Nik Habicht Posted May 8, 2002 Share Posted May 8, 2002 I'm all set to shoot a 20 round field course in a match. I'm the first shooter up after being the second to last guy on the stage before. On LAMR i pull an empty mag out of the last pouch on my belt, look at it and put it back. I load with one of the other four mags on my belt. The R.O., trying to be a nice guy suggests that I shouldn't start with an empty on my belt. I misunderstand, and tell him that I've got 40 rounds and I'm confident that I can get through the course. I miss some shots on steel and sure enough, I miss a couple of pouches while going for my second reload and I yank the empty out of the pouch. Fortunately I realized it was empty before I shoved it in the gun. But it sure wrecked my reload..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinney Posted May 8, 2002 Share Posted May 8, 2002 It also helps to make sure your ALL of your mags are fully loaded before EVERY stage.... Area 4 @ 96 I think, I had a stage with a couple low count strings, so downloaded my mags to about half capacity for some dumb reason... Next stage, I never topped off my half empty mags, ended up doing about 5 mag changes when I should have had only 2. (most of them from slide lock!) I always load my mags full at matches now, regardless of round count. Lesson learned, knock wood! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted May 9, 2002 Share Posted May 9, 2002 A friend told me to: NEVER PUT AN EMPTY or PARTIALLY FULL MAG BACK IN YOU POUCHES. ...good advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vluc Posted May 9, 2002 Share Posted May 9, 2002 Ouch...well, as we are relating... Shot my first bigger match last September - TriStates at East Huntingdon. One stage "Osama bin Loading" I think was the name....any rate, large number of targets visible only from certain angles through barricades (more a memory test than anything else). Had just returned from lunch, I was first or second on this stage, did the walk through...thought I was ready. As i usually load and check after the previous round, I did not check, so....get up to the stage, LAMR with my full "loading" magazine, remove it and slip the next mag on the belt in. Start the run, first 10 go off fine, reload, bang, bang, bang, click, click. Reload. bang, bang, bang, click...same for the remaining mags. Time was terrible, ended up finishing with the laoding mag, but what a disaster...and me a newbie to boot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted May 15, 2002 Share Posted May 15, 2002 Mas Ayoob did the same thing at the World Shoot in Bisley in the 80's. If he sees you putting a partial mag back in your belt pouch he practically slaps your hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted May 15, 2002 Share Posted May 15, 2002 Or, don't start with a full magazine in your gun, and forget to rack one in the chamber. How I did that - I have no clue. Wow, did I feel like a (shooting) retard. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 I did it once...and it's only going to happen once. Now, after a stage, my first order of business is to load every mag to capacity and double check it. E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 Well count me as the newest member of the club. Cost me high HF in L10 at our last practice match. Getting complacent I guess. I always start with a full case, 100 rounds, of ammo and load all 5 mags then check the case. It just looked different for some reason. Didn't pay much attention. I was using a different case and just thought that was it. I usually double check all the mags too. I didn't this time. Got to the line, load and make ready, buzzer sounds all 8 popper go down one shot each. Reach for the reload and what do I pull out, an 'empty' mag. Tossed it and grabbed another. I'm usually meticulous about my ammo/mags. I always check and top them off after I'm finished. Going to ensure it doesn't happen again. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSeevers Posted July 1, 2002 Share Posted July 1, 2002 As said above I never put an empty mag on belt. First time you do your buddy starts talking to you and well you know what happens. I do also try to load mags after the stage run. Not before the next one. Keeps me from hurrying if I am first on next stage. This is another "powder keg" of problems if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lumpy Posted July 2, 2002 Share Posted July 2, 2002 This is one of those things you do once and once only. I had a buddy pick up my mags at a match, he put one into my belt. You guessed it, I went to reload on the next stage with an empty mag. Now I take all mags out and load them before they even get near my belt. Oh and my buddy got a smack on the back of the head. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gm iprod Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 Never hit a man, when getting even is so much more fun. Next time he is around offer to clean his gun. Take the firing pin out and replace it with one that is 3 mm shorter. Lots of laughs at the next shoot, but not for him. I suspect it will take him about 2 days to figure it out. Which should enough for you to move states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singlestack Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 I did it Sunday. I was shooting production for the first time in quite a while so I was not used to so many mags. 30 round course of fire. I had it planned with 2 reloads. First reload, my mag hangs up and I have to knock it out with my reload mag. Second reload goes well. First shot after second reload and slide locks back. I thought I had thumbed the slide lock but noooooooo, I had stuck a completely empty mag in the gun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonub Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 I already know this so its useless to post it. Well thats what i thought, it was the last stage of a level 2 match and i was tired. my sv holds 17 and it was a 32 round stage. Previous to this i had a short course that i shot. i shot it well and put the used mag on one of my pouches. the third one. Ok since i figured 17 x 2 is 34 and i will reload when there was still 1 round in the mag ( i usually do not reengage targets)i figured no problem. so i