how do you change your pistol mags?

[manboy]

do you use your strong hand thumb?, or do you need two hands to press the button and hold your gun at the same time? i'm not talking about what you CAN do, i want to know what you DO when changing mags.

looking for meaningful discussion here.

 

[flinter]

Strong hand thumb
My wife uses her index finger with a reversed mag release button

 

[Stevo]

Til a recent discussion came up, I never imagined there was a different way than using the strong thumb.

Sometimes I use my teeth, a la Jimi Hendrix, when I'm feeling crazy.

 

[JaysonCraig]

depends on the gun.. for the 226 its trigger hand thumb (kinda hate the design, i cant shoot this way wearing gloves.)
for the ar15 its trigger hand pointer (which i love the design of)

with either gun (unless im dropping the mag to the ground) my support hand is already underneath or holding the mag being ejected.

 

[Master-G]

I never thought about using my weak hand at all to be honest. Back when I owned a USP I tried the trigger finger thing a few times since it had an ambidextrous release but reverted to using the thumb. I've got stubby thumbs so I do like having an extended release, if not sometimes I have to "cheat" the pistol around a little bit so I can reach the release.

 

[ian_in_vic]

With my M&P I use my trigger finger (the big advantage of the ambi mag release), other guns I use my thumb.

 

[41 Colt]

Because I'm left handed, and based on the gun I will buy (Beretta), I will be using my trigger finger.

 

[misfire]

"American" button releases with my thumb. "European" heel releases with my support hand's index finger.

 

[Travis]

Strong hand thumb. Unless you are a lefty shooting a gun w/out an ambi mag release, I can't see an advantage of doing it any other way. Tens of thousands of competitive shooters can't be wrong.

AR15 is a different story but ths is a handgun forum after all

 

[Trigun]

Either way
I guess in a real combat condition, I will do this:
Fire nine rounds to my target
Gun points to the targeted direction with the last round chambered
Change the mag with my support hand while the gun still remain points to the target.
I won't change the mag after the gun is empty when combat.
So don't buy a gun with mag remove safty.

Trigun

 

[Sinasta]

HK paddle release...I use my middle finger of my strong hand.

 

[Clobbersauras]

Either way
I guess in a real combat condition, I will do this:
Fire nine rounds to my target
Gun points to the targeted direction with the last round chambered
Change the mag with my support hand while the gun still remain points to the target.
I won't change the mag after the gun is empty when combat.
So don't buy a gun with mag remove safty.

Trigun

No offense here but I don't think in a stress situation with all that adrenalin in your system, that you'll be able to "count" rounds - certainly not defensively. Most likely you'll dump all rounds and then have to change mags with a locked slide. I can't think of anything I've read or seen that advocates the method you described. Also many training outfits don't advocate using the slide release lever, they advoacte pulling the slide back and releasing it at all times - something about using the full energy of the spring to put the slide back into battery. Someone with combat experience might want to chime in to cite current doctrine - Kevin B.?

 

[Greenhorse six]

Another left hander here,trigger finger,tried right handed using thumb,find I have to change my grip some,easier to reach with a finger then a thumb.IMHO.

 

[Dansy]

I'm a left hand shooter....use my Trigger finger....around 1.0sec or less for the mag change....

 

[Dustin]

strong hand...always have, always will

 

[dinsdale]

Strong hand and reaching for the replacement mag while doing so.

 

[marlin60]

Strong hand and reaching for the replacement mag while doing so.

+1.

 

[tiriaq]

Strong hand thumb, support hand has the next mag, ejected mag. is in freefall.
AR - mag. released with with strong trigger finger, mag. drops, support hand has next mag, hits bolt release.

 

[rick357]

With my M&P I use my trigger finger (the big advantage of the ambi mag release), other guns I use my thumb.

Gotta love that. So quick and easy to do.

 

[JohnnyMac]

When I did my black badge the guy taught to use your strong thumb so that's the way I always did it. I was picking up a gun from Gunnar (Armco) and he showed me that by using the thumb of your weak hand to quickly release the magazine before going for your spare mag you don't have to adjust the grip of your strong hand. So I switched and it seemed to work pretty good (assuming mags fall free). Then I had my Delta Elite customized and I have this extended mag release which makes it very quick to hit and I don't have to adjust the grip of my strong hand making things work pretty well. Only problem is on my other 1911's I just have the standard mag release button and after getting used to doing it with my weak hand I don't know if I want to switch back. Here's a picture of the extended release. It's a Dlask mag release. It's not very pretty but it really does help.