Spare pistol mag: Bullets to the front? Or to the rear?

[Double T]

Ummm... Facing rear, as some instructors here previously mentioned, makes it so you DON'T have to rotate your hand.

Incorrect. Take your hand palm down and stick your index finger down at your belt line.
Now raise it to the halway point, pointing in front of you.
Then raise it in front of your face (palm toward you).

This is the most natural motion for your hand. Bullet to he rear means that at some poin you either ae flipping the mag to get the bullet forqard, or are doing it wrong

The way I see it is that is the most neutral position and requires only/mostly elbow movement, not wrist/finger manipulation. I would post a video from my phone. But I'm at my patients house.

 

[GBuck]

Incorrect. Take your hand palm down and stick your index finger down at your belt line.
Now raise it to the halway point, pointing in front of you.
Then raise it in front of your face (palm toward you).

This is the most natural motion for your hand. Bullet to he rear means that at some poin you either ae flipping the mag to get the bullet forqard, or are doing it wrong

Care to wager?

Your described technique tells me to make my palm go toward my face. If I do that like you described I have to turn the magazine. With the rounds facing the rear my wrist DOES NOT TURN.

 

[Double T]

They both work. I'm just being spitful.

I think it depends on how you want the motion to go. Mine is just the elbow and shoulder. I understand both concepts and how they work, I can just get more control of it by indexing along the cartridge and not the rear of the mag.

Its a personal choice to you it may seem natural, but to me this way feels natural. Its probably a left/right brain thing.

My wrist doesn't turn either. Its all in the elbow

 

[GBuck]

They both work. I'm just being spitful.

I think it depends on how you want the motion to go. Mine is just the elbow and shoulder. I understand both concepts and how they work, I can just get more control of it by indexing along the cartridge and not the rear of the mag.

Its a personal choice to you it may seem natural, but to me this way feels natural. Its probably a left/right brain thing.

I just don't understand why people think you can't index off the cartridge with them facing rear. I will have esrice help me make a video. I do Index off of the cartridge. I DON'T have to manipulate my wrist.

 

[Bunnykid68]

No it doesn't.

EDIT: I see what you are asking further down. Why would you carry your reload on your strong side? (assuming its your only one)

I realized all of that after I went inside. I kept thinking about it and something did not seem right. I would still think rearward even on support side though, that way when you pulled the mag up you would flip it straight up which would make the the ammo face forward.

 

[ATM]

Either way, you're still rotating the magazine from bullets down to bullets up. Whether it feels more natural for you do so with a forward rotation or a sideways rotation to orient what was at the bottom to the top will determine whether the bullets end up pointing in the original direction or reversing during the rotation.

Of course, my way is the most correct.

 

[Bunnykid68]

Either way, you're still rotating the magazine from bullets down to bullets up. Whether it feels more natural for you do so with a forward rotation or a sideways rotation to orient what was at the bottom to the top will determine whether the bullets end up pointing in the original direction or reversing during the rotation.

Of course, my way is the most correct.

Well, yeah, of course your way is correct, I was just saying something

 

[lovemachine]

What mag holder is that?

Looks like two single-mag pouches from Comp-Tac.

Yep. I like the Comp-TAC mag pouches a lot.

 

[jsx1043]

I go rounds forward. Mine comes from learning to shoot pistol from a duty belt. My mag pouch is worn vertical on my front left (off side,) 11 o'clock position, with the rounds facing to the right. In an EDC capacity, I've slid the mag pouch more to the 9/10 o'clock spot, which makes the rounds face forward. My mag draw remains unchanged. I index my left pointer finger down the face of the mag. For my tac vests, mag position remains so I can index down the front.

As an aside, I learned through my various instructors that one of the reasons that "rounds front" is as effective as it is, is due to gross vs. fine motor skills and visualized vs. non-visualized reloads . Using the rounds forward grip is a gross motor skill with an edge of finesse. Using a "beer can" grip is purely a gross motor skill.

Demonstration:

1. Ball your fists and close your eyes.
2. Extend your weak side pointer finger and your strong side pinky finger.
3. Touch the tips of your fingers together in front of you, up and down your center line. (No cheating, keep your eyes closed.)

You should touch the tips of your fingers together nearly every time. At the very least, your fingers should touch or cross somewhere. This little trick works quite well for pistol mags, which is why you see so many competition shooters using it. This is a non-visualized reload and is done close in to the body.

Rifle mags are a diffferent story, due to the size of the mag and the location of the magwell. One of the reasons the Beer Can grip is so prevalent for the rifle mag is the difference between the gross and fine motor skills. The heavier mag, forward magwell (which unlike a pistol is further away and not a natural extension of the body,) and complexity of the mag insertion/round charging procedures requires the shooter visualize the process.

