The AR-15 is a very enjoyable rifle to shoot. It is lightweight, accurate, and easy to use. So it’s understandable why it has become America’s rifle. While we enjoy shooting this rifle, knowing how to keep it running is equally important. This is especially true if you keep a rifle for personal defense. One skill you need to master is the AR-15’s emergency reload.
Emergency Reload of the AR-15
With its 30-round magazine, the AR-15 brings a lot of power into the fight. However, eventually, our magazine is going to run dry. With a little practice, however, you can quickly reload the rifle. Let’s look at the steps we need to get the gun back in the fight and perform an Emergency Reload of the AR-15.
With practice, you can tell when your rifle runs dry. You can do this without even looking inside the chamber. There’s an unmistakable feeling to the gun when the bolt locks to the rear. Regardless of whether you feel that or not, the emergency reload technique remains the same. As you are shooting the gun, it will eventually cease to fire. Slightly tilt the gun and look inside the chamber. You’ll see the bolt locked to the rear and the follower of the empty magazine.
Emergency Reload of the AR-15 – Clear the Empty Magazine
Our first step is to clear the empty magazine out of the gun. Some may say that simply pressing the mag release and letting the mag fall is sufficient. The truth is that sometimes our mags do not drop free. The reason for this can be a variety of things. At this moment, however, we don’t want to concern ourselves with why. We simply need to get the magazine out of the gun. Once you have determined that the gun is indeed empty, we bring it into our workspace. Now, we start bringing our support side hand back towards your body. As your hand moves back, press the magazine release and use your support hand to pull the empty mag out. This is quickly done in that your hand is already on its way back to your extra magazine.
Reload the Rifle
Now that the empty magazine is clear of the gun, we must reload it. After your hand clears the empty magazine, it grabs your backup mag. Grasp it firmly and bring it up to the rifle. Tilt the gun slightly so you can see the magazine well, and firmly insert the magazine. You should both feel and hear a click. To ensure that we have seated a magazine, we also want to give it a pull. This confirms that the magazine is indeed seated. Now, with my support side hand, I simply move my thumb up slightly and place it on the bolt release. Press it firmly, the bolt will move forward, and the rifle will be loaded.
Practice Makes it Smooth
This motion is quick and very easy to execute. I encourage you to practice this as much as you practice shooting. I find that people with good manipulation skills are better shooters as well. I tell people in classes that ammunition management is a problem, but it’s just not my problem. What that means is that you are responsible for keeping your gun running. With a little practice, this becomes second nature.
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