MagPul Dynamics Malfunction Clearance

Training Training and Tactics
1

Gents,

I borrowed the latest MagPul Dynamics “Art of the Tactical Pistol” DVD from a friend and watched it, and the “Malfunctions” portion of the video got me thinkin’…

They teach a more detailed diagnostic method of addressing the different types of malfunctions during the video instead of just relying on the “Immediate” and “Remedial” action drills to clear each type of malfunction. For example, (for those that havent seen it) they advocate that instead of reverting to the “Immediate” or “Remedial” actions drills, to look/observe which type of specific malfunction you have, and address it directly with a specific action for each specific malfunction type.

For a “Double Feed” they teach to observe & identify the double feed, bypass the “Immediate Action” (Tap/Rack) and go directly into the Remedial Action: Lock the slide to the rear, rip the magazine out of the pistol, rack (and observe the round clear from the chamber), and then reload and carry-on.

For a “Stove Pipe” they teach to observe & identify the stove-pipe, and instead of reverting to the: (Tap/Rack) “Immediate Action Drill”, to instead just simply reach over the top of the slide and sweep the casing out of the ejection port, and carry-on.

For a “Out of Battery” malfunction, they teach to observe the slide out-of-battery and address it directly by simply striking the rear of the slide in-order to force the slide back into battery, and completely bypass the “Tap/Rack” all together.

The way they diagnose each type of specific malfunction is when the stoppage occurs, simply bring the pistol up into the “Work Space” and elevate the muzzle of the pistol approx 10 degrees to be able to clearly view the top of the slide, ejection port, etc.

I feel their method is practical as long as the lighting is good enough for you to be able to see specifically what is going on with your gun, but im not sure this is something I would want to spend time instructing new & old officers on employing.

If it is something that I decide has value, I guess I would then have to instruct their “Diagnostic” action method, along with the standard “Immediate & Remedial Action” drills for Low/No light situations where the shooters may not be able to see what is specifically going on with their pistols.

Basically: If you can see what specific type of malfunction you have, then address it directly and carry-on. If you cant see what specific type of malfunction you have, then revert to the “Immediate & Remedial” action drill.

What do you guys think???

Thanks in advance for your feedback…

2

I think it’s all about trade-offs.

If you’re going to diagnose the problem you may save some time by not performing useless steps but you have to take your eyes (or at least your focus) off the target/threat, get your brain to function well enough to actually diagnose, and you need to have an alternate plan when you can’t see well enough to conduct the diagnosis.

If you’re going to immediate/remedial your focus can stay, or go back to, the target for at least the first portion, and works whether or not you can see the gun, but may be slower to run through the immediate action steps when they won’t resolve the problem.

The immediate action methodology assumes (IMHO rightfully so) operator error or a dud round is going to be the cause of the problem, and the diagnostic methodology assumes mechanical failure.

I can tell you that I have been at no/low-light matches and shoots and watched as shooters get a malfunction and immediately go scrambling to get their light on the gun so that they can diagnose the problem. Well, scrambling is the wrong word as it usually takes an agonizingly long amount of time.

3

Thanks Rob,

Makes sense.

4

Magpul Dynamics teaching methodology and approach is very effective as they emphasize the fundamentals - always going back to the larger perspective or question insitutionalized procedures as being most efficient, and ask shooters to not accept what they learn as absolutes. They don’t just simply regguatate widely accepted shooting techniques and tactics. With regard to their technique in addressing malfunctions, it is a sound approach to identify and diagnose the issue, than to drive on following procedure that would take too many steps or worst make the malfunction harder to clear. Like with any problem in general, we should first properly identify it before remeding it. I don’t see any disadvantage incorporating Magpul Dynamics approach in dealing with malfunctions with what is already being taught - by emphazing if possible ID the problem first before applying a solution in an ideal-world, but you did bring up good points on low light or no light environment, though a more critical point would be realities of what happens physiologically under stress.

For example, there was a distinct time where I remember, I was shooting under the clock, had a unqiue stove pipe, where the next round chambered but the previous round fired was still trapped somewhere in the upper, instead of identifying that a shell failed to extract, due to time constraints and stress I went immediately into a tap, rack, bang. Well, what was at first a simple stove pipe, became a double feed with one of the hardest malfunctions I had to clear from my AR from memory. The stove pipe that failed to clear the bolt was now lodged perfectly between the bolt and charging handle, that I could not push the bolt to the rear with charging handle, and could not extract the magazine due to the double feed. To clear the malfunction I used the corner a magazine to push the bolt back, simulateanously locking the bolt to the rear, and then was able to clear the double feed. If I were to ID the problem first, simply removing the stove pipe, then it would have prevented the need to go into remedial action.

However, even if I were trained extensively to first identify/diagnose, I think under the similiar levels of stress and the time constraints, presented with the same problem above, I would have probably done a tap, rack, bang, because majority of the time from my experience that immediate action fixes most problems. I suppose this is a training scar, easier to learn, harder to unlearn.

