Reloads

[j1b]

I'd practice with some type of simulated weight in the mag. Personally I'd go dummy rounds - but if the blue things work go for it.

Reloads are one area where the weight and feel make a huge difference.

Just my 2 cents.

JB

[Jon Merricks]

I had some dummy rounds a while back that I had painted black but I cant locate em. Just wondering if anybody else thought there was a big diffrence. I guess I'll have to do some more. The one problem I do have with the dummy rounds is the mag speed when released.  Its so fast that the released mag hits the ground before my other mag is loaded. hehehe

[Shooter Grrl]

I use the CRTC Training mags for draw practice and indexing/dry firing because it FEELS like a loaded magazine.

I also use it for reload practice, but it only DROPS from the gun - I put a real mag IN when practicing.  The mag is filled with live rounds except the top 5 which are dummies.  This should prevent any truly serious accidents and has the added benefit of not wasting perfectly good bullets as dummy rounds.  

[Nik Habicht]

Call me anal ---- but I'm a firm believer in not having any live ammo in the same room as where I'm dryfiring.

[Duane Thomas]

Be careful about topping off the mags with dummy rounds - i.e. real metallic cartridge cases and bullets. Yeah, the weight is identical to the real thing, but, at least to me, that's the problem. In my experience, if you drop a fully loaded high cap mag on the ground, you can pop the welds on the mag and trash it. I once totalled a perfectly good SIG P228 13-shot mag by dropping it on my apartment floor during speedload practice.

[Jake Di Vita]

What I try to do every night, or close to it at least, is go home, fully load 3 mags with dummy rounds (no primer or powder) and do 200 practice reloads, dropped mags over something soft to avoid the problem that Duane was having.  Just in about a week, I shaved almost .3 off each reload, and it is also now easier to get back on target.

[Duane Thomas]

"Which emuffs are recommended?"

Dillon of course! Skip the frustration, go straight for the top. They cost less than what you'll normally find in your local gun store, and you get a better product.

[shred]

While I've never tried the Dillon muffs, I like my ProEars.  And they were not only cool enough to donate some to a prize table so I could win them, but also to swap that pair out with the set I wanted.

[sfinney]

Ditto on the Proears, I like mine.... and they DO come with volume controls, if your "hammer falling sounds like a squib" you've got then turned up to high!!  

[EricW]

If you guys really like Pro Ears, I'll sell you a set of mine.

Check it out:  

http://www.brianenos.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard...1&topic=193

(Edited by EricW at 9:06 pm on May 6, 2002)

[gm iprod]

I have both, ordinary and e-muffs. I like both. I shoot mainly NRA Action. When I am shooting well I can hear the projectile hit the target, they are always an X.

I always make my kid use the electronic ones at the range. I see to many kids lifting the muffs to hear what all the big people are saying. With the electronics they leave she leaves them on ALL the time. If I see them off, she gets to sit in the car for 10minutes sorting brass.

I have Peltor 6S (Dillon 6S) and the new HP1 from Dillon.

[jhgtyre]

Reloads

---

Don't get stuck or  be obsessed with "time." Study every movement you do. Before you can elimimate wasted motion, you have to find it.

be

---

• How Far to Bend Those Arms
  
• How Fast is Fast?
  
• Wasted Motion, Wasted Time
  
• When to Reload
  
• Reloading as a Core Skill
  
• Weak Hand Mechanics
  
• Refilling an Empty Revo
  
• A Long Discussion
  

[Law Dawg]

I agree with storm. I used to dry fire with empty mags until I began dropping the mags at real matches, due to not seating the mags properly. Now I use dummy rounds, and has improved my game drastically!!!! Strongly recommend dummy rnds..

[Loves2Shoot]

I think you have to have the "real weight" of the magazine when practicing reloads. I do not drop my full mags though, generally. They fall too fast and when I'm actually shooting I generally don't drop full mags so I want it to feel the same in practice. After I reload I stop, take out the heavy mag, put in one with two dummy rounds in it, move the heavy mag to the pouch I want to draw from and repeat.

