Was this ever proposed? Must have been by somebody.
Was thinking if one loaded the last chamber of their starting load with a “hotter” round (more recoil and / or muzzle blast) they would know that was the last shot and it was reload / back up gun / or flee time.
I don’t see a down side. It won’t hurt follow up shots, because there won’t be any. If you did a partial reload you might lose track of where the “hot” round is. But that is an extremely unlikely scenario.
In a scenario where I’m defending myself I’m not going to be able to tell if “that” round was a 158 gr. LSWC .38 Special or a 125 gr., full house .357.
I believe that’s “auditory exclusion” or something.
My experience has been that ALL rounds sounded like a “pop” with the adrenaline pumping.
Bet is; you’ll shoot the gun dry and know it when your revolver goes “click/click/click”.
People can usually feel their rifle bolt lock back and see/ feel a pistol slide lock back after the last shot.
I don’t see why, done regularly in training and practice, a person wouldn’t notice the last shot of a cylinder full having more blast and recoil.
I’m going to try it out.
To be clear, it’s just for the initial load carried in the gun, not going to be indexing reloads.
Sure. On the range I can feel bolt lock/see slide lock, or could feel the diff between a full house and range load.
However- if you’ve shot on a range, with 15 other people shooting beside/around you it becomes a lot more difficult to make that distinction. Shooting to slide lock is a different story, the slide is my line of sight and is pretty obvious when it locks back.
I would give myself about a zero chance of being able to distinguish a hot revolver rd. from a not so hot rd. with someone shooting at me.
I’m not trying to be argumentative, just relating my experience.
Try it and see, it may work for you.
Totally agree. I’ve run my rifle to lock back and didn’t know it because I was aggressively drilling with movement. Multiply that sensory overload in the context of a real fight, and forget it.
Loading your revolver so the last round is hotter than the rest is a unnecessary complication.
When we shoot and know our weapon we normally feel when it’s locked back and empty.
We feel the difference between hotter and weaker loads. We (hopefully) recognize a squib load.
I think it’s very likely a shooter, even with the stress of extreme duress, will notice when the .38 rounds are gone and the last chamber, a .357 magnum load, has fired. Due to practice the shooter will recognize what that means.
Curious. If someone posted that a last round bolt hold open device could never be used to “feel” a rifle or pistol was empty during a fight 10 people would post they disagree in about as many minutes.
What about when your the only one shooting? If you were shooting a drill and a buddy secretly loaded a magnum round in your revolver I’ll be you’d notice when you got to it.
I’ve seen this. And you’re right. Standing on the range, you notice that magnum round snuck in at the end. But that’s exactly it, on the range in a relatively stress free environment when you’re wearing protective equipment. This is akin to loading the last round in your mag as a +P when your shooting standard for the others. It’s just not done.
^^This.
Of course I’d notice a single hot rd. doing drills- by myself.
Throw in sensory overload of a dozen guys around me, also blazing away and I’d have a really small chance of noticing.
Add worrying about cover, friendlies locacations, incoming fire, dark, muzzle flash, blah/blah- no way.
The biggest problem is loading the revolver in the first place. You have to roll the cylinder so the hot round it’s under the hammer every you close the cylinder. You also have keep accurate track of two types of ammo. Then, you have to load the speed loader with one hot round and take time to index it during a gunfight. This is more trouble than counting rounds.
Indexing the cylinder in the comfort of the range or home is no problem.
Indexing a speed loader isn’t something I’d do.
This is just for the rounds that are kept in the gun.
What dozen guys around you?
I don’t think this is something you’d have to look for. It will just happen. Hopefully, because of repetition in practice, you notice. (By sight, sound, and/or feel)
If you don’t notice. Oh, well. Nothing is lost. I don’t see any negatives here but there are two positives.
Big negative. POI shift. From mild load to hot I’ve got a .38 that I get vertical POI shift of 8 inches at 20 yards. That is not a shift I want to deal with while dirty harrying my way out of a gun fight. And before someone wishes to pull statistics and how I’ll never need to engage at that range, you’re carrying a gun for a small chance it is needed, why not assume the worst.
I prefer to use a tracer on the second to last round. Got this tip from Gecko45.
Ah. I didn’t consider this.
The hotter round would have to shoot to the same point of aim.
Try it.
Let us know how it works out.
I’d rather have all the shots “hot”
THAT!
As someone that began his LEO career with a wheel gun at what seems a hundred years ago… We carried ONE type of ammo. HOT. With a wheel gun, it’s shot placement and ROUND COUNT. There was no “spray and pray” back then. We were taught to keep a round count. Back then, there was not 46 rounds of ammo on your belt. You had 18… Yup… 18 rounds to do your business or make an egress. That, and you better be able to reload because the bad guys were counting rounds also.
Funny… When I did my CWP certification a few years ago, they let us use the police video scenario trainer. They asked how many shots I fired… I always remembered exactly. That threw everyone off… Old habits…
Those tend to lead to slower, less accurate shots, though. But not with the last shot.