Reloading in a Fight: Do it When You Can, Not When You Have To

Reloading or clearing stoppages should be practiced and done while on the move, if possible. Standing still makes you an easier target at a moment when you are vulnerable.

Reloading a semi-automatic pistol isn’t complex…unless you have to do it fast. Speed comes into play in three circumstances: the practice timer, competition, and self-defense. I once heard a famous instructor say “competition offers the same level of stress as a gunfight.” I’m not sure I buy that. First, I think competition instills more duress than stress and second, having bullets whizz past your head is like no other experience there is.

Serious shooters know how difficult a fast reload can be. The hands don’t work as normally, fingers fumble, and magazines don’t align with the grip quite as smoothly as they do when operating slowly. Now add someone who’s trying to take your life while you’re likely also moving, yelling, and lacking normal motor function and you’ll understand why reloading needs to be as simplified as possible through training.

What is combat stress? It’s the physical/psychological phenomenon that occurrs when your brain perceives danger and prepares the body for action. Simply, sensory nerves pass danger perception to the hypothalamus which in turn transmits a signal to the pituitary gland. The gland releases a chemical messenger into the bloodstream while the hypothalamus transmits a nerve signal down the spinal cord.

Both arrive at the adrenal gland resulting in the release of a flood of epinephrine into the blood stream. Cortisol is also released resulting in increased blood pressure and sugar levels. Also known as adrenaline, epinephrine is an efficient messenger that gets the heart beating faster so the body is ready for hard physical activity.

Simultaneously, the brain stem releases norepinephrine that travels throughout the body, all of which create an increase in circulation and energy to critical body systems and a downshift of less important ones into a “maintenance” mode where they function, but not at usual unstressed levels.

pistol reload training
Consistency is the key to a successful reload. Try to get the pistol in the same position every time. I prefer to have the pistol below the line of sight, but in my field of view. My elbow makes contact with my torso to ensure consistent placement.

This is why people involved in combat lose digital dexterity in which the fingers don’t function as well as they normally do. The fingers will perform, but will have greater difficulty performing tasks they haven’t practiced thoroughly.

What people call “muscle memory” is really “familiar task transference.” When practiced to this level, most any skill can be performed — even under extreme duress — when the chemical reaction of the body might be working against them. That takes time and effort to develop, as any skill does.

While interesting, you might wonder what this has to do with pistol reloading? Reloading a pistol quickly is a complex motor skill, requiring both fine and gross muscle movements to work together. It’s the fine motor skills that diminish when someone is attacking you. That said, there’s some good news. In this age of high-capacity pistols, reloading in a gunfight happens less often. But if you need a fresh mag, it’s a dire situation and not something you want to leave to chance.

Confidence is a product of skill. It’s important to have both.

What I’m going to say next will certainly fire up a few folks, but I do so in the interest of public safety. If possible, don’t shoot your gun dry. Currently, it’s common in combative shooting courses to practice nothing but slide locked (emergency) reloads. The argument is, “You might as well shoot the gun dry in training as that’s what you’re going to do in a fight.” While that may be likely, is it wise to train to make it inevitable?

Slide lock is a bad time to reload, especially if your opponent sees it. Changing magazines quickly in a fight is hard enough. Now include the time and effort needed to release the slide. Also, the emergency reload is unexpected, so recognition time will also be a factor. Add to this the possibility of automatically “tap-racking” when the pistol goes “click.”

What happens if, during a fight, the slide doesn’t lock back after the last round fired? Maybe your shooting hand thumb was resting on the slide stop lever. It happens. You might be pressing the trigger on an empty gun as your only load stimulus (a locked back slide) has failed, resulting in significant lag time.

An empty gun is a useless gun, so let’s load when we can and not only when we have to. By changing magazines when we choose to, we make the task less complicated and faster to get back to a fully loaded condition…a speed reload.

But why would you drop perfectly good ammo on the ground? You might need it. Think about this: You’ve been engaged in a firefight and expended an unknown number of rounds. Your attacker is moving, maybe trying to flank you and you have no idea what’s coming next. Would this be a good time to reload quickly…or try to save ammo by performing a dexterity-challenging “tactical reload?”

