[CWL]

Why are some magazines designed to not drop free from the gun?

Don't own any and never will. But confused as to the purpose of this design. Seems like a waste of additional time and effort in reloading, especially if in a SD situation.

:confused:

[SelfProclaimedExpert]

There used to be a time when regular people and soldiers didn't have an endless supply of disposable magazines. These strange ancients were forced to hold on to those magazines, often times putting new bullets in them and reusing them. When they simply dropped them on the battlefield, they became hard to find.

Drop free mags are an American fascination. It started with Colt autos and spread to rifles with the Colt M16. Almost all other older designs, and many new ones, call for the mag to be positively removed, rather than ejected.



Perhaps the real world isn't like IDPA?

[Bren]

In most cases, it is the GUN design and not the mag.

Most pistols can be modified to drop mags freely unless they have the Europian catch at the bottom.

For instance A CZ can be "fixed" in a few minuted by flattening the Mag break spring. You're missing out on alot of good guns if you stop short for that reason. Bren

[1911Tuner]

If all is well with the gun/magazine combo, the magazine should
drop free only if it is empty. If ammunition is still in the magazine, it should stop short of falling to the ground to allow the shooter to effect a reload
on a hot chamber and keep all his ammuntion to fill other magazines
during the lull that comes sooner or later.

Remember that, if you are in a fight for your life rather than a match stage, an empty pistol is essentially nothing more than a stoppage, whether
the slide locks back or not...even though it's an engineered stoppage.
Surgery is engineered trauma, but we avoid it if at all possible. An empty, locked pistol is like any other stoppage in that it can get you killed.
I have always viewed the slidelock function as a "You're Screwed"
indicator, and have never trusted it.

You can effect a reload and get the pistol back in the fight much faster
with a chambered round than you can react to the slidelock, drop the
magazine, reload, and fumble for that slide release and endure those
endless milliseconds while the slide goes to battery. Then, there's
always the chance that it won't return to battery completely. Much
better chance of feeding that top round during live fire than from a
locked slide.

If your carry gun drops all magazines free with ammunition present,
get in the habit of rotating the pistol on its side and catching the
magazine between the middle and ring fingers while you guide the
fresh one home with thumb and index finger. Drop the magazine
in a pocket while you cover the arena, and hit the slide release
as you bring your strong hand into position, just to keep the
habit.

Whew! That was about a dime's worth.:)