Loading AR-15 rifle magazines with ammo and shoving them into the mag well of your AR seems like a simple task, and for the most part, it is. However, I have seen shooters make too many mistakes when they are loading their AR-15 for a match.
In a competitive match, the shooter starts with an empty weapon. The Range Officer tells the shooter “Make Ready”. The shooter can then do whatever they want to get the gun loaded up and ready to go. The most common practice is to just shove a full 30 round magazine into the gun, rack the charging handle, and hope for the best. When the Range Officer hits the timer and it beeps, the shooter begins their course of fire. They raise the gun up to their shoulder and click. They pull the trigger and nothing happens. In some cases, the magazine falls out onto the ground.
What happened here? It should have worked. It works every time when they are at the shooting line on the range, and it worked at home. Well, it has nothing to do with where they did it now or before. The issue arises when people do not understand the problem. The problem is how they are loading the magazine into the gun.
AR-15 Magazine Loading Problems
When loading AR-15 rifle magazines full to the brim with ammo, the magazine spring is fully compressed. There is little to no room left when you shove that magazine on a closed bolt. With the bolt closed, it pushes all 30 rounds further down into the magazine. Often the magazine you are using does not have enough room to compensate for this and the magazine catch does not engage with the magazine. So what happens? You think the magazine is seated when it is not. With the magazine improperly seated, the bolt cannot strip off the first round and feed it into the chamber. You have now created a malfunction.
Great so now you know what is the problem. How can you solve this? Some people, even firearm instructors, have recommended downloading your magazine. “You don’t need 30 rounds for a gunfight!” — so they only load 28 bullets. I prefer to have 30+1. My needs are not the same as yours, but if I can have more ammo, why not?
Some people like to shove the magazine real hard and then tug the magazine a bit to make sure it is properly seated. That brute force tactic works, but why work harder and not smarter? I prefer the use of something like a BAD Lever, by Magpul. I can use my trigger finger to lock the bolt open while my left hand pulls the charging handle back. Then I insert my fully loaded magazine into the mag well. With the bolt locked open, I do not need to worry about my magazine not seating properly. Then I hit the bolt release lever and the bolt strips the first round off the magazine.
Well, that sounds great, right? But if I want to have 30+1 loaded in the gun I can’t open the bolt with a round in the chamber so I have to insert a full 30 round magazine into a closed bolt. The solution to this is magazine choice. Some magazines are easier than others to insert a full 30. Out of my personal small collection of magazines I have found that my Hexmag mags and Lancer mags are the easiest to insert when fully loaded with 30 rounds. Pmags are a close third.
Other mags I have in my collection take a lot more force to push and click into place and it would be easy for me to not notice that it did not seat and have a malfunction. Check your mags and not just your 30 rd magazines. Some of you that live in capacity restricted states have 10 or 15-round magazines. Check to see how much effort it takes you to insert a fully loaded magazine. For those of you who do not have capacity limits don’t forget to check your high capacity magazines higher than 40 rounds. I noticed a significant difference between my Magpul 40 and ASC 40 round magazine. The ASC can actually fit more than 40 so it is easier to insert and lock into place, on a closed bolt, than the Magpul 40 magazine.
More AR-15 Loading Methods
There is another method I have seen many people take in loading their AR. They will look at the top of the full 30-round magazine before inserting it and chambering a round. They look at the double stack of bullets and take note of which side the top bullet is on. After inserting and chambering the first round, the shooter removes that magazine and looks to make sure the top bullet is now on the opposite side of the starting bullet. This way they know that a round was stripped off the magazine.
I prefer to simply do a press check or brass check. I will pull back my charging handle ever so slightly so that I can see brass coming out of the chamber. Then I release the charging handle. Be careful in doing this, sometimes the bolt wont properly seat. It is important to check your ejection port and if needed press the forward assist button to get the bolt to close all the way.
Some of these rifle techniques can work with other guns and are not exclusive to the AR-15 platform. For example, I use these techniques when using my SCAR17S. Locking the bolt open to insert a fully loaded magazine can also work in a semi auto handgun. I often lock my slide back before inserting a fully loaded magazine.
I hope these techniques have shown you some options in loading AR-15 rifle magazines and maybe you learned something new. Give them a try and do so safely. Remember the firearm safety rules.
Good article, I find that after use it gets easier to load a mag. I suppose that’s due to the spring taking a set. After I load a mag I’ll push down on the bullets, If I can push them down a little there good to go. If they won’t move I’ll pop one bullet out.
