How to Do Speedy Reloads?

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

Ok, I just got my CheaperThanDirt Molle Chest rig yesterday, (I know, I know but 120+ is a tad too much for gear I’ll never use seriously, besides, I still got some mil-surp Alice gear if I have to get serious) and it has these eleastic mag-keepers in each pouch. I was wondering how to speed up my reloads despite these buggers being in the way. I have made shoestring magpuls by running them under the floorplate and tieing them up to make the puls.

So which way do you face your mags? (Feed lips up/down, bullets pointing left right) And where do you put the elastic band? (as far as on the left/ right side of the magpul) Do you have any special tricks to get them out?

This is for AR mags, not tilt lock mags, if it makes a difference (or whatever they’re called, the kind for the M1A and the AK)

Sorry if these questions are a bit trivial, but I get uncomfortable when my reloads take longer than 5 seconds with no mag retention.

2

One of these?

My friend has one, and the elastics are way too tight on it as well. Couple that with the pouches being too deep, and you’ve got a hard time yanking the mags out of there. Not sure exactly what you can do to improve that situation.

As for actual reloading technique…well I’m sure you know that some bona-fied training from a reputable instructor is the best way to get a handle on these things, so I’m not going to lecture you on that. In the meantime, try this to get you started:***
Feedlips down. Assuming you’re right-handed, if your belt buckle was 12:00 noon, bullets would all point clockwise. Pull them out of the pouches by the baseplate with your left hand, with your pointer finger running up the front of the magazine. Meanwhile, cant your rifle to the right (ejection port towards the ground) and tuck your elbow against your side - your strong hand will be at about shoulder level and the mag well will be right in front of your face. Now point that mag right into the well (you did let the old mag drop already, right?) and seat it fully (Don’t be afraid to watch this happen in front of your face – it’s great if you can do it will scanning for threats or whatever, but looking at your target only means you get to watch him shoot you, if you’ve got an unloaded weapon for 30 seconds while you fumble, load one mag backwards, and drop 2 before getting your gun running again). Anyways, now you’ve slammed it home and are sure it’s seated fully…except you’re not sure, until you’ve pulled back out on it to double check. Now, hit the bolt release (slap it, thumb it, whatever works for you) or run the charging handle if you prefer. Wah-lah! Loaded gun now. Shoot something (someone).

***Disclaimer: I am in absolutely no way qualified to tell you how to reload a carbine properly. This is just something to try if you’re bored and don’t have anyone remotely authoritative on the subject to listen to…

3

Im not a fan of that whole in front of your face thing. While reloading a dry weapon is the most important thing you will do with the rest of your life, loosing your SA could be just as fatal.

Just my 2 pesos

4

We teach “cartridges down, nose of the round facing your strong side”.

5

That’s a better way of saying it.

6

Yep, its that one. Of course, mines OD, I don’t live in a desert, and I’m not in a SWAT team, so OD for me.:smiley:

Here is what I’ve done. First off, I’ve added a stuffer to the pouches (crumpled paper towels:D ) that push the mags up about .5 inch. Now here is how my mags are, feedlips down, bullets facing my center. My elastic keepers have been losened a tad, and the nylon “handle” at the tip is now straddling with half on the front of the mag and the other half on top. The effect is that now, I can put my thumb through my magloops and push the remaining portion of the keeper “handle” off the top of my mag, and pull the mag out in one motion. Success!!!:cool:

7

His is OD too :slight_smile: It looks like it’s almost an exact copy of an SOTech Falcon (??? I think that’s the model)

Careful that you don’t accidently introduce crumpled paper towel bits into your bolt/chamber area when you pull out a mag and it’s stuck in the feed lips without you knowing it.

Also I’d put all the mags with bullets pointing the same way, like Striker says above. Otherwise you’ll get a “backwards” mag after you switch sides of your body.

8

Good warning about catching the bits in my feedramps, yikes, I didn’t think of that.:eek: Off to find something a tad more secure.

I’ll give it a try with the bullets facing the same way, but my reason for it is that I change hands when I change sides reloading, but I’ll give it a try along with relaoding mags from the right left handed.

9

USMC03 tells a story about a guy with a gum wrapper in his gun from sticking his mags in his back pockets without checking first…that story stuck with me and I thought of it when you mentioned the paper towels.

10

As stated above, beware paper towels! Or anything else that can deteriorate w/ use. I would try to find something very dense that you can also cut to the length you want, like foam rubber.

We issue the MOLLE Field Load Carrier (FLC), which is worn over an Interceptor vest. These are issued w/ 3 two-mag pouches and two grenade pouches. We dictate: two mag pouches worn on the weak side panel, one mag pouch and the two grenade pouches (one atop the other) on the strong side panel. This allows the majority of your mags to be easliy accessible to your weak hand for reloads, w/ your grenades accessible to your throwing hand.

Unless I am not visualizing your rig in my mind correctly, you should not have to switch hands to reload. Ideally, you should be able to run your long gun w/o breaking your hold on the pistol grip. There is a thread on 10-8 forums about topping off your “easy to get to” mag pouch from your “harder to get to” mag pouch, when there is a lull in the action, kinda like a gear tactical reload. I’ll see if I can find it.

ETA: It is in the "tactics discussion ection, top of page two “Why do partially loaded magazines go “some other place”” - Lots of good info from people who do this stuff exclusively.

11

Go to a surplus store and buy a GI Ensolite closed cell foam sleeping pad and cut it up for bits and pieces. Find a really ratty one and dicker them down on the price.

It will neither deteriorate nor retain moisture.

I use these to make liners for soft packs to keep sharp objects from sticking me in the back. It could be used to fill the bottoms of your mag pockets.

12

The foam in the mag pouches is a good idea, i used to use a roll of Kerlix (medical gauze in the bottoms of mine) when i was running an SOTECH chest rig.

13

Instead of making EVERY pouch on your rig speedy, you should designate one pouch as your “go to” pouch. You should practice good magazine management.

Most of the time, to keep your gun feed and happy, you should be doing a tactical reload.

(My definition, no immediate bad guys, no immediate threat, I have a lull and have fired Unknown amount of rds, so I want to put a fresh magazine in my gun so if I need to engage again, I’m topped off. You do this when you want to…not when you have to ).

You want to do this vs a Speed reload (My definition, actively engaging , no secondary weapon, ) and I run the gun dry and NEED to get the gun up ASAP).

You want to have a specific pouch that you ALWAYS go to (Day or Night) and you know there will be an easily accessible fully loaded mag waiting for you. Folding back a pouch lid or having an open Kydex style pouch where there is just enough friction to give you some retention is what your after.

As you have a lull in whatever shooting activity you find yourself, you back fill your easily accessible pouches and your designated “go to” pouch with loaded mags from the less accessible and harder to reach pouches. Empties and partial mags go in dump pouches,down your shirt, etc. This is ammo management.

Then you practice your speed reloads from one pouch vs 6-12 in various locations.

After you get comfy and can do this quickly, you can practice by firing 2 rds from each mag and then drop it and speed reload to each mag on your kit (firing only 2 rds) until you have shot every mag on your kit. (it’s a workout for you guys who run 12 plus mags…:wink: .

Careful you don’t drop your partial mags on a hard deck (e.g.concrete) when you do this. Here is where magpuls come in handy.

Just some tips from your Ole Uncle Harv…:smiley: