I've always figured if you need to reload a pistol you grab the full mag with one hand while ejecting the empty mag, let the empty mag fall out and stuff the full mag in, which I guess is called a "speed reload"

However there is apparently also a "tactical reload" where "in a lull in the fighting" you switch a partially full mag in your gun for a full mag from your belt, but you don't drop the partially full mag, you grab it with the same hand you are putting the new mag in with-here are some photos from a website I found-







The gentlemen who put up this website offers what he says is a simpler and better version of the tactical reload on his website idpa.gunsnet.net/tacload.html

I certainly don't claim to be knowledgeable in this area so don't jump all over me, but my impression is that this "Tactical Reload" was sort of spawned by IDPA type competitions. I can see professionals, like police officers or bodyguards, getting into a drawn out gun fight where there might be lulls where you are behind cover and where you cannot just run away; but how likely is a regular guy to get into this kind of mess. And even if you do, are you really going to practice this second kind of reloading enough to be proficient with it? It seems to me that for most of us it would be smarter to just train to pop the mag out since we have probably shot the gun empty at that point anyway & in other circumstances just hope that the mag doesn't fall into a pile of mud or something else that will screw up the partially full mag (which I think we are unlikely to eject anyway).

I found another website with a differing view that I'll post below so give me a second to post that.

"Tactical Reloads: A Waste of Time?


You have to wonder sometimes about the guys who write for the gun magazines. I mean, it seems like a great job—opening the mailbox each day to a host of freebies, from handguns to holsters—but every so often I stop and ask myself, "Who made you the expert?" I had one of those moments just the other day. I was reading an article by one of the gun writers that explained his common sense approach to gunfighting: keep it simple. Sounds good to me, but in this case, one of the ways he simplified things was to ignore the ‘tactical reload’ in favor of the speed reload.
His reasoning went something like this: In a fire fight, you have to keep your actions as simple as possible, but the tactical reload is complicated. In a fire fight, everything happens fast, but the tactical reload is intended for ‘lulls’ in the combat. If you reload at all during the fight, you should eject the magazine, let it drop, and ram a fresh one into the gun immediately. Then, if you have time, you can fish around for that dropped magazine. There is no point practicing the tactical reload, since you will never have the opportunity to do one in the field.

I consider myself to be a beginner. I will probably always think of myself that way, because I have never actually been in a fire fight, and I hope I never do. With so much to learn, it would be comforting to be able to scratch a complex, unnecessary technique from my to-do list. More than anything, I would like this gun writer’s advice to be sound. But it isn’t.

Let’s look at your options. The fire fight has begun, and for some reason you have to change magazines. Maybe you’re out of ammo and your slide is locked back. Maybe you’ve experienced a jam or failure of some kind, and you need to switch magazines to insure reliable feed. Or maybe you’re behind cover in one of those ‘lulls’ for which the tactical reload is intended. The goal of the ‘tac-load’ is to top up your gun, so you have the maximum number of rounds available. Instead of throwing away the rounds in your used magazine, you will retain them in case you need them later. So there are three scenarios:

From slide lock, use a speed reload.
If there are rounds left in your magazine, and you can safely perform a tactical reload, do it.
If there are rounds in the magazine, and you cannot safely do a tactical reload, keep shooting and do a speed reload from slide lock.
Now, the gun writer I mentioned before agrees with the first statement, but not with the other two. He isn’t advising shooters to only reload from slide lock. What he really advocates is a simpler form of tactical reload, in which the loaded magazine is ejected and allowed to fall as if it were empty, and the fresh magazine is inserted. Then, if there is time, the shooter can retrieve the magazine on the ground—if there isn’t time, abandon it.

Hold on a minute. If there isn’t time—i.e., the fire fight is still hot—why would you be ejecting a magazine that is still loaded? The only sensible reason to reload the gun before slide lock is that you are not under fire, or you have hard cover. If speed is an issue, keep firing until the gun is dry. Instinctively, you will probably do this anyway. The magazine you drop on the ground will be empty. You can come back for it when the fight is over.

So the question is, when performing a tactical reload, should you retain the used magazine, or let it drop to the ground and retrieve it once the gun is charged? The only reason to retain or retrieve the magazine is to use the remainder of the ammunition later in the fight. If you perform the standard tactical reload—after practicing to get the movements right—you can re-insert the retained magazine later if the need arises. But if you drop the magazine to the ground like an empty, you may not have that option.


Just the other day, I was shooting an IDPA style scenario at a local gun range. The scenario called for a tactical reload before engaging the second target. I performed the tac-load quickly and efficiently, then put two rounds on the target’s chest and one on the head. Afterwards, once the range was safe, I advanced on the targets along with the folks who were taping up the bullet holes. As I did, one of the magazines I was holding, which still contained five rounds of ammunition, dropped from my fingers and landed in the sand. I snatched it up immediately, but the damage was done: the inside of the magazine was caked with sand, so thick that when I pressed on the top round, the gritty friction was louder than the spring. There was no way I was putting that magazine into my gun again!

Well, that experience got me thinking, and I was reminded of the advice the gun writer had given. If I had attempted his tac-load variation on this terrain, then inserted the sodden magazine into the gun without realizing it was inundated with sand, that may very well have been the end of the fight—and not the kind of end we hope and train for. Later that night, while I was tying dental floss to a washcloth and trying to draw it through the disassembled magazine, I decided to write this little piece. Sometimes simplicity can backfire on you.

Let’s face it, if you even get into a fire fight, you’ll have enough to worry about without having to be concerned about where you drop your magazines. If you eject a mag onto the ground and it heads into sand or dirt or mud, you might as well abandon it, and the whole point of a tactical reload is to hold on to that precious ammunition. So a tactical reload that involves dropping a loaded magazine into unknown territory isn’t a tactical reload. It’s potentially throwing bullets away. Retain your magazine and you have no such worries.

To me, that’s simplicity itself."

This is the link to the website where I found this

www.sarpedon.com/handguns/tacloads.htm