 

[jve153]

i tried both in my first multigun, facing rear felt more natural, that is the way i do. if you have questions on this, come out to friday night steel or other steel challenge type match. put your spares in a holster and try both. whichever way fits you the best, that is the way YOU should do it.

 

[45fan]

I carry mine in my left back pocket (in a leather mag holder made for the purpose), but the orientation of them, if carried forward to a weak side belt carry, would be bullets forward. For me, its the most natural movement. I carry in a shoulder rig, they go stronside, bullets forward, again because it feels the most natural to me, and keeps at least that much of the muscle memory similar.

 

[WebSnyper]

Yep. I like the Comp-TAC mag pouches a lot.

I need to give those a look. I was checking out the Galco pouches recently, and trying to decide on a purchase.

So you guys like the open top models, without any kind of flap?

Interesting that Comp-Tac indicates the following on their site:


[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]NOTE: We make our mag pouches to hold magazines with BULLETS FACING FORWARD. If you want to have the bullets face backwards, order a magazine pouch for the opposite side you plan to carry it. For example, you want to carry the magazine on your left side, order a right side magazine pouch and then carry it backwards on your left side. [/FONT]

 

[Rob377]

The comp-Tacs, like any decent kydex mag pouch will have a tension adjustment, so you can tighten or loosen as desired. A flap is unnecessary and slower.

 

[WebSnyper]

The comp-Tacs, like any decent kydex mag pouch will have a tension adjustment, so you can tighten or loosen as desired. A flap is unnecessary and slower.

Understood, more thinking about the fact that I can tuck my gun pretty well in my IWB holster, but these may be a bit more interesting to deal with from a concealment standpoint.

 

[lovemachine]

Understood, more thinking about the fact that I can tuck my gun pretty well in my IWB holster, but these may be a bit more interesting to deal with from a concealment standpoint.

They are very easy to conceal. I just never tuck my shirt in

I do want to try out Comp-TAC's IWB mag pouch though.

 

[Paul Gomez]

I carry pistol mags bullet forward and rifle mags bullet rearward.

Someone mentioned Rob Pincus earlier. Rob does make a very good case for bullet rear mag carry and I shot his Combat Focus Shooting class last year with a mag pouch set up for this. The body mechanics behind bullet rearward carry are more in line with a normal range of movement (ie, no one reaches into their pocket for change leading with the index finger and flagging their elbow away from the body) and it works very well with rifle mags. However, I find that pistol mags are simply too small and that the shooter's hand covers too much of the magazine when we try and work from a bullets rear carry position with pistols.

As far as kydex pouches, I like Comp-Tac, RM Holsters and Josh Kobelson. Both Gregg & Jeff's designs are clip-on/paddle types and Josh's is a thread-on design. All three cover only the bottom portion of the magazine and allow for tension adjustment. I run mine pretty snug as I have never been unable to snatch a mag from a pouch, no matter how tightly it is held and I have had magazines dislodge from pouches that were not tight enough.

 

[HICKMAN]

for bullets forward and comp-tac gear

 

[HICKMAN]

I just don't understand why people think you can't index off the cartridge with them facing rear. I will have esrice help me make a video. I do Index off of the cartridge. I DON'T have to manipulate my wrist.

I look forward to seeing a video, I can't picture what you mean about manipulating your wrist. The wrist action would seem no different than drawing your gun and presenting your mag well to the weak hand, as you would be rolling both wrists from the inside with thumbs moving from in to out as the mag meets the gun.

 

[Rob377]

I look forward to seeing a video, I can't picture what you mean about manipulating your wrist. The wrist action would seem no different than drawing your gun and presenting your mag well to the weak hand, as you would be rolling both wrists from the inside with thumbs moving from in to out as the mag meets the gun.

Me too. Proof is in the pudding, as it were.

There's a whole bunch of ****-chat about the amount of movement required, which indicates that the underlying premise is that less movement equals a faster reload. (otherwise, who cares if the mag has to rotate one way or another)

There's this tendency for people to get lost in the weeds on things like this, and thusly we'll have pages of internet discussion on the things not easily measured or quantified like wrist movement, that may or may not be related to the outcome we're looking for. Some assume it is, but empirics and evidence trump assumptions. We can easily observe and measure the desired outcome: reload speed. So why assume?

So, what's the bottom line? - Is it faster or not? If it's not, none of the interweb conjecture about less/more wrist movement or mag flipping axes or whatever means anything.

 

[rugertoter]

Bullets facing to the rear. That way when I grab the magazine, I just insert it straight into the pistol.