The Unofficial P64 Resource Forum

Because of the heel clip and the lack of an external slide release, I've been sitting around trying to figure out how to, at least in theory, rapidly load a new clip in my P-64. So I thought I'd see how other people are doing it.

My method, so far:
1) Shoot seven times
2) Once the slide is locked back, put the gun in my left hand, with the topstrap checkering against my palm.
3) Use my right hand to drop the empty mag and insert the fresh one.
4) Put my right hand back on the grip.
5) Push forwards with my right hand, while pulling backwards slightly with the left to release the slide.
6) Shoot 6 more times

I was trying to change out mags with my left hand, and that worked OK, but it was awkward to release the slide. This method doesn't seem to be any slower, and is a lot smoother on the slide release.

Practice...you'd be surprised what kind of speed you can get out of reloading a bottom mag release once you've practiced it alot.

how I do it is (I'm right handed) I put my left index finger on the finger groove of the mag, push the lever with with my left thumb and pull down with my index finger to remove the mag, after it clears the gun I let the mag drop and reach for a spare, pop it in and release the slide with my left hand. doing it this way keeps my right (shooting) hand on the gun and pointed at the target at all times.

+1 with Trent

Left hand does the work leaving the right hand ready to shoot.

If 7 9x18mm bullets didn't stop the bad guy, i'd throw it at his head as hard as I could and run like hell !!! hahah G

1) Keep 7 loaded.
2) Shoot 6.
3) Maintain shooting grip with right hand, use left hand to drop mag (mag drops to ground).
4) Left hand grabs fresh mag and slams the mag home.
5) Left hand resumes supporting grip and right hand continues to fire another 6.
6) Repeat as needed.

No manual slide work necessary.

I've never tried to reload for speed, but my left index finger or thumb does the release and I replace it with the left hand. Man this creates some new scenario problems, I always figured that in a gun fight it would end with either him/her or me getting hit within the first few seconds of the fight ending the battle. That is the way I have always practiced, no fewer than three shots or until they drop. Never ever thought about the need to reload in a hurry. Crap, now I have to learn to do speed loading while prostrate on the floor and standing up.
G.R.

while prostrate on the floor

I totaly thought that said prostate when I first read it

I'm trying to learn the more "standard" method of not shifting hands, but it's still not as fast to me as shifting. How are you guys releasing the slide? I.e. where do you place your hand to do the release?

I think the shifting thing comes from working with revolvers. It's natural to shift when using speed loaders. Though "American-style" autoloaders come pretty natural to me too.

And I like the concept of shooting six and tactical reloading...but I've always been taught that anything that requires counting shots will end up failing you when it counts. I don't think it's impossible to train that way, but at the same time, I just don't trust myself that much when the adrenaline is pumping.

I dont know about anyone else but speed reloading with my mag release could be timed with an hourglass..
anyway if 6 or 7 has not accomplished what I wanted I sure hope my" feet dont fail me now" mode kicks in.

+1 with slackone,

I understand what barnett3006 is saying, and he is correct in theory, however, and no disrespect meant here, but in a fire fight, if you can count rounds, you are a much better man than I am. I am right handed and use Trent's method of reloading most semi's also. I know there are a few of us here that have been in a fire fight and its been my experience that the adrenaline rush when someone is shooting back at you is very powerful and counting rounds is the last thing on my mind. I was trained to practice, practice and practice and to try to stay as calm as possible in a fire fight, however, my first experience with staying calm got up and went. I later found that staying calm to be life saving. Staying calm and not hesitating to pull the trigger takes practice and experience. I hope none of us have to prove any of this for the first time or every again for some of us, in short, the taking of any life, be it a enemy, or a life threating situation, for most of us it leaves a life long sense of guilt even though you did what you had to do and you were in the right.

papabear

I agree with you papabear (no disrespect taken ) , counting shots is for Hollywood...I was stating the "ideal" fast reload. In a real firefight, if your first couple of shots doesn't get the job done you need to be finding cover -- quickly -- using the next few rounds remaining in your mag to get you to that cover, but hopefully not running your mag dry. Its ideal to take advantage of any breaks in the action (whether created by you finding cover or from the BG's fumbling) to perform tactical reloads, and seeing that any break you might get could only be a few seconds long, not having to manually cycle the slide to chamber the top round in the mag can save some time.

I do agree with that...if I'm shooting, and for any reason the "action" stops while I'm not dry, I'm going to switch mags. I'd rather waste a couple shots in the dropped mag than wish I had a full six when the chips are down...

Releasing the slide, IMHO, is done the same way on every semi-auto pistol I've ever seen. The strong hand keeps the pistol aimed at the action while the weak hand comes down on top of the slide with the thumb pointed back at you. you grip the slide with all four fingers on the strong side and the thumb on the weak side and then pull it back towards you. When the slide gets all the way back it will stop and your weak hand will automatically release as it continues backwards.

Now some may be asking "What about the slide realese lever on my 1911/Glock/92F/etc?" Many say, and I agree, that it isn't really a "slide release", it is a "slide lock" and the above way of releasing the slide works on all the different models that I've seen ... and it uses gross motor skills, not the fine motor skills that head for the hills when the adrenaline starts flowing

Saands

and some of those slide releases are really small and clumsy, large ones like on the 1911 are easy enough but if you alternate guns for carry it can become a problem (different places/designs) that's also a problem with mag releases, the other day I was shooting my 9x18's (p64 and cz82) at the range. After shooting the p64 I brought out the cz and found that I tried to release the cz's mag from the bottom (to no avail) so aparantly I need to work on that one.