Using slide release lever

[redcliff]

In a gun fight I will be worried about mag retention so that I can regroup and reload, so I perform a speed or tactical reload and put my empty in my pocket or dump pouch while engaging the "slide release" with my weapon hand.

This makes no sense to me. But I'm most assuredly not high speed/ low drag.

If you're not behind cover and run the pistol to slide lock, you drop the empty magazine and do a "speed reload" to insert a full magazine and can hit the slide release with your support hand thumb or overhand rack the slide to get back into action. Taking time to pocket an empty magazine and fire one-handed seems foolish. Are you recommending reloading while taking fire while in an exposed position when your defensive handgun is not empty? I certainly wouldn't think so.

If you're behind cover and do a "tactical" reload one of two conditions probably exists:

a. The pistol is empty at slide-lock in which case pocketing your empty magazine would be rather pointless, so you do a "speed reload" as above.

b. the pistol is not at slide lock because it's not empty, in which case doing a "tactical reload" makes sense, but the slide is in battery so you would not "engage the slide release with your weapon hand".

Maybe it's just my civilian mind-set that causes me not to worry about empty magazines; of course I don't know any civilians that ccw with drop pouches either.

Regardless of our difference of opinion, I thank you for your service.

[SilverTauron]

In a gun fight I will be worried about mag retention so that I can regroup and reload, so I perform a speed or tactical reload and put my empty in my pocket or dump pouch while engaging the "slide release" with my weapon hand.

In a civil self defense situation, the odds of Joe Q Carry needing to even fire the gun is minute. Not impossible, but minute nonetheless. Criminals are not suicidal, and once they realize their mark is armed they'll set about finding something else to do with their time quick, fast, and in a hurry. Should rounds be fired,even the most narcotic-ally impaired goblin will realize he's been shot several times, especially if its though the CNS. At that point he'll be dead, incapacitated, or if ambulatory out the door before you even run dry of ammo.

Law Enforcement and Military have different mission needs, and thus for those categories occasionally reloads are needed. I am of the attitude that training an officer to be proficient with an 8 round firearm far and away is better than a lame powerpoint and 4 17 round reloads, but the latter situation's cheaper for police agencies to fund.

[Sbasham]

If Im in a gun fight, I wont be pocketing my magazines. The time spent pocketing i could have had my support hand back on the weapon ready to engage again. But I also don't have combat training. and like you said you have done it so many times youre trained to do it.

[Tjfearl]

This is hypothetical: So lets just say you were in a LA gun fight like back in the day and you just kept throwing your mags away(leaving them on the ground) and you move from cover to cover, then you run out of mags but you have a box of bullets in a cop car. What do you do now?

[Gryff]

This is hypothetical: So lets just say you were in a LA gun fight like back in the day and you just kept throwing your mags away(leaving them on the ground) and you move from cover to cover, then you run out of mags but you have a box of bullets in a cop car. What do you do now?

If your mags are empty, it's time to do an Usain Bolt.

Which reminds me...if you are in the middle of the LA riots with nothing but a handgun...that is also time to do an Usain Bolt. The gun is just there for you to fight your way clear.

If you are wearing a dump pouch, you better be smarter than having just a handgun.

[JNunez23]

I stopped using mine after I was "informed" of the same thing. Possible marking/marring the pistol. I try no to do it to my weapons, and NEVER anyone else's.

[9mmepiphany]

I'll play

There are some flaws in your hypothetical:

1. That box of bullets in your car wouldn't do you any good anyway, because you'd have to get back to the car to make use of them
2. Even if you had the bullets on your person...you wouldn't because they are heavy...magazines are painfully slow to load.
2a. If you didn't mind the weight, you'd carry extra magazines on your belt
2b. More likely, you'd have extra loaded magazines in your car
3. Even if we go with the box of bullets in the car, you'd still have the empty magazine in the gun...or at your feet.
3a. You wouldn't start moving until you had reloaded; if you are trained correctly, you don't release the magazine in the gun until you are pulling the fresh magazine from it's pouch

[Tjfearl]

I'll play

There are some flaws in your hypothetical:

1. That box of bullets in your car wouldn't do you any good anyway, because you'd have to get back to the car to make use of them
2. Even if you had the bullets on your person...you wouldn't because they are heavy...magazines are painfully slow to load.
2a. If you didn't mind the weight, you'd carry extra magazines on your belt
2b. More likely, you'd have extra loaded magazines in your car
3. Even if we go with the box of bullets in the car, you'd still have the empty magazine in the gun...or at your feet.
3a. You wouldn't start moving until you had reloaded; if you are trained correctly, you don't release the magazine in the gun until you are pulling the fresh magazine from it's pouch

Yes true, but I was more picturing moving from cop car to cop car. If you were engaging from each position, running dry and just dropping the mag and moving to another cover spot. because in the LA shootout the gunmen were moving, they weren't staying still because they had AK's and body armor. People keep bringing up this dump pouch thing. I have a Molle belt with holster, mag pouch and pump pouch as my HD rig. it takes less than 10 seconds to clip it on and I am good to go. But I am just a paranoid FMF Corpsman with some slight PTSD. OORAH!!

[Sbasham]

Dont most cop cars have 2 shotguns (lethal and less lethal), and an AR?
Do cops carry a back up handgun, on their ankle or somewhere else on their body?

[Tjfearl]

They should, but they didnt back then. If I was a cop I would have a back up for sure. Im not a cop so I don't know what they carry.

[9mmepiphany]

but I was more picturing moving from cop car to cop car.

Not all cops carry guns with interchangeable magazines or ammunition.

Departments have long advocated standardization of guns and ammo so that officers could share ammo. The usual response has been, If someone has used up all their ammo without effect, why would I give them some of mine to waste as well?

[Tjfearl]

Not all cops carry guns with interchangeable magazines or ammunition.

Departments have long advocated standardization of guns and ammo so that officers could share ammo. The usual response has been, If someone has used up all their ammo without effect, why would I give them some of mine to waste as well?

That is why you should retain your mags, not drop them on the ground and walk away from them. Im fairly certain that most PD's have a standard caliber at least.

[9mmepiphany]

Im fairly certain that most PD's have a standard caliber at least.

I think that is becoming more common, but my department offers the option of 9mm or .40 as issue calibers and allows .45ACP as an optional approved caliber on a personally owned gun

[Roland Deschain]

I'm a noob so forgive me but this looks very similar to my Ruger GP-100 (which isn't very cool but function over form right...). So what am I missing here regarding the coolness of this gun?

Oh really?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...w=1366&bih=640

[finyllw]

Huh?

If you're sling-shotting the slide, you've let go of it before it starts stripping the next round from the mag. Making it effectively the same as hitting the slide release - with the exception of the ~1/8" longer travel when pulling the slide back 1st.

How can you "feel" the bullet getting picked up if you're not riding the slide?

The "feel" is actually coming through the hand that is still on the pistol. When it fails to strip a round from the mag the slide slams home very smoothly. When it works, there is a little "bump" feeling in the pistol. If you are in tune with your pistol, you will know it has a round in the chamber without having to do a press check or a visual.

Have some one you know and trust feed you mags while your eyes are closed. PLEASE USE DUMMY ROUNDS. You will be able to feel when a round is fed properly. If you can make it so a round won't feed, you will feel that also. If you have a stovepiped round, you'll know that too. Using the slidelock in the case of a stovepipe won't help, you have to work the slide.

I pull the slide to accomplish all the above.