Loadin' them stiff magazines

[dullh]

If this is useful to you, glad to help. If not, disregard.

About 18 years ago, Cylinder and Slide out of Fremont, NE published an article in one of their catalogs about how to load magazines. They basically asserted that simply stuffing rounds in the magazine wasn't correct. The rounds had to be properly seated in the magazine - this was especially true for double stack and staggered magazines.

They gave a technique that I use with I load my Shield and M&P 45c magazines (the latter being so stiff from the factory that I couldn't get the 8th round in!)

Try this:

Load 3 rounds, tap the base of the magazine firmly against your hand. You'll hear the rounds "bounce" in the magazine. This repositions the rounds against the follower and keeps the spring from binding. Load three more rounds. Tap magazine against your hand again, to position the six rounds in the magazine tube. The last one or two rounds should seat with little to no resistance.

This should also make it easier to seat the loaded magazine in the gun against the bottom of the slide.

This technique can also be used for the larger capacity magazines. Even though the bigger mags are easier to load, every little bit helps to enhance reliability.

 

[Bkreutz]

Hmmm, never heard of that method. I may have to try it one of these days. I gave in to the Uplula loader. It sure helps when loading 28 rounds into this.

 

[federali]

I Second the Uplula Loader

However, using a mechanical loader still allows you to use Dullh's method for seating rounds to the rear wall of the magazine. Anything that enhances reliability, particularly in a self-defense firearm, is worth doing.

 

[coltle6920]

Doesn't seem to be an issue for me with the "fatter" rounds like 9mm and .45's or any mags of 15rds or less.Now the 30rd mags for my AR-15 and 22WMR are a different story.In fact your suggestion is even mentioned in one of the manuals.

 

[Tsb3]

Thanks for the tip dullh. I will give it a try

 

[tat2dchad]

Hmmm, never heard of that method. I may have to try it one of these days. I gave in to the Uplula loader. It sure helps when loading 28 rounds into this.

yup...this! solves all your problems, no sore thumbs etc. best $30 i have spent on my gun other than my CC permit

 

[shawn mccarver]

I used to scoff at the loading tools. No more. The UPLULA is so fast and easy, and so easy on the fingers and hands, especially in bitterly cold or freezing weather (I shoot on an outdoor range always), that I now use it all the time.

If you load 1,00 rounds or so over an extended shooting session on a freezing day, you will bloody up your hands, and I suggest you have a good finish on your pistol and magazines as blood does not play well with ordinary bluing.

Blood is no problem with melonite or tenifer (the same finish under two different names) or Walter Birdsong's Black T. I cannot speak to other finishes and their durability with blood.

Get the UPLULA. You can still smack the mag on your palm if it makes you feel better!

 

[Gruney]

Uplula FTW

Bought one right after I got my first pistol. Works great once you have a little practice. The one I got also has a nub for stripping rounds off a mag and that works great as well.

Whoever invented it is a mechanical genius - he should be in the shooting accessory Hall of Fame.