Mag Change

[festus]

The most fundemental battle field skill is staying in the fight. Practice changing mags and retaining your empties in a dump pouch. The poor man's dump pouch is down the inside of his tucked in t-shirt. It may sound stupid but you need those mags to refill and fight again another day. Any method of retaining your mags is better than leaving them. Get a dump pouch...gas mask carrier...something...anything to put those empties in. Don't leave anything on a battlefield that can get recycled.

You should be able to change mags eyes closed no fumbling and no errors. Practice slowly with maximum repetition to build muscle memory. It should be as easy as wiping your nose. Having a cool black rifle is onething, functioning the weapon is another, being able to employ it as a weapons system is yet another. PRACTICE<PRACTICE<PRACTICE

[HK4U]

Hollweird always shows the mags discarded and never returned for even after the fight is over. Guess they don't know how much those things cost.

[AR Hammer]

Since I don't get into many gunfights anymore (not in the Marines anymore), I don't practice mag changes...
Besides, covering you for a mag change is what your fire team is supposed to do!

I guess if you have 'Rambo-itus', then you can blind fold yourself and tie one hand behind your back,
And practice in front of the webcam...

Or get one of those silly gadgets that holds an extra mag or two alone side of the receiver,

But in a REAL GUNFIGHT, a shoe lace or Para Cord through the floor plate, with the mag facing DOWN in the pouch always did the job for us...

MagPul makes a little rubber gadget that holds an open 'Eye' on the but end of the mag, so if you have them in the pouch top down, they come right out...

The problem with those is you have to leave a magazine out of the pouch because the rubber gadget that slips over the but of the mag takes up space in the pouch...

What most of us did was use SAW dump pouches with mags in top down, and the MagPul rings or para cord on the floor plates to get them out when they were stubborn.

I usually kept ONE stray mag sticking out of a pouch or shirt pocket for my first mag change,
Or my 'Emergency' mag so it was handy and didn't hang up on anything when I needed it.

Those 'Mag Pul' things keep you from bending up the mags when you drop them free!
Saved the bottoms of my mags more than once!
Like the rubber floor plates for my Glock and Wilson .45 ACP mags, keeps them from getting beat up on hard surfaces when you let them drop free...

[Ropadope]

Since I don't get into many gunfights anymore (not in the Marines anymore), I don't practice mag changes...
Besides, covering you for a mag change is what your fire team is supposed to do!

I guess if you have 'Rambo-itus', then you can blind fold yourself and tie one hand behind your back,
And practice in front of the webcam...

Or get one of those silly gadgets that holds an extra mag or two alone side of the receiver,

But in a REAL GUNFIGHT, a shoe lace or Para Cord through the floor plate, with the mag facing DOWN in the pouch always did the job for us...

MagPul makes a little rubber gadget that holds an open 'Eye' on the but end of the mag, so if you have them in the pouch top down, they come right out...

The problem with those is you have to leave a magazine out of the pouch because the rubber gadget that slips over the but of the mag takes up space in the pouch...

What most of us did was use SAW dump pouches with mags in top down, and the MagPul rings or para cord on the floor plates to get them out when they were stubborn.

I usually kept ONE stray mag sticking out of a pouch or shirt pocket for my first mag change,
Or my 'Emergency' mag so it was handy and didn't hang up on anything when I needed it.

Those 'Mag Pul' things keep you from bending up the mags when you drop them free!
Saved the bottoms of my mags more than once!
Like the rubber floor plates for my Glock and Wilson .45 ACP mags, keeps them from getting beat up on hard surfaces when you let them drop free...

There's a reason most mag pouches are open top, to address your rubber gadget comment from Magpul.

I use the bungee type cords that are built into the mag pouches with pull stops. Works better than funky bunching a mag or two somewhere it doesn't need to be, especially on the move.

And, most kit these day's allows for the extra room of the Ranger baseplates on magazines. Both Magpul PMAG's and GI's with Ranger bases.

Don't know when you served, but the kit these day's has come along way or maybe you and your unit didn't have access to anything other than issued kit.

All Festus is saying that Combat and Tactical reloads should be practiced regularly. Use a dump pouch, don't use a dump pouch, it's up to the individual.

There is also the proper way to use the thumb on the bolt release, or use a BAD device from Magpul, which has become my favorite little addition to the lower reciever.

You alway's seem to make things too complicated, even though I agree with some of your long winded posts.

[coloccw]

Let the situitation dictate wether or not you keep the empty mag. If time and situitation permit, stow the empty however you can (dump pouch, shirt, snaplink, etc...), however if lead is flying....FORGET THE EMPTY AND GET BACK IN THE FIGHT! Solve the problem first, then pick up the trash. Do not forget the number of LEO's that were killed with empty brass in their pockets because they trained themselves to ALWAYS put the brass there to keep from picking it up after their training session (revolver shooters, of course) and died with empty guns. Train, but don't build in bad fighting habbits. Remember, the phrase "train like you fight" goes the other way also.

Stay Safe...

[PDawg]

Magazine dumping to me depends on the scenario. If I am on the battlefield thats what the cargo pocket on my pants is for. If I ever had to use the AR in my home (God forbid) the magazines would go straight to the floor. Oh, one more thing, if you do decide you need a dump bag, please know what leg it goes on,,,,Its hard for me to shoot on the range laughing while I watch some guy wearing the US Cavarly store trying to mag change backwards.