put the second mag in and racked the slide at lamr. i put the third mag in the second mag pouch(where i got the lamr mag and where i put the semi filled mag.) I shot it well and during the reload i fumbled, the reload mag missed and fell and since we know just to forget that mag and reload using another mag, i forgot about it as it dropped away and pulled my next mag(the partially filled mag) and you know what happened next... bang bang bang bang bang bang(damn this is easy) bang bang bang click. rack click. stage over It caused me to drop to 9th overall at standards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9MX Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 ...It caused me to drop to 9th overall at standards dude, never thought it would happen to you. major bummer..but then again as we always say...NENA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer-lock Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 I have done at least one of everything mentioned in this thread. This is how I fixed it: Load all my mags before the shooter meeting using a “pull ten, load by fives, then check witness holes” routine. Load the belt with mags, checking each one as I go. I carry my start mag and barney mag to the line. At LAMR I gas’er up with the barney mag, put the empty in my back pocket, then insert and seat the start mag, checking it as I go. After I clear the line I return to my bag and remove ALL of the mags on my belt and replace them with fresh, loaded mags, once again checking as I go. After I am fully topped off, I sit down and start over. I try to move away from the crowd when I am loading mags so I can concentrate on the round count. If somebody asks me a question when I am prepping mags I will dump all the rounds and start over after they leave. After reading all this I am sure you think I am a compulsive neurotic and you would be right. But I know when I yank the trigger on my light saber, it will go boom. What happens after that is another story. geezer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Norman Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 As a general rule, I empty my mags completely after a stage, verify that the tubes are clean, considering the dust and dirt on some ranges is like talc, then reload fully. The only time I strat with less than 100% full is on a COF that is VC where I need to shoot say 6, relaod and repeat. There I tend to load up to say 15. Witness holes on Para make this nice. Problem one however is the Dawsons vs the Para +2's I've run dry once or twoice having used my +2' at 18 rather than the Dawson's at 20, Feels really dumb, the Mag was FULL, but capacity was just short of the count required. The only time you can have too much ammo is if you are in water and can't swim. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted October 25, 2004 Share Posted October 25, 2004 I actually do put partially loaded mags back on my belt after showing clear, both the mag in the gun and those ejected during the COF. But then, I always unload all the mags, including the full ones, down to the same witness hole (thanks, Beven) and then either top them off or fill them to the same mark. They then go into my ammo bag until I'm called for the next stage. Then each mag gets checked again and topped off if not already full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Marques Posted November 3, 2004 Share Posted November 3, 2004 hey Jim, that line is copyrighted! You need to get into a rote that "do" everytine. I never had the donwloaded mag problem, until this year at the 04 Mid-Atlantic Sectional. I donwloaded mags for the stage prior and NEVER pulled them off my belt. Sure enough I needed them thar buwets! DOH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eye Cutter Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 ...or never start a match with an empty gun!!! DUH!!! taken during a recent level 2 match, pistol on top of table, no chamber load. as i picked up the pistol to rack the slide, the magazine decided to fly south for the winter! what a doofus!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhino Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 You're in good company, Cousin EC! If I had a dollar for every time I've seen a mag fall out after a "gun on table" start, I've have a rather nice fund for ammo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcoliver Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 Doc, I thought you were shooting Open with a big stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 Hey, the gun is important too! I had a 32 round field course where you started seated in a Comfy Chair (Python fans out there?). The empty gun is on one table that is located about 3 yards away between the chair and another table that has ALL the mags for the stage that is about 3 yards away from there. I was shooting a single stack, so there were 4 mags that I had to deal with. The layout of the stage was a pretty simple hoser thing with clusters of 4 targets. So, I focus on setting the mags on the table, the sequence for picking them up, etc. Damn, I'm ready for this stage! The buzzer goes off and I was just about to start picking up mags when I realized that my strong hand was empty! Yup, mag focus, so I ran right past the gun! Now it gets really funny, when I ran back, I ran backwards so I would not break the 180 with an empty hand As homer would say, DOH! Funny how when things turn to crap, they do it in a big way! Later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywalker Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 EC, sure there are worse places where this could happen... Can you imagine a stage where you place your gun (laid flat ... ) next to a hatch where the ground is some 4m below, and where you start some 5m behind the gun? Well I dashed to the hatch and the gun, I went prone and picked up the gun at blazing speed, only to see the mag falling down the hatch. Had to make a prone reloading, and then start shooting... ...there are worse positions where this could happen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackdragon Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 The HORROR! Ivan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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