I've returned to IDPA shooting after laying off for a few years, and in the spirit of shoot-what-you-carry I'm trying my 9mm Shield in the CCP division. (I used to use a Glock 26 in SSP, or a K-frame revolver, and did well with both.) I've done good shooting with the Shield in the 2 matches I've been in, except that my brain seems to run a subconscious round counter that's still calibrated for 10-round mags, as I am frequently surprised when I get slide lock after 8 (or 9) rounds.

But I've had a significant slowdown in each match when the pad of my right ring finger gets pinched between the collar of the 8-round mag and the bottom of the grip frame during a reload. The first time it was only painful, but last weekend it drew blood, which with my blood thinners took a long time to stop. In both cases it took substantial extra time to clear - the mag really locks up tight if there's anything between the mag collar and the grip, and it took hard pressure from my left thumb to get it released.

My immediate solution during the last match was to remove the collars from the 8-round mags, so there's nothing that can pinch during a mag change. But the pinch occurred on Stage 5 of the match and the final Stage 6 only had 1 mag change, so I haven't had much opportunity to confirm that I have a reliable fix.

Removing the collar leaves a section of bare magazine sticking out of the grip, so the actual gripping surface is only as long as the gun frame. I think this will be enough to hang on to and still shoot well, although I don't yet know if lack of a collar will affect magazine alignment/feeding reliability.

Has anybody else experienced this kind of pinching, and if so do you have a solution (other than just removing the magazine collar?) I have imagined cutting/filing a bevel (or even a notch) on the collar along the section that might cause the pinch, but thought I'd try the nondestructive collar-removal cure first.

Any suggestions from experience will be appreciated.