Bang, bang, bang! You’ve fired a few shots, and maybe your gun is dry, or maybe it’s just partially empty. Either way, it’s time for a reload. Depending on the status of your firearm, you might need to use a speed reload or a tactical reload. Reloading is always an interesting conversation; in the tactical world, these are the two most common reloads.
Each reload is a tool for your toolbox, and they apply to specific scenarios. You can use a hammer to extract a screw, but it’s going to take a whole lot more effort to get it done. The same principle applies to reloads. Today we are going to discuss the pros and cons of speed and tactical reloads, as well as when to use each reload.
This discussion primarily revolves around handguns and rifles. It can be applied to shotguns, but that’s a bit obscure, so we’ll keep the conversation to rifles and handguns. If you’re ever in a gunfight, you’ll most certainly appreciate a full weapon, and both reloads aim to keep your weapon full and ready.
Speed Reload
The creation of the modern speed reload goes to the late, great Ray Chapman. He first utilized the technique for the M1911. The speed reload is the more common reload we see in competition shooting. When a shooter speed reloads, they let the magazine drop free from the gun and hit the ground. The dropped magazine becomes an afterthought, and the user slams a new magazine into the gun and keeps shooting.
A common misconception is that you only conduct a speed reload when completely dry. It’s not necessary to wait until your gun is empty to speed reload, but it’s the most common situation where you find yourself speed-loading. Obviously, once your gun is dry, the situation becomes quite emergent, and you really need that speed.
Tactical Reload
The tactical reload tends to be a bit more controversial. Firearms instructor Chuck Taylor created the modern tactical reload. In his own words, Chuck Taylor states: “I created the tactical reload to fill a void: how to bring your weapon back to full ammunition capacity after the initial confrontation concludes.”
Shooters conduct a tactical reload by reloading their weapon with a fresh magazine and retaining the partially depleted magazine. It’s slower and more complicated to accomplish, but it’s also a valuable tool for the box. You won’t get YouTube clips for a tactical reload, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it.
A Time and a Place
The modern discussion kind of forgets about tactical reloading. While plenty of firearms instructors still teach the tactical reload, it’s lost on the pop culture world of social media. As a Marine, we used the tactical reload the vast majority of the time, so I am certainly biased. The Marine Corps was very big on maintaining magazines.
Each technique is valuable, and there is a time and place for each type of reload. Getting stuck with which is more important than the other often bogs down the fact that you should learn both techniques.
A Thought Experiment
If you carry a five-shot revolver, then you have a much lower likelihood of needing to ever do a tactical reload. You’re more likely to blast through your entire five shots and be forced to speed reload. If you carry a Glock 19 with 15 rounds of ammunition, then you are more likely to do a tactical reload.
If you get into such a running gunfight that you run through 15 rounds of 9mm and then reload and keep fighting, you’ll be in the newspapers and famous (or infamous) across the country.
How and When To Do a Tactical Reload
With a tactical reload, you will draw your spare magazine first and keep it in your hand as you remove the partially depleted magazine from your gun. You’ll then reload your gun with the fresh magazine and put the partially depleted magazine somewhere on your body to retrieve later, if need be. It’s often not back into a magazine pouch because you don’t want to confuse it for another full magazine. A pocket or dump pouch is a great place to store it.
Chuck Taylor said it best. A tactical reload is used “…to bring your weapon back to full ammunition capacity after the initial confrontation concludes.” With that in mind, the tactical reload is used when there is a lull in the fight. I’ve heard people say there is no lull in a gunfight, and I think that’s one of those famous ‘absolutes’ we should steer clear of.
The Lull
I’ll admit it’s unlikely that a lull will occur in a concealed carry situation. The fight is unlikely to go long enough to warrant a lull. It will likely be quick and violent. However, let me propose a situation to you. Someone breaks into your home, you engage, and they seemingly flee back out the door. Is the fight over?
Maybe, you certainly can’t chase them down and start it over, but you don’t know if they are going to come back. You seemingly have a moment to bring everything back together and call the police. Guess what? You have time to do a tactical reload as you wait for the police to arrive. You’ll likely want to keep that partially depleted mag handy and within your grasp, just in case. No one complains about having too much ammo in a gunfight.
(Except for me, my squad leader made me carry 1,000 rounds of linked ammo, and it was heavy.)
How and When To Do a Speed Reload
A speed reload is what happens when things are getting really bad. You drop the spent magazine from your gun, and you don’t have any earthly clue as to where it is going. You don’t care. You want it out so you can shove a full magazine back in the gun and start shooting once more.
I’ve only ever done one speed reload in the middle of a fight, and it was with a machine gun. Typically I’d tactically reload by adding more ammo to the belt. While I might have only ever done one speed reload, it’s something I was very happy to have practiced over and over and over. It was scary not to have a gun going bang when someone else’s gun was going bang at you.
A speed reload is done right in the middle of the fight. Maybe someone is covering you, if you’re lucky. Much like the tactical reload, you’re unlikely to use a speed reload in a concealed carry situation. Still, it’s a valuable skill to learn. Maybe you don’t run out of ammo, but your gun jams to the point where tap rack bang isn’t going to save you. You may need to remove the mag, clear the jam, and reload. You really want to be a smooth criminal with your speed reloads, regardless.
The Reality of the Reload
As a normal everyday person, you are unlikely to ever need your gun. If you do use your gun, it’s also very rare that you’ll need to reload. That’s the reality of the whole situation. With that said, it doesn’t mean you don’t need to learn how to reload and how to do it quickly. Being skilled in both reloads is invaluable, even if it’s unlikely you’ll ever use them.
