages --- I get why you'd do that. I came into the sport under the modern "may use both hands to reload, clear jams, etc." rules --- so for me, having a couple of lefty pouches available comes in handy......

It's all still gaming, right?

[ong45]

ong45

why would you shoot the thing dry weakhanded...we used to have one left in the pipe, put on the thumb safety and put it between our knees, reload and then regrasp with your weak hand again..

Not running dry is ideal of course, i actually saw someone do this move at area 1 ( 2000-2001?) There was a virginia count stage with 5 pieces of steel and you guessed it, weak hand string. You had the choice of shooting the paper or steel array weak hand.

Edited September 26, 2006 by ong45

[scooterj]

Or does anybody remember the "special" rig for weak hand reloading? Picture a mag pouch that placed a bullet side up mag so you could kind of "slam" the empty gun to reload fast and go to shooting. Kind of a "Are you happy to see me" rig to really game out these stages when they were allowed.

There's a local guy that uses a rig like this every day. Joe has no use of his right hand and if you have never seen him shoot, you need to. Anyone coming to the Gator Classic should try to get here to see the RO's shoot on Friday.

[JFD]

I saw him and his gear in Front Sight. If not, it's someone with the same limitation (or not).

[scooterj]

That was Joe. I forgot about the write up in FS.

[DMS42]

I'm from Washington State. Back in the day we called them Idaho speed pouches. I still have one for Weak hand only and one for strong hand only reloads. I can remember doing the pistol between the legs reload. You had to remember to make sure that the barrel was pointed downrange. You also had to make sure that you had a good hold on the pistol with your knees. A dropped pistol during a reload was not nice. I've seen more than one gun get knocked out of between the knees while the competitor was inserting the magazine.

Another thing I can remember doing is a weak hand draw. Now that was a challenge. Clearing jams, racking the slide from a slide lock or from slide forward on an empty chamber were also causes of DQs.

[zhunter]

Now that I've asked the question, I can see something like this coming up in a future match.

I would imagine the reach-around method would be the quickest, however, releasing the empty mag would be difficult without the ambi-release.

Darren

Did he just say "reach-around"?

[ExtremeShot]

Ha, ha. ....very funny.

DM

Did he just say "reach-around"?