5

if i can’t drill it, i’ll never get it right under pressure, and i think this is the same for most guys. i suppose if you’re a battle-hardened, steely-eyed killer and your heart-rate never goes above 65bpm in a firefight, you might be better off trying to assess your malfunction, but i just stutter and fumble if you take me outside the bounds of muscle memory.

since a lot of malfs are difficult/impossible to induce during firing, “drilling” for each of these is just not gonna happen… so until somebody puts out a malfunction-simulating training pistol, i’ll stick with TRB

my non-instructor point of view, take it or leave it.

6

bkb see the viking tactics channel on youstube for kyle’s malf drill. “three little kitties” if memory serves.

7

Just buy a crappy 1911, try to trick one out yourself with the wrong tools, and cut a couple or loops off the mag springs.

8

After having cut my hand and seen others do the same; I’m not a fan of this. I stick with Tap,Rack, Ready for clearing the stove pipe with the handgun.

9

Exellent point on the three little kittens.

After running 50 yards, then trying to diagnose 3 different malfunctions, the stimulus is there to quickly diagnose the problem and get the weapon back into action. That drill will get you to think the malfunctions through, and you will be better for it. I’m very glad to have taken Kyle’s VTAC 1.5 course.

A Pistol and shotgun variation, would be an ideal training aid.

10

(This is a repeat for some)

Even for my personal training, I keep it to LCD style training, under worst assumptions.
I know I can properly and quickly assess each stoppage of fire on a square range in daylight. At night, under stress, I’d rather not rely on it.
Clint Smith’s simplified pistol malfunction clearance toolbox is what works for me. I’ll give up half a second for the confidence of knowing the pistol will fire the next round.

11

You said it all right there. Malf clearing is WAY over blown. It’s more romantic bullshit.

Know how to clear a malf for sure… especially if you’re a 1911 tard. But realistically, it’s either not going to happen, or you’re going to get shot up fucking with the shit anyway.

The notion that you’re going to rationally clear a cluster fuck while bullets are flying at you is fucking absurd romantic horse shit in the first degree.

12

Hopefully self preservation will cause you to dive for cover, before attempting malfunction clearances in an actual gunfight. Otherwise, natural selection, will take it’s course…LOL!

13

There are two clearences that clear most issues with the M4 system. Immediate and remedial action will deal with most of it. I run my guys through all the drills and all the steps when working through these issues. The one thing I’ve observed through the many students who have rolled through is that the observation meathod doesn’t work at night or even on the move. Am I saying not to observe when possible…no. But folks who routinely bypass the steps because the malfunction they induced wasn’t really that hard to clear frequently fail to perform all the steps when plan A doesn’t work. For instance. For a stovepipe/ soft malfuction, tap tug and rack will clear both. To create another clearence is not necessary when the one technique is fast and solves both issues. I was never taught the sweeping meathod of clearing a stovepipe on the pistol or carbine, but have spoke to many who have. It was a short lived technique because there was just that one casing that cut them. One thing I like to put out is a slight roll to the ejection port side to let gravity clear out anything that might be in there. I’ve been out at night where I could barely see the hand in front of my face let alone identify a stovepipe.
With the hard malfunction (double feed) the M4 is notorious about trying to load either a spent casing and live round into the barrel extension or sometimes two live rounds at the same time. Often, the motion of the bolt coming forward wedges the two together. The standard malfuction clearence of the pistol (which has been adapted to the rifle) may not do it. It is common for instructors to adapt one way of doing things to another for simplification and in most things, I would agree with that philosophy. The M4 systems are different and to treat them the same as a pistol may not be the best thing. With the M4, locking the bolt, pulling the mag out are always the same. The difference is sweeping the mag well with the middle and ring finger before dropping the bolt. Its a quick plung to verify everything fell out. I have seen students look right at the rounds stuck in the barrel extention and try to reload the weapon. Why, because they developed a habit that may not have been the right one. I have also seen students look at what they thought was a clear chamber, re-insert the mag and drop the bolt and create a new malfunction. (Dark chamber with a fouled casing) They saw what they wanted to see, a clear chamber.
What’s the answer? to observe or not observe? The best delivery I have used is to have the students do all the steps so they don’t forget any of them. This is re-enforced when the same hard malfunctions have to be cleared in low light. On the day if they can look at it and consiously shortcut the drill to make the weapon work again, great. At least they are well equiped at the highest level to deal with every scenario. Observe when you can, but understand how to do it blind. Just another perspective. Hope it helps.

