That’s a great answer. Thanks. My training is more law enforcement related where a tactical reload is more likely to be required, rather than civilian concealed carry. That’s why I practice both. I am now retired from LE but old training habits are hard to break.
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In a training class I have got to the point to need to reload and believe me even with having practiced it comes to what feels like minutes to reload tactically and even longer after my slide locks back. So, as everyone else says, practice both and practice a lot. Your performance can diminish to about 40% in an actual self-defense situation. so yeah, practice, practice, practice! and practice while moving.
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Over the years I have been with instructors that advocate both. Personally even when carrying a 1911 in the old days it was tough to remember how many rounds have been fired in an obstacle course drill. Now with the greatly increased capacities of striker fired, I think if you are concentrating enough to keep track of how many rounds you’ve dumped down range you’re probably not thinking about other things more important. Just my opinion.
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Tactical reload. 
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Just to add to the conversation.
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Empty mags get tossed, they are not your friend. Partial mags are precious and so is having a topped tank.
Doing a tactical reload is as easy (maybe even easier) as doing an emergency one and you just swap mags and put away the partial. There’s a billion YouTube videos showing the correct technique.
And because you still have one in the pipe during the reload (unless you have one of the silly mag locks) you can still get off a shot during the reload if needed.
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Back in the day we had either 6 rounds [revolver] or 8 for 1911
now with the Hi cap mags its harder to count so reload often
don’t go into ‘‘slide lock’’ cause your firearm is dead in the water
till you swap mags
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We may need to define these terms. When you say tactical reload, what are you referring to?
Because retaining the partial mag is definitely an added level of complexity vs letting it drop free. Do you manipulate two magazines in the same hand at the same time for a tactical reload?
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Of course you do. I do them all the time. Pick full mag in support hand. Drop partial mag into same hand and swiftly switch them. Takes less than a second to do this. Practice until it’s flawless. Easy!
Why would you ever want to drop a mag that still has ammo in it?!?!?!???
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For the reasons listed above.
Minimize time with no mag in the gun (it is faster to drop the old one free), minimize chances of fumbling and dropping the new mag as you are holding it whilst manipulating the old mag, realization that drawing and firing the concealed carry gun, then reloading, then firing all of the ammo in the second magazine, then re-reloading the first mag to fire that ammo, is significantly less likely than fumbling on the initial reload (which itself is a near 0 anyway).
Fortunately this is all pretty much guaranteed to never matter to any of us
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I have 12 on board and 15 in a spare mag. I don’t carry a spare mag cuz I think I’m going to need more rounds I carry a spare mag in case there is a malfunction. Probably never going to need it but is an easy contingency to plan for.
If ever I’m in a situation that I actually need 27 rounds I’m in deep s***! Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? No. If I plan for every contingency I can think of I would be so loaded down with gear my old butt couldn’t walk to the mailbox!
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This is a good point. A lot of people carry a spare magazine just for a malfunction, because they don’t want to worry about manipulating both the gun and the original magazine at the same time*. When carried or used for a malfunction and not for extra rounds, there isn’t even a reason to keep the old magazine around as far as I can tell. Dump and replace and move on.
*I would like to note that, given the context of your gun, your ammo, your magazine, previously proven reliable by you before carrying it, even for a ‘mag induced malfunction’, chances are very high that that either immediate action aka phase 1 of tap, rack re-asses or, if needed, remedial action aka phase II, remove the mag, rack the slide and clear the gun of any ammo/shell casings, then reinsert that very same magazine, will solve the problem. So even for a malfunction, you probably won’t need a second mag.
But just in case your known good magazine suddenly pooped the bed, it wouldn’t hurt to drop it free/rip it out and toss it, and replace with a brand new (also full) magazine
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I truly believe that everyone should know their limitations, and if a person is incapable or unable to train to perform a proper tactical reload manipulating two mags with one hand they should certainly not do so.
For the rest of us that understand the importance of not discarding partial mags and can actually accomplish a proper tac reload we’ll just continue to do so.
Thanks!
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We can squabble for next fee days which reload is better and / or faster, however each of us has his / her own preference. It’s good to practice both, you never know which one will be needed. During gunfight we may lose round count, we can have no cover, we may run; there may be no time to clearly think which method should we choose 
But, there is one common thing that we must always remember - keep your finger off the trigger during reload.… no matter which reload method it is.
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I don’t think it’s a matter of limitations and inability, so much as a matter of one is objectively less complicated and more foolproof than the other.
But some people know they how they will react under life or death stress and can handle more complex processes and fine motor skills, more power to them
Personal preference on which one is a better fit for you.
(I prefer one clearly, but do both, because competitions often require doing things differently than you would like or prefer, which is generally a good thing)
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I don’t have any data to back it up but I lean towards agreeing with you that it’s more likely than emptying a mag
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Nex I am going to post on EDC a revolver!!
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I don’t have data either but I have seen a number of real world real life videos where the gun malfunctioned, despite not being able to find a single private citizen reload example.
That’s not official data but it’s a huge sample size at this point and it agrees, a malfunction seems far more likely than needing to reload for more ammo.
All that remains then is, do you need a spare mag to fix the malfunction.
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You may or may not need the spare mag to fix a malfunction. If the mag is developed the problem then yes you will. If it’s not mag related probably won’t but depending may find it simpler just to drop the mag on board and replace.
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