By performing a speed reload I now know I have 16 rounds in my GLOCK 19. How many rounds did I eject to the ground? In the thick of the fight, how could I know? I have no idea how much time I may have to reload in that event. Maybe I could retrieve the magazine at some point.

I’d recommend that you never give up a known for an unknown. Of course, this is all moot if you don’t have a spare magazine.

Tactical reload
The “tactical” reload can be invaluable as we age when bending over has become more painful.

Any time you add something to something you will increase the time it takes to accomplish the skill. Sure, you can practice to reduce the overall time, but it will still take longer. Dropping the slide on a semi-auto adds some amount of time.

Never mind that the process of releasing the slide is controversial in the shooting community. Some advocate a “power stroke” where the shooter comes up and over the slide, grasping it with a cupped hand, and then pulling back vigorously, actually hitting himself in the shoulder, ensuring “complete slide retraction” according to its advocates. It’s excessive considering the slide only has to move a quarter inch or so to be released. In addition, the shooting and support hands end up far apart, adding time to rebuilding your grip.

At the other end of the argument are the competition-based shooters who advocate using the shooting hand thumb to drop the slide using the slide lever, which is certainly the fastest method. The downside is the thumb is being tasked with multiple functions in a very short period of time (hitting both the magazine release and the slide lever). If your timing is off just slightly, the shooter could end up with an empty gun.

I’ve seen shooters hit the slide lever before the magazine is fully inserted on many, many occasions, resulting in a dead trigger followed by a “tap-rack” which slows the shooting response even further.

If you’re going to use the slide lever, consider using the support hand thumb to push it down. That adds a few tenths of a second, but ensures the magazine will be seated first. If an overhand grip is preferred, how about releasing the support hand, turning the slide into the hand, pull back like pulling on a rope enough to release it, upright the gun and then re-grip the pistol? It’s just as sure and simplifies the process.

At this point you might be thinking that loading when you want to and not when you have to sounds like a good idea, provided you carry a spare magazine. The harsh reality is many shooters don’t have the presence of mind to do it. The fact of the matter is, students of combative pistolcraft tend to shoot their pistols dry. I’ve fought it for decades, but gave up. I realized the time spent trying to introduce the speed load was wasted and I could be using it for other skill development. Students paid good money for my courses and I owed them as much as I could offer. Why waste time on something students just will not do?

Students continually shoot their pistols dry even during low stress introductory drills. Students in my classes will tell you I would continually walk the firing line offering the admonition, “There is no requirement to run your gun dry” or “It’s perfectly acceptable to top off your gun as you see fit,’” but students just didn’t do it.

What really surprised me was the number of folks who would step up to the firing line to complete a known round count drill and not have enough ammo in their gun to complete it. Often they’d say, “I meant to do that…I wanted to push myself through an emergency reload under stress.” I guess that sounds better than saying, “I wasn’t paying attention.”

Besides, if you know the reload is coming, there is no real “stress.”

Currently, there’s a movement in the training community to not practice reloads at all. “They seldom happen in real gunfights, so why bother?” Some trainers even advocate dispensing with the spare magazine. If the slide lock reload is a reality and it’s the only time folks will feed their pistol, then we need to work hard to execute them well.

This message will be unpopular in some circles. I’m messing with their chosen reality. No worries, just ignore that. I’m an old Fudd and don’t know what I’m talking about anyway.

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10 thoughts on “Reloading in a Fight: Do it When You Can, Not When You Have To”

    1. I did that once during a live fire drill in a course with conceal/cover tactics. Made my way across a course to a station offering cover, leaned out to place rounds on the required steel targets, then ducked back to safety while I dumped the mag and reloaded. I knew there was still a single round left in the mag, but the instructor assigned to me (there were four for our class of 30+ students) was watching and I was under a time deadline to complete the exercise. After I finished, he pointed to the mag on the ground and asked, “why did you leave good ammo behind?” I told him it was only a single round, and he shook his head and said “every round might be the one that stops the threat and saves your life…next time keep that in a pocket for retrieval, not cast aside and wasted.”

