magazine launcher

[ErikW]

The stage was steel from a box, long run over to steel and paper around the right side of a wall, step left to port with three paper, reload, then hose 10 targets on the move. Last stage of the day, I had two 19 round mags and a 20 loaded. Put the 20 in the first pouch for the reload. Topped off from the spare mag, then loaded the 19 round start mag.

At the beep, nailed the steel and ran like my hair was on fire. Felt magazine fall off belt, bounce against left thigh. Watched magazine bounce of ground and skip, then come to rest exactly at the next shooting position. Ran a little slower as I did some math: my emergency mag only had 18 rounds in it but I needed to fire 20 rounds after the reload.

Got to the position, nailed the poppers and paper, then bent down to pick up 20 round mag. (Never considered that while practicing reloads the day before, every dropped mag popped out a round.) Considered shooting strong hand, then held mag against left side of grip. Saw only rear sight on the first target. Split times only marginally slower than normal on the remaining targets. Above-average reload speed as I left, consider the mag was in my hand, at the gun.

Finished up great. Good score, actually got two A on the target I only saw rear sight.

Lessons confirmed: carry a spare magazine for unexpected emergencies, shoot Alphas when something goes wrong to slow down a run.

Lessons learned: crank down the mag pouch tension on sprint stages, make sure the spare "emergency" magazine is full capacity.