How do you do Tactical Reload?

[David Armstrong]

If a technique is understood, then one could figure out where and when to apply it; if it is not understood, then there will be no right time to apply it.

We'll disagree. I understand the technique just fine, I can execute it without any trouble, and so on. My point is that if one claims that a technique has value as it relates to a problem one should be able to provide some evidence of that value. To date, nobody has been able to do that with the tactical reload. It provides nothing that is not provided as well as or better by other techniques, and has a distinct downside.

I find the notion that people can't afford to learn more than one thing absurd.

As do I. But that is not the case here, is it. To learn to use a gun well one has to learn many things. Why waste your time learning something that has no value other than to possibly keep some dirt out of the magazine?

I would much rather walk through life having learned a skill that I never had to use than find myself wishing too late that I had learned it.

And I would rather walk through life knowing that I had spent my time learning skills of value that might be important when used instead of wasting my time learning a skill with no unique value in itself and shares value with other techniques that have more applicability. Don't get me wrong, if you want to spend time learning a range skill that has no value off the range, go for it. Just do not attempt to justify that with some claims of value in the real world of defensive firearms use.

 

[pickpocket]

Don't get me wrong, if you want to spend time learning a range skill that has no value off the range, go for it. Just do not attempt to justify that with some claims of value in the real world of defensive firearms use.

Then again, maybe it's me who just needs to remember who his audience is. No insult intended - but I tend to view things from an operator's perspective. I refuse to boil my defensive training down to the bare essentials because I know what has been valuable in my own experience.

You're right - we'll just agree to disagree.

 

[Striker1]

Pickpocket,

Where di you first learn the Tac reload?

 

[pickpocket]

First learned it in the Marine Corps, with an M-16, and where magazine retention is stressed primarily because of extended operations and little chance of finding a supply depot out in the desert to issue new magazines.

Since then, I've found at least one shooting system that takes the time to explain a variation on the traditional Tactical Reload - which is synonomous with "magazine retention".
The C.A.R. system explains this variation as a Tac-Com (Tactical/Combat), which is simply a hybrid of the traditional definitions of both Combat Reload and Tactical Reload.

Many people here arguing against the Tac Reload have a very valid point - sometimes magazine retention becomes the primary focus to the exclusion of the real goal: topping off your mag without running to slide-lock. In all honesty, it just doesn't make sense to say "I will ALWAYS retain my magazine". Sometimes, you're just going to want to make sure there's a full magazine in the weapon and you're not going to care about where the old one falls.
I hear and agree with the arguments that always worrying about where your spent mags are will end up badly for you one day. But, then again - do ANY of us here advocate ALWAYS doing something the same way, or do we prefer to adapt to the situation? Same here.

Koz posted a video earlier in the thread and stated that the example wasn't a Tac Reload. Maybe not, but it certainly does fit the description of C.A.R.'s Tac-Com...dropping a used mag in favor of a new one but not worrying about retention.

 

[Striker1]

I also learned with the M-16. We always had to try and keep the mag on us, but if it was dropped we were told to forget about it.

M9 was taught the classic version but never did it during the course basic of fire, however, during advanced courses of fire, we practiced 1 hand, weak hand, rapid, and tactical reloads.

These are all techniques I taught for 10+ years.

 

[Moloch]

How do you do Tactical Reload?

Quick.