I understand the accepted method for clearing a double feed on an AR platform is to pull the charging handle to the rear, lock the bolt back, strip the mag, rack the bolt, give it some ammo and go. Today I was at the range with some buddies and I was doing some malfunction drills on my own with one of the AR’s there. I did some thinking, and wondered; when clearing a double feed, why not just pull the charging handle back, drop the mag with your finger, and let the bolt go back forwards? As long as you’re relieving the tension on the second round by pulling the bolt back, I can’t see how locking it to the rear or not would make a difference. In the daytime you can see if the rounds fell out. At night you’ll have to rack the handle a few times anyway. You could eliminate the fine motor movement of pushing the bottom nub of the bolt release altogether, which I would imagine would only be more difficult in low light situations and stress. I tried it a few times and it worked just fine. Now I have never seen combat so I have no idea how this would work under that kind of stress, so I thought I’d ask here. Is there a reason the bolt must be locked back first? Is there an increased chance of another type of malfunction if not locked back?
I have seen this malfunction clearance performed a bunch of different ways. When this type of malfunction occurs naturally you won’t just be able to release the magazine due to the rounds holding it up. Once it is out, you may see the two obstructed rounds held together at the chamber area and racking the bolt will only lock them in tighter! Dropping the magazine containing rounds onto the ground should always be avoided as that magazine could represent a large portion of your front line ammunition state.
A true ‘double feed’ will see a loose round in the receiver body, normally associated with slamming the magazine onto the weapon with the bolt open (combat reload) and a second round being stripped from the magazine (after releasing the bolt during a combat reload). Both rounds will be attempting to load themselves into the chamber. The bolt will be about half-way home and being held by the round in the magazine. Because the round in the magazine in caught partially on the feed ramp and partially stuck in the magazine, it prevents the magazine from falling free from the weapon (more often than not). Hence, the magazine will need to be forcibly stripped from the weapon.
By locking the bolt as the first phase of the clearance you will immediately release the bolt pressure from the obstructed rounds, allowing the magazine to be removed easier and prevent the bolt from slamming home, potentially locking a damaged round into the chamber area. You will have to lock the bolt at this time anyway to clear the obstruction. So you can save yourself a step by locking the bolt first.
At this time one of two things may happen; the rounds may fall free from the weapon (gravity assisted) or the rounds will be bound up in the body and will need to be swept free using the middle and ring fingers of the support hand through the magazine well opening while retaining the magazine.
Charging the working parts three times should follow to ensure that the chamber is clear. The magazine should then be replaced and finally the weapon needs to be charged to chamber a round.
This is what we teach during our RSS Carbine Level 1 courses. This method of clearance is designed train the student to clear the malfunction to within 99% accuracy in any conditions.
Once a student is deemed competent in performing this method repeatedly under stress, they can then be taught to short cut the drill where possible. For example, once you sweep the rounds clear you may be able to inspect the chamber during normal conditions and see that the chamber is clear. The shooter can then simply reload the weapon and continue.
For military and Law Enforcement purposes drills like these need to be more robust as they need to be performed under a variety of conditions, such as night/dust/snow/smoke etc. Clearing malfunctions under these types of conditions become increasingly difficult as you may not have the ability to look or feel. In these cases, the integrity of the drill is maintained to ensure the malfunction is cleared to within 99% accuracy. What the drill can’t fix is a damaged/broken part.
Jason,
Where do you teach your students to secure the magazine while clearing the stoppage?
Thanks
are you sure about that?
pardon the one-handed videography. the carbine is vertical, you’ll just have to take my word for it. and my hand is not making contact with the magazine holding it in place. if it was going to fall free it could.
agree with Jason that once the choreographed method is learned and the student has achieved a level of unconscious competence at the clearance they will naturally start to diagnose in-process and take shortcuts where appropriate.
It’s called a “Rip Drill” for a reason.
And the first rule of a rip drill is to remove the spring tension if at all possible.
Well, it does depend on who the audience is. For military personnel that are going through level 1 training, I teach them to rip the magazine off and stow it into the dump pouch so that they are not attempting too many dexterous tasks at the same time. Under stress they are likely to drop the mag or unsuccessfully complete the drill because of this.
If they are competent and are advanced learners, I get them to retain the magazine in the support hand. The magazine is brought between the optic sight and the forward rail interface with the rounds facing the shooter. In this position, they can visually inspect the magazine in order to determine if all rounds are fully seated prior to replacing it onto the weapon. They can also charge the weapon with a pinching grip using the thumb and the index finger on the charging handle. The magazine is held rounds up in the palm of the support hand while charging.
For LE patrol officers, I teach to stow the mag into a pocket of their duty uniform in the absence of a dump pouch or any other tactical gear. Typically Patrol Officers will only carry two magazines and sometimes those mags will be coupled together. There are a lot of Patrol Officers that are either not competent or not confident enough with the weapon and just like a level 1 military student I have them stow the mag until they are able to perform multiple dexterous tasks at one time.
Retaining magazines is always the order of the day.
Thanks…that’s exactly what I was looking for.