14

i’m familiar with the triple kitty, and have done it a time or two, and similar attempts. but these are more of an “exercise” than a real “drill” that can be done for extended/regular periods of time. any drill that takes 10-15 times longer to set up than to run before reset just isn’t going to be a part of regular training. especially when you figure that the drill is severely limited in that you’re not experiencing a malf suddenly, unexpectedly, and having to quickly assess and react to. any malf drill is easy when you’re not only totally expecting it, but dont even have any distractions from it aside from burning lungs.

not to say these exercises shouldnt be done- they should, for what value is gained- just that they’re not up to snuff for regular and/or prolonged drilling and gaining unconscious proficiency/muscle memory/etc.

off topic, but this is actually a huge point that seems to be horribly lacking in most training- mostly individual, but often in “professional” training/classes as well. is it just me, or does pretty much nobody train to manipulate from cover? reload, clear malfs, move to and from… i never see it, and it’s pretty fuckin critically important. all i ever see is guys line firing for speed and accuracy, working on fast/smooth reloads, etc- which is all good, except you don’t fight standing still in the clear blue. you sure as shit shouldnt be trying to reload or clear malfs while standing around under fire.

i’m so opposed to line firing, these days. it has it’s place for fundamentals… but really, its like practicing for a Watkins Glen at Talladega.

15

The same could be said for all the training most of us do. It’s the best we have. IMHO the three kittens is about the best we have in terms of malfunctions.

If you believe that malfunction clearance should be part of your training and that three kittens doesn’t meet your needs, then come up with something else.

16

no, it’s not the same. the drills we run on the range are fast paced, engaging, quickly repeatable… you can run most drills all day long, stopping only to refill your pouches with fresh mags and shotgun another beer. you can run them over, and over, and over, and over, until you cant get it wrong. you can add variables to trip yourself or your shooters up, force improvisation, and you can do that all day long. and we DO this, and we’re still never feel like we’re “there” yet.

i’m not saying three little kittens isn’t a good drill, and i’m not saying it’s not beneficial to do- in fact i said it was, in my last post. what i am saying is that you (generalized “you”) can’t drill it well enough to make it an immediate action method. TRB can be drilled, and easily. run the triple kitty for remedial action, to be done from cover, when TRB doesn’t work and you’re somehow still alive.

17

so again, what’s the alternative?

It is possible to induce malfunctions with the use of dummy rounds, but that’s only one kind of malfunction.

Training (current trends in some “schools” notwithstanding) should be a building-block process. There is NO reason for people to be running around, diving in the mud, rolling around in the dirt, etc. if they can’t hit the target standing still. Same thing applies for malfunction drills.

Yes, you should be training to get to cover as the first thing. However in a building-block approach you first have to teach people to clear a malfunction period. Whether diagnostic or immediate/remedial action you want to teach the “walk” before you get to the run. Teach it, drill it with three kittens… and you’ve just about exceeded what the majority of your commercial class students are going to tolerate in a “shooting” class.

I’ve tried just doing the very most basic of malfunction clearance drills on our practice nights and we barely get through push/pull rack & roll and doublefeeds before people are starting to grumble.

So you’ve got a three-fold problem from a trainer’s perspective: the tedious nature of the subject matter at hand, the inexperience that virtually all shooters really have with clearing malfunctions at all, and the short attention span of the commercial trainee who wants to shoot not stand around and go through all that tediousnsess.

18

Depending on the size of the the group that is training you can run 3 Kittens with great ease.

Lets say you have 9 shooters total. Which means 9 rifles. As in the 3 Kittens drill you then have the 3 sets of 3 weapons arrayed out in front of you.

You have 2 shooters working to “re-malfunction” the rifles once they are fixed and one shooter acting as the coach.

The shooter who is actually running the drill runs down range, fixes the three guns and fires. The 2 shooter working party immediatley starts to set up the malfunctions in the guns that were just cleared.

The next shooter runs down to the next set of 3 broke guns and the process continues.

I have seen this run pretty damn smooth allowing dudes to get alot of reps in. There was also zero lag time from having to wait for malfunctions to be induced

PJ

19

I have found that loading an empty case instead of a dummy round in the magazine can add some randomness to the malfunctions generated.

20

Malfunctions are a must for training, and inducing them isn’t all that difficult. The problem arises when trying to induce them at random times rather than handing someone a malfunction-staged gun.

I’m much more of a pistol guy, have been for years and I noticed something at the Magpul class I went to a couple of weeks ago. When I have a pistol malfunction, I have always solved the problem much like they described in the AOTDP video. So, after a long time, it gets easier to do on the fly.

The thing that was a wake up call for me was with the rifle, which I’m admittedly not as proficient with, I started diagnosing a problem and forgot a step (chamber check) and caused myself more time and problems. That’s not even the scary part. The scary part is what happened to my feet. They stopped moving! Why? Familiarity, stress. Those probably have a lot to do with it.

With the pistol though, I can clear malfunctions while on the move without a problem, but that’s with many many more years of practice and working on it. Taking the time to visually identify the malfunction is a damn good idea. I do it just fine with a pistol, and can’t fathom why I choked so hard when it comes to the rifle. Time will tell, I guess. More practice, more practice.

Of course, that’s all on a square range, with only time as a motivator/stressor. I can only imagine what would happen if chunks of lead were flinging my way. Hopefully the repetitious nature of training holds.