Thank you. This was very helpful.
Good stuff. I like ending with the reminder about the safety rules. And with an ASC 40 sitting in the closet and a PMAG 40 on the way, I think I need to do some experimenting on total round counts they’ll hold!
Good article, I was having trouble on some magazines. This will solve the problems.
I work for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office in California. Our range instructors have been teaching the “28” round loading technique for years. After experimenting on my own range time I figured out the locked bolt technique on my own. It truly works! I have steel mags, Pmags and Hex mags, none are immune to “failure to load” when maxed out at 30 rounds with the holt forward. If you want to have 30 rounds per mag, you have to lock that bolt back!!! Just my opinion and loading style.
Fairly new to ARs – but not to shooting – this is very interesting and makes a lot of sense. I’m learning a lot about my ARs from many and I especially congratulate you, MGW, for making this new feature available. Excellent choice for your initial roll out.
Great tips, will have to keep them in mind next time on the range.
Havent had good luck with hexmags ,had one overfead in magwell, and one split at the rear seam, i’m gonna stick with ss mags
I had this happen on a 9mm semi auto pistol with a double stack mag. Good explanation and great preventative actions.
Thanks for the advice, now I understand why my AR will not load at first sometimes.
Doing a press check on an AR15 is not something I would advise. Too much for something to go wrong even if you do utilize the forward assist to put the bolt back into battery. Some people don’t even have FAs on their rifles anymore. One extra round is not worth the extra hassle and potential of something going wrong with a press check. I would just go with loading a magazine on an open bolt. But I do understand your wantingredients a 30+1 advantage. I am just not that trained and prefer to do with out the potential of a FUBAR.
Doing a press check on an AR15 is not something I would advise. Too much for something to go wrong even if you do utilize the forward assist to put the bolt back into battery. Some people don’t even have FAs on their rifles anymore. One extra round is not worth the extra hassle and potential of something going wrong with a press check. I would just go with loading a magazine on an open bolt. But I do understand your wanting a 30+1 advantage. I am just not that trained and prefer to do with out the potential of a FUBAR.
Thanks I just had that problem at the range, I felt like a idiot figuring it out. Also I felt like in trying to figure it out I might accidently discharge my AR. So I did the thing real men are supposed to never do, I asked for help. Even my range master was not of great help. So I called it a day. No accidental discharges, no fouls, go home. Really thanks.
I have found that fully-loaded ETS 30-round AR15 magazines seat the best/easiest on a closed bolt, then the Lancers, then the Pmags.
I’m not real good at math. You state you like 30+1, and describe an excellent solution to making sure a fully loaded 30 round magazines seats properly, by inserting the mag with the bolt open. But where did your +1 come from? After dropping the bolt on a fully loaded 30 round magazine, you still only have 30 rounds, one chambered and 29 in the mag. If you drop that mag and grab another fully loaded one you’re back to the problem you described, trying to ram a fully loaded mag against a closed bolt.
Ok i read you r take on loading mags . Sure does make sense i tried it and it works well. Thanks for the info will this in the future.
I have been to shooting schools that teach the down load method , and others teach load them up fully , lock the bolt open and than insert the mag , pull on the mag to make sure its locked in, than charge the rifle , remove the mag and , like you stated make sure the round is on the other side of the mag . Some matches force you to do tactical ” AKA ” retain the mag. that still has some rounds in it , at that kind of match if i can down load to make it easy to reliably reload easier , i do , ” call me a gamer what ever ” most matches are games anyway , right . As you stated the HEX MAGS seam to insert easier than others when fully loaded , i , also found that to be true , i mostly use Pmags , but the HEX MAGS show lots of good promise . Now my question , has anyone done the test of , beating the snot out of HEX MAGS , and how do they hold up when left fully loaded for long periods of time , will the feed lips start to open up , as the Pmags have the cover that holds the rounds down to prevent this . Anyone with long term experience with HEX MAGS please let me know . Thanks much Rob
good technique
Thank you for the informative article. Most of your pointers I have experienced first hand, but it is good to know that there are folks like you who educate the armed public to make them better. I also choose to slide the the charge handle back to check for brass. Good advice to check and make sure it is locked forward after you see the brass.
Really good info, I am an old Vietnam vet and a tap on the helment and a round or two short always worked. With ak’s down range you do not want to dump one in a rice paddy.
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