DEFENCE DRILLS
Weak Hand Reloads and Emergency Drills
USING ONE HAND only, whether your weak or strong hand, to reload or clear stoppages in a handgun, can be a difficult task, though easily mastered with regular practice. Of course, mastering this with the weak hand will require more practice, but you’ll be surprised how quickly your weak side can learn.
We’ll start with the reload. For this example, we’ll assume you are right-handed, but your right hand or arm is incapacitated. Firing with your weak hand only, you have emptied your magazine. The first step is to drop the magazine by pressing the mag release. If your pistol does not have an ambidextrous mag release, press the release button with your middle finger so as to retain your thumb-hold around the grip. If your pistol does not fully release the mag to drop freely to the ground, this will complicate matters, so it’s best to get a competent gunsmith to attend to this, for your life (or that of others) might depend on it.
ONCE THE EMPTY mag has dropped out, you must securely stow the pistol to perform the mag-change. One option is to tuck the pistol into your belt and then perform the reload. I prefer to grip it between my knees. If you are wearing a right
hand cross-draw holster, i.e. the holster is on your left (weak) side, you could twist your left wrist around to re-holster the pistol, perform the mag-change, and then draw the pistol in the same manner, as described in our August edition. Having secured the weapon, draw a fresh mag from your mag-pouch or pocket, and insert it into the pistol. A firm shove should do it, but if your magazine needs more pressure for proper seating, slap the bottom of the mag with your palm – just be careful you don’t knock the pistol flying out of your waistband or from between your knees. An alternative, after inserting the mag, is to slap the bottom of the magazine against your hip to ensure it is properly seated before engaging the target.
This means you’ll have to be careful that the new mag does not fall out during handling.
If the situation does not allow using your legs, use your shoulder or hip to clamp the pistol against any solid object like a wall or car body while you insert the mag. This enables you to quickly grasp the pistol normally again and cycle the action by hooking the back sight on your belt and pushing the pistol firmly downwards to rack the slide. Any sharp-shouldered object, like the edge of a desk or heel of a shoe, will also work. This should be a firm and forceful action as a miss-feed can have serious consequences. A gunfight is not the occasion to worry about scratching your handgun or damaging the sights. This done, you are back in the fight. I prefer to use my belt (using my left hand) or holster (when using my right hand) as it is a simple method which, done correctly, works every time. By practising this you’ll soon determine whether your back sight should be replaced with one of higher profile. I fitted Trijicon Bright &
Tough sights and the squared-off back sight is perfect for racking the slide.
If the magazine does not drop free, you must practise a method of quickly extracting it. In an emergency, you probably wouldn’t think twice about using your teeth. Otherwise, secure the pistol by any of the methods described above, thus freeing your hand to tug out the empty mag and perform the mag change at the same time. If force is required to extract the magazine, place the pistol on the ground with the grip pointing upwards, put your foot on the dust cover in front of the trigger guard and tug the magazine free. Remember, if the slide has locked open, first press the slide-release before placing the pistol on the ground, otherwise sand or dirt or grass could enter the ejection port to jam up the works. A few practice sessions will soon indicate whether your pistol habitually fails to freely and reliably drop empty magazines when you press the mag-release – have a gunsmith attend to it immediately.
IF YOU HAVE a misfire or failure to feed, you’ll have to rack the slide as described above to chamber a fresh round. Pretty much the same goes for a smokestack – use any object to remove the offending case. Bear in mind that clearing a smoke-stack can leave you with an empty chamber or with the slide not fully closed on a chambered round. Rack the slide before pulling the trigger. If this means sacrificing a live round, so be it – it’s best to be sure the pistol is properly in battery when you pull the trigger.
However, a tip-up malfunction is trickier to clear with one hand. In this case, the round being fed from the magazine fails to enter the chamber; the bullet’s tip jams against the barrel-hood. The normal immediate-action drill is to eject the magazine, rack the slide to clear the action, insert a new magazine and rack the slide to chamber a fresh round.
If the round is jammed tightly, simply pressing the mag-release button might not drop the mag. Use one of the abovementioned methods, such as putting your foot on the pistol, to physically extract the magazine. I have also seen an instructor place his pistol on a table with the mag well protruding over the edge and then sitting down on the pistol to secure it while he tugged the mag out.
Again, practice will expose any problems with your pistol. For example, if it fails to freely drop the magazine, does the magazine’s base-plate offer sufficient purchase for your fingertips to enable you to pull the mag out? If not you might end up with broken fingernails or worse. You may need to add a bigger base-plate to your mags. Also, performing the drills against time will manifest other shortcomings in your carry rig – perhaps a flimsy belt, an inappropriate holster, or shoes whose soft soles won’t facilitate racking your slide. Or you may need to rethink your method of carrying your spare mags. It is important that you practise in the clothes, shoes and kit that you wear for daily carry.
To avoid malfunctions, regularly clean your handgun and sparingly oil all moving parts. As your carry loads are likely to be expensive factory loads, you’ll probably use cheaper ammo or reloads for range practice. It is important that you regularly practise with your carry loads to ensure that the hollow points feed reliably in your pistol, also to grow accustomed to their sharper recoil and to ensure that they are shooting to your point of aim.
In the case of revolvers, malfunctions are rare, the most
To avoid malfunctions, regularly clean your handgun and sparingly oil all moving parts
common being some foreign object getting among the working parts, or bullets (usually from improperly crimped handloads) extruding from their cases within the cylinder due to recoil, until they protrude from the front of the chambers to engage the frame, thus preventing the cylinder from turning. Carrying your revolver in a holster and using quality factory ammunition for daily carry will obviate these problems. One-handed reloads can be achieved by gripping the barrel between your knees, though short-barrelled revolvers are difficult to secure in this position (remember, the swingout cylinder will be open).
In conclusion, the only way to determine what works best for you is to regularly practise various drills on the range to hone your skills. Even dry-fire exercises are better than no training at all.