How To Make Your Reloads Look like CGI

This was a screenshot of my very first sub 1s reload done in September 2018!

I can't tell you how excited I was to finally get this to happen.

My goal is for you to experience that, in less time than it took me.

Something I find is that often times people want the gun to be in a certain spot. Some reload low and closer to their bodies and some keep the gun high and out. If that works well for them that’s not something I’d correct but personally speaking I want to first figure out where the mag goes and THEN make the gun conform to that spot. This is the most likely place the reload wants to happen and the most natural for you, so why try to fight the natural efficiency of motion?

How To – Put both hands up like you’re firing your gun. Take your FIRING HAND away. This removes the influence to do the reload where you used to do it. Grab the mag and bring it up to where it naturally wants to stop. Do this several times and you’ll find it ends up in approximately the same place. I find this place for most people to be about chest height with the mag about 8-10 inches away from their body. Then you can place the gun in that location and you’ll likely find that the magwell is pointed toward your mag pouch. You WON’T see into the magwell, that’s ok – seeing the bottom line of the grip is what I personally see (you can even put a mark around that area to help attract your vision). If you're seeing INSIDE the magwell, that likely means you're gun is rotated too much.

A lot of time is lost in how aggressively the mag is retrieved and brought to the gun. People just move slower than necessary grabbing the mag and then they feel the need to rush the mag into the gun and just try to “throw” the mag in. This may work at times, but it’s a recipe for disaster when something goes wrong. You need to think of the mag grab as if it were an outstretched rubber band about to shoot at your friend (we all did this right?). As soon as the reload is initiated, the rubber band (your support hand) SNAPS to the mag and snatches it out of the pouch. Then you can use the massive amount of momentum created to carry the mag up to the magwell of the gun. Another way I like to put this for students – “RUSH to the mag, RELAX to the gun”. Bleeding off all that energy to a precise stop at the magwell is CRUCIAL to high speed reload consistency.

How To - Set a par time for 0.5 or 0.6s (more if you feel you need that, but this is what you want to get to at the end). Start with the gun aimed on target. On the beep, you will grab the mag quickly and bring it up to the gun. Your end point is your index finger of a properly indexed mag (finger just below the bullet) is touching the bottom of the grip/magwell. The mag will already be partially inserted in this case, doing a bunch of the work for you in confirming the mag is in the right place. This is the requisite hand speed to be able to accomplish a 1s reload.

When the magazine is at the “pause” point with the index finger touching the bottom of the grip/magwell, this is where you ask yourself a simple question – Is the mag going in? If the answer is yes, PUT THE MAG IN THE GUN. No more, no less. If the answer is no, ADJUST the mag to be where it needs to be and put it in the gun! I found that this simple yes/no answer allows for much less thinking to happen during a reload. This allows for higher consistency in reloads AND a much quicker adjustment if there is a hangup. Make it simple and the execution become more of a probability. One thing – The “pause” is confirmatory in nature. You can CHOOSE to stop the mag in the magwell like in #2 above, but you don’t have to do that. Once you know the mag is going in, put it in. What we want to avoid is release control of the mag early and throwing it in the gun, but that doesn’t mean we need an excessive pause either.

A term coined from Hwansik Kim during position exits, I retooled it for reloads as well. Think about this – when is a reload EVER initiated off a beep in a match? Never. So once we have the requisite hand speed described in #2 above we can pretty much get rid of the timer entirely! At this point, we can just use reaction off the trigger break to initiate the reload. Getting quicker at this one thing will also translate into things like quicker transition exits and position exits as well. Remember, when the slide starts moving in recoil the bullet has long left the barrel. You’d be surprised at how much you can get away with in this instance! You can shave a good bit of time off your reload times here just by getting good at this.


See the first few in action on this IG reel here! - https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce60T3jAFUD/


How To - Start aimed on target. Press the trigger quickly and decisively and immediately initiate the reload. This is a fun one to try live as well, as you learn not to return the gun in recoil, rather start to pull the gun into the reload position to save time. I like to demonstrate this with one shot and then after the reload 2 shots to ensure grip is properly set.

A common thing I see people doing when reloading is “chicken winging” their reload path. The mag comes out of the pouch and the elbow then takes a bit of an arced path to bring the mag to the gun. This makes the mag take a path that isn’t quite predictable and the mag rotates into position late.

How To – As soon as you’ve cleared your mag pouch, drop the elbow next to your side. You’ll find the mag takes the quickest path of rotation to end up in the reload position! This is shown in this video I made here - https://www.instagram.com/p/CVrIsoSg6g_/

It’s often overlooked, but the value of pushing your visual and information processing system to do more is a simple yet effective way to get more out of every skill you’re training. Pushing yourself not to slow your mechanics down, but to speed up your vision and processing to see more of what’s going on will help a TON. I’ve often been able to read the numbers on magazines when doing reloads at full speed while working on this specific thing! It’s crazy and awesome when you have this level of awareness and you can really pick out a ton of things to help improve your abilities! This is how I’m able to give you the information above as well.


How To – Now, you’re not looking to go all out with this. Instead, push yourself to see more visually a little bit at a time. It WILL be uncomfortable every time you do this, and that’s OK and expected. Change doesn’t happen by staying within the boundaries of your comfort zone, it requires a nudge. I read in the book “Peak Performance” by Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg that it’s about a 4% push outside your comfort zone that creates the best adaptations. While I can’t quantify 4% visually, we can say mild-moderately uncomfortable will be about that sensation we are looking for. Try to see things like:

- The top round getting to the grip

- The numbers of the witness markings on the mag

- Some feature itself of the mag (a shiny spot, a ridge, etc.)

The more detail you try to see, the more you will be able to troubleshoot and correct at speed. And this is how we grow!

Check out my recent Instagram post on just this thing! 

This will get you started on your CGI reloads. Reloads do take some effort, but once you get it right they will become a rewarding and fun way to improve results and impress your friends!


If you want to see a video breakdown on how I do my reloads, along with a few drills I teach in my private lessons, click HERE for FREE Video Lessons & Drills

(its also not just reload drills, there's video on grip, draws, split times, and more)