How to load a magazine

[AStone]

Hypothesis: this could be the shortest thread in THR history.

Simple question: how do you quickly & effectively load the magazine of a semi-automatic handgun?

Example: I've got a new Kahr K9. With the 7 shot clip, I can load the first 3 with no sweat, the next 2 with some effort, and the last 2 only with exasperation. :banghead:

Admittedly, I have smaller hands, and they're not the strongest on Earth. Yet, I'm no weakling, and am not incompetent when it comes to hand motor skills.

I just haven't learned the secret yet.

The synergistic problems are:

• stiff springs in the magazines (which of course, are necessary)
• the difficulty of pushing one smooth, cylindrical, metal object down against said spring with a second smooth, cylindrical, metal object

Stiff spring + attempted depression of spring with two slick cylinders = frustration.

I know that practice will help. So will break in (both of the magazines & the hands attempting to load them).

But I also suspect that there's a trick to this that I haven't learned yet. Probably something simple & intuitive that I haven't learned yet, let alone mastered.

I'm betting that everyone in the world who shoots a semi-auto pistol - regardless of brand or caliber - will know the answer to this question, that it's such common knowledge that there's no argument. One person will say, do it this way, and that'll be the end of the thread.

Shortest thread in THR history. I've got a five spot on it.



OK, give it up: what's the secret to loading magazines?

NemA~

 

[MachIVshooter]

Example: I've got a new Kahr K9. With the 7 shot clip, I can load the first 3 with no sweat, the next 2 with some effort, and the last 2 only with exasperation

That's part (if not most) of the issue. The mag will loosen up as the spring is compressed/released and the follower wears into the housing.

As per technique, I personally just hold the mag in my weak hand and push the cartridges down and back using my thumb on my strong hand.

 

[AStone]

Oops: wrong forum

Apologies to the moderators of "Handguns: General Discussion". I posted this to the wrong place. Clearly belongs in Handguns: Semi-auto. (I backed out one too many levels before clicking "new thread".)

Feel free to move it.

Sorry for the hassle.

NemA~

 

[Pietro Beretta]

I own a SA XD , and the springs are hard on those mags. I have 800 rounds through my XD and they are still hard to load.

I do it Just like Mach said. I also still slip and hit my finger on the mag all the time, and my thumb is always sore after loading all of those rounds.

 

[pax]

Push the top round down with your left thumb.

Load the next round with your right hand, moving your thumb out of the way as the new round comes in.

And expect things to get easier. Your hands will get used to the practice, and the springs will lighten up some over time.

pax

 

[Black Majik]

I load the same way as pax. Left thumb depresses the end of the round, right hand loads the round into the magazine.

Oh, btw, they're magazines.

To loosen up the magazine spring for easier loading, let your magazines sit fully loaded (not in your gun) for a few nights. It should loosen up. Also, regularly shooting your pistol will lighten the magazine spring. It will get easier to load with use.

 

[carebear]

As said above, left hand holds mag, left thumb pushes down top round to give you a bit of start. I usually hold the next round in the "vee" between my right index and middle fingers, pads up, and push the round down and through (then back under the mag lips) with my right thumb.

As the fingers split apart they keep the round from slipping off to one side or another of the top round and allow more force to be applied to the round being loaded.

It's one of those things you just do and you get better at.

 

[AStone]

yeah!

you folks rock.

even with sore fingers, with these tips i've successfully loaded the full 7 with FAR less hassle than before.

many thanks.

keep 'em coming...

NemA~

 

[Too Many Choices!?]

+ 1 Pax,

I find that method easiest too.

SIDE NOTE: It can be funny wathcing a person that has been around rifles/shotguns/pistols his whole life, baffled by trying to load a semi-auto rifle's mag like an auto-pistol mag,, he was attempting to slide and not deppress the rounds into the follower and mag body with frustrating results ...

My response was aking if he ever saw Rambo ...

 

[P95loser]

my ruger p95 has a quick loader that is basically a metal sleeve that fits over the top of the magazine with a metal "hook" that pushes down the back of the magazine spring.

it makes loading VERY easy for my 15 rounders... maybe you could check and see if they make one for your magazines.

 

[Arch]

I always hold the mag with my strong hand, and push the cartridges in with the weak hand thumb (just to be different).

BUT, I do make it easier for myself by placing the base of the mag on a bench/table, so that I am not actually holding the mag up (the table is). Seems stupid, but it does make life easier.

 

[Preacherman]

For loading a few mags, hands are fine, but if you're loading lots of them (e.g. a multi-day, 1,000-round-plus course somewhere) nothing beats a mag loader. I use the HKS models, as illustrated below.

 

[scotty]

Preacherman has the ultimate answer. There are also mag loaders that are one piece (very inexpensive) that have the part that surrounds the magazine with a fixed finger that pushes down the previous rounds.

 

[carebear]

Mag loaders are for sissys.

Not the "can't handle 135 gr. +P without public whining" kind of sissys but REAL sissys, the kind with weak thumbs.

And you know what they say about a man with weak thumbs....

 

[Preacherman]

Carebear, what do you want me to do to you with my thumbs?

 

[AStone]

weak thumbs, or just intelligent tool use?

Mag loaders are for sissys.

Not the "can't handle 135 gr. +P without public whining" kind of sissys but REAL sissys, the kind with weak thumbs.

