This is a good point. It would be aweful if someone decided to reload unnecessarily early and lost the fight because of it. (I’ve done it in video games many times 
).
I attended a class this week instructed by former K9 Officer.
We talked about reloads and he had recalled that back in 20th Century whenever they had a malfunctioned mag, they just dumped it… didn’t even thinking about ammo inside. One day they tracked a bad guy and he found himself it the same situation - malfunction, looked like bad mag with broken feed lips, so dumped it on the ground, put fresh mag, back to action. Unfortunately he went out of ammo… and that moment he realized he threw away bunch of rounds 
After that day they changed procedure at K9 Dept.
Conclusion - do whatever you think is right to do at the moment… but never waste your ammo.
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I’d like to know ,that in a self defense situation if properly trained and continuous training within the defendant. How much ammo would one unload?
To drop a mag and reload… that’s an awful lot of firing.
I would hope to never be in a self defense situation where I have to exhaust every piece of ammonium carrying w me. In a real life situation. Not a war time front line situation.
Very rare. The main concern is multiple attackers, and unfortunately that is a possibility. I think gun capacity matters too. If you have a g-19 your probably fine. I carry 7 rounds, might need a reload.
Most crooks run the moment they realize they could get shot, but you can’t bet on that either.
After watching a lot of ASP There are lots of examples of multiple attackers. It’s usually gang related. Most of them are in Brazil, and I’m sure it has to do with that. BUT it’s still very eye opening when you see bad people travel in packs.
That being said, I don’t feel under gunner with just 6-7 rounds, but there’s merit to having more.
So I also agree with you, that’s why I see the proactive reload as a pretty practical practice for an armed citizen.
All of my CZ 75 magazines are CZ branded. Original Equipment Manufacturer. Should I be looking for something better?
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I’ll PM you, because I have more questions and a suggestion or 2.
I wonder if there is a video showing someone running out of ammo in a gunfight? 
I am a “slide lock reload” kinda guy. A reload with retention looks pretty cool if you get fast with it, but I don’t see the point, unless you are at a lull in the ‘action’.
When I coached football and we would have coaching meetings coaches had a saying “whoever has the pen last wins.” Simply meaning we’re all correct in our strategy but as long as we keep changing the variables the person that goes next pulls ahead. I think the same applies to this discussion on reloading philosophy. I know it’s true in sports and I think it’s true in self defense related firearms, execute the fundamentals relevant to the situation and you have a chance of winning, doesn’t necessarily matter the system you run…
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is there video proof (any proof) of the “Pro-Active Reload” being used?
So the scenarios where the proactive reload is recommended are when you’ve been put in an active situation where you have expended a number of rounds stopping a threat, you may still be in danger, but you want 15 rounds instead of 2.
Is taking on a potential threat with 2 rounds the answer? Is taking longer to retain 2 rounds leaving yourself potential exposed for longer better? Could those few seconds be the difference between protecting yourself?
The arguments present are “don’t waste ammo”. I could argue “don’t waste time”. We’re debating if saving a couple seconds or a fraction of a second better than retaining rounds that you probably won’t need? Could that time be the difference between winning president losing the fight?
Does context matter? If I’m a civilian, I’m not carrying enough ammo for gun fights that last hours or days. I’m carrying what I believe is practical to protect my family from a life threatening situation and and get out.
Does home defense and conceal carry equate a different strategy?
Could training a proactive reload while choosing to carry an additional mag for comfort be a fix?
Like most things, it seems every practice has its pros and cons.
Tac reload, you retain ammo you may need, but it’s longer (even if it’s fast, it’s still longer).
Proactive reload, it’s faster, but you lose ammo.
Lock Back- simplest, reload is fast, but you could be depending your life on 1 shot without knowing.
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Agreed, don’t waste time, your life will depend on it.
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I don’t think a single rule can be made to fit; there are too many variables.
How many magazines do you have with you? How many assailants are you facing? Do you have cover? Can you reach cover? How far away is help/safety? Any chance of the cavalry arriving in time?
This may well be yet another of those situations when you have to fight through the adrenaline, fear, and rage so you can think. I am beginning to believe that the people we recognize as hero’s did just that.
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Is that in combat or self-defense? Combat, yes, Fighting our way to a dwelling than just before entering into the house, mag change and ready for what came next and enter the house… As for self-defense, I have not. As for video proof,… I doubt anyone will ever have proof.
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@Jeff4 I believe it. I mean, some systems are superior to others (in all physical skills). Obviously, the solid fundamentals are the fundamentals, and you won’t find many experts arguing about those. If you do, it is probably a group of “experts” trying to get famous and/or make more $$$. But…if folks just pick one of the solid, dependable, proven-in-the-real-world-over-time systems and master it they will be light years ahead of the pack. And that is all we can do. No certainties - just probabilities.
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totally agree, go with the flow, every situation will have different circumstances, do what you can do, when you can do it!
While I can imagine a scenario or two where a “proactive reload” might be beneficial, I can see as many if not more where a tactical reload would be the better option. I have never been in a gun fight but as with most actions in life I suspect the less thinking you have to do the better. I don’t want to muck up my brain with a whole bunch of different options. Most of my training is to keep going till slide lock but I also do train for tactical reloads for situations where I can get to cover or there is a clear pause in the action.
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To my way of thinking, the whole point behind training for “tactical reloads” is about mindfulness: trying to impress upon your neural pathways that we should consider reloading during any safe lull in a gunfight in which we have already spent several rounds of ammo. This discipline comes from an era when a typical semi-auto hand gun held fewer than 10 rds, but the military also teaches to execute tac reloads of rifles with 30 rd mags during lulls in a firefight. The reason is simple: you do not want to hit slide lock (empty) in the heat of shooting and being shot at if you can avoid it.
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Agree that full is much better than empty! But I don’t want my mind actively focusing on the the thought of when to reload at the expense of losing focus on the immediate threat and best response to it. I did some of this in the distant past with paintball challenges but the consequences of a poorly timed choice were noticeably less. I am also currently trying to ingrain automatically increasing my movement on slide lock to make myself a harder target while reloading.
I need to figure out a good way to simulate those safe pauses in my training to make tactical reloads a more automatic response when time does permit. Force on force training would likely help but I wouldn’t be able to afford enough to make the response automatic. Any recommendations on drills that might help train that instinct?
I agree with both statements.
I wonder if one could train proactive reloads with pistols and tack reloads with rifles.
In the end, I doubt whether you do a tac reload or a proactive reload it makes much of a difference. Chances are we won’t be in a gun fight. Then if we are in a gunfight, chances are a reload will not be necessary (I’m not saying we shouldn’t train it though).
I’ll PM you and tell you what I use to keep the cobwebs blown off important admin skills (of which I consider an admin/tactical reload one).
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