  1. I would add that it’s important to practice tactical reloading with a round still in the chamber (slide forward in battery) and full mags. Depending upon your gat, a full mag might require a little extra pressure from your palm to get it to seat and stay in proper place. That might mean slapping it with your palm, or squeezing with your fingers to clamp/close it shut.

    One private instructor I had to take to renew my CA CCW forcefully told the handful of students in that day’s course (including me with them) he never wanted to see anyone struggling with a reload, and that mags should always slide in easily and smoothly “if you know what you’re doing”. Well, he carried a 1911 Government that is a cinch to reload, while most of us were carrying true compact EDCs such as Shields, G43s, etc that can show some resistance when the round at the top of the mag touches the inside of the slide upon insertion, and require some pressure to close the remaining 1/8″ inch before locking shut. When I trained in former professional courses, I would always use my full size G17 which was always easy to reload. But for my EDC, it’s a bit different, and I quickly found that live fire reloads under time stress required me to think a little differently and adjust my hands to achieve a proper reload.

    Whatever gat you choose to carry, whatever stance, whatever ammo, whatever holster, whatever conceal position…train for it.

    1. This sounds like a point made by some instructors I’ve heard. On some pistol mags, not all, getting that very last round into the mag totally compresses the spring. There is virtually no more spring left. The stack of rounds in the mag is virtually as still as a solid bar. When putting such a “stiff” mag into a pistol with its slide forward, there is a LOT of extra pressure upward on the slide. This can be enough to 1. Prevent the mag from seating properly or 2. impede the movement of the slide, leading to a malfunction. This always seemed like solid information. Now I never “force” that last round into pistol mags where the spring is 100% compressed and there is not even an extra millimeter to spare. BTW, this has nothing to do with putting 29 into an AR mag. I have always loaded 30, and there is still a little “play” downward on the AR mag spring.

  2. “They seldom happen in real gunfights, so why bother?”

    The answer is simple…its because it can happen.

    I know from personal experience. I related the tale over at TTAG so won’t go into it here.

    1. “Some trainers even advocate dispensing with the spare magazine.”

      Yeah…uhhh… don’t do that… carry spares and practice reloads.

      Years ago I used to think that way…until that one incident over several in my lifetime. And that told me that although you might not ever need it, there just might be that one time you do need a spare mag or more than just one spare.

      If I had not had three 15 round magazines that day my wife and I would have died that day. And even then, when it was over and I had fired my last shot I had just 3 rounds left in my last magazine.

      So, ya can carry what you want…but if by chance you run into that one time where it could happen… its going to be really stressing to think “Damn it! I need another mag.”

  3. Personally, I am an advocate of the “New York Reload” school of thought. Why mess around learning how to drop a magazine, grab a full magazine, insert the full magazine, release the slide, and resume your grip when you can just grab a fully loaded second handgun all ready to go?!?!?!?

  4. Retired police officer, tac reloads are a very perishable skill, like anything weapons related one must practice to remain proficient. I would also share that as we age, we slow down on our speed of delivery of first shots. Tech has been generous to us who are growing older.

    Red Dots, Lasers other useful tools can help keep us in the fight. Barrel compensators all can contribute to elderly folk remaining “ dangerous” and “ Safe”.

    Admittedly I no longer practice my pistol skills like I did as a young man. I no longer carry a 1911 I’ve gone to a Glock 19, or a 42 or the Sig 365 with the built on comp. A game changer for the elderly wishing to remain relevant, and self sufficient.

    End of the day for us all, practice is critical, be it combat mag changes, or holster Re holster, muscle memory is key!

    While I have a large selection of carry weapons, I generally carry a Glock 19 with a red dot sight, and suppressor height backup sights. A Glock 17 mag and a 20 round back up is what works for me. A very good holster in what my friend Bill Buppert calls “ Dick Carry” crotch carry, for that consistency required.

    I read above that “ Some” are training no mag change? I’m amused, around here we don’t follow that nonsense, in fact my closest friends are Master Instructor’s at Thunder Ranch, over in Lakeview Oregon, we were police officers who worked closely many years ago. Mag changes pistol and rifle are worked and worked some more to gain the skills sets to achieve both a clean mag change and a clear mind to push thru in a gun fight.

    Dirk

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