And you know what they say about a man with weak thumbs....

<grins> ok, humor is good. i'll go along.

but wait. hmmm. i just googled "man weak thumbs". the top hit was from some 'palmistry' page asserting something about weak thumbs & weak minds. but i'm not even sure what palmistry is, & thus, i don't subscribe to it. (show me the published study, please. has it made it to Science yet?)

the next 30 hits on "man weak thumbs" were from movie reviews. (Some critic gives a "weak thumbs" up to this film...)

Hmmm. So, no, I guess I don't know what "they" say about men with weak thumbs. Depends on who "they" are, how much beer they've drunk, whether they have low self-esteem, that sort of thing.

Seems like to me that in this case, thumb strength (let alone what it says about manhood) is less relevant than the concept of tool use.

I see these mag loaders as just another tool. And no one in their right mind would apply the term "sissy" to a person - man or woman - that uses a tool for greater efficiency, right?

I mean, does using a hammer to drive nails qualify one as sissy over say, using a stone? (as in stone age)

And, next time you're on a skyscraper construction site, yell this out to the guys who put up the steel frame: "Yo, woosie! Can't lift that girder? Got weak thumbs?"

I'm sure it'll get laughs all around.

In reality, guns are tools, too. A real man, of course, would just rip the {choose your blood vessel} out of his opponent with his bare hands, but sometimes, a 9mm or 12 ga. is just more efficient.


________

Found a couple of pages about mag loaders:

Here's the HKS: http://www.pistoleer.com/hks/magazine/

Here's a simpler one: http://www.themagtool.com/

Simpler is better, usually. The second one is clearly simpler, even if its use is still a bit mysterious to me.

For a mag speedloading tool, the main criteria are:

• something to depress the last round while next one is inserted
• said tool needs to be concave (to fit over casing base), and be effectively manipulated by the same hand that holds the mag (while other hand slips in the next round...or something similar)
• tool needs to fit "just inside" the magazine as it is depressed.

I got the basic idea from reading the description of the second tool, the mag tool. It's main component is "double convex": one side fits the round already loaded, the other side accepts the next round.

A pair of wire-nosed pliers demonstrates the basic idea. Pushing down the previous round to allow the next one to slide in is easy city, weak or strong thumbs.

But i'm not going to carry around a pair of pliers.

Hmmm. <dreams of a home made tool to save $5.95 + shipping & handling>

 

[carebear]

Alright Preacher, I'm just trying to redeem myself about the ammo thing.

nematocyst,

Having been a roofer, I now don't sass guys with the high ground and heavy things to "accidentally" drop.

Really good find on the loading tools. They do save on finger pain.

 

[AStone]

Stamp out finger pain!

Having been a roofer, I now don't sass guys with the high ground and heavy things to "accidentally" drop.

<laughs> yeah, i hear ya : )

Really good find on the loading tools. They do save on finger pain.

i'm betting there are others out there, too.

But the one i'm really looking for is so simple it can go on a keychain & look like a key.
(& +1 if it'll also snap the cap off a bottle of good microbrew )

NemA~

 

[No_Brakes23]

It's funny when I take my friends shooting and they offer to help load mags for the 1911.

"How do you do that so fast? It really hurts my thumbs."

"Practice."

Thing is, plenty of folks load faster than me.

 

[GregGry]

I have never had any issues loading magazines with the exception of a 10 round glock 21 mag. The 10th round took way to much force to go in. It was a rental gun, so I would imagine some fool probably put the wrong springs in it, but I don't know. It was a glock branded mag BTW.

 

[Father Knows Best]

My single stack pistol mags (1911 and PPK) are all easy to load by hand. Even the 8 round 1911 mags load easily.

My Glock 26 mags (9mm double stack 10 round capacity), though, are a royal pain to load. The first few rounds aren't so bad, but the last two or three are brutal. I usually use the little loading device that came with the pistol. It slips over the top of the magazine and depresses the rounds in the mag just enough to get the next one started. Even using that device, the 10th round is often difficult to get in.

Just one more reason to stick to JMB's perfect pistol....

 

[spacemanspiff]

a shiny nickel says that if one were to take a look into carebears rangebag, there might be more than one magloader hiding.

see, psychologists call it 'projection'.

 

[dzimmerm]

Depends of the magazine

Nematocyst-870,

I have found I really like loading the magazine on my Makarov because it has an open slot down the length of it This slot is perfect for putting the thumb you are holding the magazine with on the follower and using that to push the follower down so you can just drop the cartridges in place.

I usually load the first 3 cartridges normally which pushes the follower down to the point where I can hook my thumbnail into the the top of the follower underneath the lowest cartridge.

I wish my hi-point and CZ52 mags had that same construction.

The 8 cartridge hi-point C9 magazines usually do not cause a problem and the CZ52 magazine is also fairly easy to load.

If I am loading a lot of magazines I sometimes like to wear my shooting glove as that cushions the palm of my hand from the pressure the bottom of the magazine puts on it as it gets forced down by the spring pressure.

I am left handed but shoot with my right hand so my right gloved hand is holding the magazine while my left hand pushes the cartridges in place. I am not sure how that would work for right handers as I have noticed right handers seem to have much less developed skills in their left hand.

Practice will help, as others have stated.

dzimmerm