I made a "trampoline" out of pvc and cargo netting for catching my mags when I practice. This is a nice tool to bring to the range too, you can do mag changes all day long and not get dirty mags, you don't have to bend over very far to pick them up either. Maybe if I get motivated, I will try to post a pic here. I think it cost me $10 to make, and worth every penny.

[Steve Anderson]

I think you gotta use loaded (dummy rounds) mags to dry fire. One of the many mistakes I made early in the year.

Went to a match, drew a loaded, heavier gun and the feel was very alien.

Load em up. I dry fire in the basement, and the dummies stay down there, live rounds never go downstairs.

SA

[BrazilianShooter]

Hi there!

It´s my first time here and first of all sorry for my bad english.

I use an old broken magazine full of a projectiles between the elevator and bumper, the magazine is heavy and i pactice draw and reloads with a heavy gun.

I do that because we can´t practice reloads and draw in the safety area whith a dummy rounds, and this works for me.

bye

(Edited by BrazilianShooter at 9:25 am on Feb. 6, 2003)

[EdGI]

Snap caps are expensive. I bought fmj heads and a new shells and injected it with  a glue gun.It also protects the firing pin from worn out since the rubber glue works like a shock absorber, absorbing the impact from the firing pin.

(Edited by EdGI at 1:20 am on Feb. 6, 2003)

[spook]

I always use dummy rounds, because I got frustrated at reloading with empty moonclips.

[Dani]

I practice my reloads also with dummy rounds, and i do it in front of my bed, knees almost touching the bed, so the dropped mag doesn't hit the ground ! .

I agree with Love2shoot, I do the same,  the idea is to drop an empty or almost empty mag and insert a full loaded one.

[bird]

I guess I am once again the odd man out as I prefer to do my reloads with empty mags.

I find that my natural adrenaline during a match makes me seat my mags proper.

I do 90% of my dry-fire mag changes in slow motion over a davenport in my garage with my eyes closed.

I find the trick is to pause at the magwell before inserting the new mag.

Ultra slow motion is very hard to do but it makes me pay attention to every single little detail.

[megaman]

static, my best reload is 2.02 at 10 yards with A hits, but i average arround 2.5 secs.  how fast does the super squad reload?

[BigDave]

I'm suppose for a standing reload, anywhere under 1.00 sec's is fast.  I've heard stories of 0.60-0.70 reloads, but I don't know how accurate that first shot after the load was.  

Keep on practicing your reloads, it will come.  Just pay attention to what you are doing, learn, and repeat.

[Ron Ankeny]

Don't know about the Super Squad, but I used to (need to start again) track a series of drills each month, one of which was a static reload. In April of 2001 my par time was 2.05 seconds. When I stopped tracking improvement in June of 2002 the par time was down to 1.31 at 10 yards. I really don't think I have lost many matches because of 1.3 second reloads. However, a lightening fast reload is vital when shooting classifiers, standards, and speed shoots.

I have hit several sub-one second reloads in matches but those are not the norm. I have hit a lot of one second reloads when doing the draw, fire, reload, and fire again drill at five yards, but my accuracy sucks.

Like Big Dave suggests, just keep practicing. It took me over a year, with daily practice, to shave off .8 seconds.

(Edited by Ron Ankeny at 8:33 pm on Mar. 11, 2003)

[Loves2Shoot]

Anything under a second "every time" is good.  I know at 7 yards .6 - .7 are possible but A hits at that speed are more from index than sight picture in my experience. That is the hardest part, everytime. I practice reloads everyday and it takes that type of practice for me to maintain a sub 1 second reload in practice. I am about 1 - 1.1 in matches. BE says in his book that they need to be instant, so take that however you want and be patient, and don't force it. The speed will come with time and focus. See what you need to see, sight/magwell/sight, and in the long run mag changes will be second nature.

[Steve Anderson]

Matt Burkett has a great section on reloading on his first video set, plus we see him nail a .71 reload.

Practice with a decreasing par time, you'll be there as soon as you put the time in.

I do a draw, fire, reload, fire drill in dry fire as low as 1.6 when I'm "on" and relaxed. These are close index shot distances, but I do see the dot.

Just takes practice.