10 comments

  1. I usually find McPhee’s advice and instruction to be insightful.

    If I shift the gun to push the magazine release and shift the gun back, I really don’t notice it. I think I might have the dexterity to press the magazine release without shifting it. I never really paid much attention to it.

  2. As a lefty, I just press the mag release with my trigger finger, no problem. However, if I find myself in a situation in which the first 7 bullets didn’t resolve the issue, I’m pretty much already in deep shit and a quick reload probably won’t help much.

    Now that most plastic fantastic wonder-nines have reversible mag release buttons, I’d recommend my right-handed acquaintances to switch it over and try the trigger finger release instead of the thumb release.

  3. I’m not sure what you disagree with on this.

    The technique that McPhee discusses is something that is taught, and for those with smaller hands can be effective.

    I don’t use it because I am “well hung for a lesbian” as some would say, and can get sufficient force (it’s not an issue of dexterity) on the button.

    He’s also right in that when its slightly shifted in your hand it’s in a less than optimal alignment, but when your support hand comes back up after stowing the magazine it fixes that.

    There’s another technique where you use your “off hand” to press the magazine release, and catch the mag with the same hand. It does have the disadvantage of actually *needing* both hands.

    The two other options are to get a smaller gun (hard to do if you’re issued one) or get bigger hands…which looks funny on small people.

  4. Third option – longer / bigger magazines ! Avoid the drum magazines, they get tangled up with your belt & jacket !! 😉

  5. “Me thinks the lady doth protest too much…”

    A USPSA GM level shooter can and probably does obsess over small details like position of the mag release and sub 1 second reloads. Have a look at some of the gadgets on Open Class pistols: gas pedal, extended mag release, etc.

    For normal humans simply being proficient in the manual of arms is sufficient. Proper ergonomics helps but we can adapt and achieve quite a bit.

    For reference, I am an ICORE shooter. Revolvers loaded with 1970’s speed loaders or 1900’s moon clips. With practice one can do good work despite terrible ergonomics.

  6. If you’re shooting with your off hand on the gun (and you should be, unless that is absolutely impossible) this is stupid simple. Push the mag release with your off hand. done. “Yea, but, you have to move your off hand!!” Well, yes, you’re changing a magazine. I presume your magazine is not going to jump in the gun by itself . . .

    This is a solution in search of a problem.

  7. The technique I was taught was not to use a finger to press the mag release AT ALL. Rather, use the support hand to press the whole gun into the thumb, return it to index, and then grab the spare mag off the belt.

  8. If you’re a competitive shooter, at any level, and your chosen firearm doesn’t allow you to make quick, effective magazine changes without adjusting your grip, there are a couple of options. One is to change firearms to something that fits your hand better. The other is to install an extended magazine release. That is usually a simple swap and extended magazine releases are available for almost any firearm. I did a quick search for “Glock 19 extended mag release” and dozens of options came up.

  9. A couple of schools of thought here.

    One is to press the mag release with the thumb of your weak hand, then reach for a fresh mag.

    Another is who cares about your shooting grip at that moment. The gun in your hand is EMPTY. Gun hand does whatever to depress mag release as weak hand reaches for a fresh mag. All come together to seat fresh mag and regain grip on the gun.

    Either way, the key is practice, hundreds of times, slow and smooth repetitions to build muscle memory.

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