[Raymond F.]

So the idea for this post came to me on another post where someone had mentioned that when they slam a mag into their pistol, the slide is closing chambering the first round. Now, I'm not going to make this a continuation of that post here but rather talk about how we load our mags into our pistols.

First a little background about me and my firearms experience. I've been around firearms since I was 12 and they very first gun I ever shot was an original Colt M1911A1 .45 ACP. Since then I've fired many different calibers of rifles, handguns, and shotguns. I'm ex-military. In my senior year of highschool, I enlisted in the N.Y. Army National Guard.

Now, I'm not sure why anyone would need to slam their mags into their pistols, other than it does make a cool sound. However, The mags can be loaded into the pistol relatively easy, especially with the slide locked open, as the top of the first round in the mag is not making contact with the feeding ramp on the underside of the slide. But, even with the slide closed, the mag is easy to load into the pistol without having to slam it in. In fact, try this with your pistol. Lock the slide open, and load the magazine (use dummy rounds if that makes you more comfortable doing this). With anyone of your fingers on the butt plate of the magazine, push the mag up the mag well. You'll notice how easy the mag catches the lock in the well. Now try this same experiment with the slide closed. Again with any one of your fingers on the butt plate of the mag. You may have to push a little bit harder as the top of the first round is making contact with the feeding ramp in the underside of the slide. Again, no slamming needed. I would believe that continued slamming of the mags into your pistol would run the risk of possibly damaging something, which in turn would cost you to have the damage repaired, either by a local gunsmith, or by shipping your firearm to the manufacturer. So as previously stated, the only reason I can think of why anyone would slam their mags is because it does make a cook sound. But cool does the cost of shipping and repair(s) sound? Probably not as cool as the slamming sound.

For you first time firearm owners (people with little to no firearm experience) there's really no need to slam your mags. It's unnecessary. The mags load very easy without slamming them into your pistol.

 

[230JHP]

On a nice gentle spring day, on a controlled firing line, when I can fire one shot, spot the target, ponder and reflect, then proceed to the next shot -- yeah. I align the magazine, slide it in until it 'clicks' home, give it a gentle tug, maybe whisper a few reassuring words to it so it knows it's special (some of my magazines think I pay too much attention to the others).

Just kidding. I don't put that much thought into it. But on a controlled line, I'm not as aggressive as I am in a competition or training situation.

On the other hand, put me on a stage in any action pistol sport, and I'm really not too concerned about finessing a magazine into place. I align the mag, shove it home, drop the slide, and run that sucker like I stole it. The base pad on the magazine helps make sure it's as far into the mag well as it can go. It may or may not be considered slamming, but I'm really not putting a ton of thought into it.

It's fine motor skill (likely to be lost when adrenaline dumps into the blood), vs gross motor skill (get-it-done-and-move-on). Or another way of looking at it -- when the situation goes south, you are likely to revert to muscle memory to perform basic functions, such as reloading with a magazine. To me, I want that muscle memory to be attuned more to survival skills.

The only 'magazine-slam-related' damage I've ever experienced was with two magazines on a Bersa T380. The baseplates had a faulty design and slamming a magazine into the pistol resulted in the guts and bullets in the magazine dumping out the bottom. A couple of replacement parts resolved the problem for less than $20. I'm glad I found the problem on a competition stage, instead of in a more dire situation.

I've also had a Taurus TCP that needed magazines to be seated 'with authority' (probably would qualify for 'slamming' to some) when they were fully loaded. No one-finger seating there, unless you wanted to run the risk of the pistol spitting the magazine back out at a random time of its own choosing.

edit for typo

 

[Divebum]

I never "slam" the mag. I insert it with purpose.

 

[DeltaBravoKS]

I can't recall every slamming a magazine in. I push them in until they click. I've never been in a frantic hurry to seat a magazine, so maybe in that case I would.

 

[Devil in the Shade]

Stupid is a Stupid does. Slamming a mag is like the violent flipping of a revolver cylinder. You know you are dealing with a Newbie when you see either happen.Worse than fingernails scratched across a chalk board.

 

[Flash60601]

Some gun/magazine combinations do have issues - like if there is a burr on the magazine release that just won't quite allow the magazine catch to completely engage or a notch so cut that it might not make a completely positive engagement without being run to its extreme position forcefully and a hard rap (or "slam") will move things past that point. But that is a situaation where a judicious application of gunsmith-effort will be more conducive to continual proper function than brute strength.

My vote is for positive insertion without extreme prejudice. If that takes some tinkering to effectuate, invest the effort to diagnose and solve, rather than barbarian tacticool.

 

[william]

Prepare for worst case scenario.

Praise God every time your preparations are not required.

 

[sknhgy]

MAYBE I'M WRONG but seems I heard somewhere some guns are designed to close upon assertive insertion of the mag into the well. My Bersa 22 does this. Seems like it was a European thing. And the Bersa is a copy of a European design.

 

[olfarhors]

I don't abuse any of my weapons, but--I also don't baby any of them, they are tolos, especailly the ones designed for protection.
I practice like i intend to fight so yep the mags get inserted firmly, the slide gets dropped without help.

 

[Dad1911]

I've never found a need to slam. Just a little tap to get it past the mag release is all it takes.

 

[maloy]

You guys need to watch IDPA or IPSC. I've no idea if I'm slamming or quickly inserting during run and gun.

Maloy