I hope folks read more than just the title. So im watching a show with a gun exchange and the person has to reload and you can see they are nervous to get the new magazine in so they can fire again and it made me think. Do any guns have two magazine where you can either manually switch to the other magazine or maybe automatically do it when the first one is empty. With the idea that if you need to fire while in the middle of changing out the empty magazine you could. I feel like this seem obvious enough that someone must have tried it. I mean considering the crazy gun things I have seen. Since im not aware of anything I figure if it has been done it had an issue or was just not useful enough to make worth it. So for the folks that are really into guns, especially wierd protoype ones. Has there every been anything like this?
Stovepipes are pretty common if you limp-wrist your pistol. Similarly, some pistols don’t go back into battery if you don’t keep a rock-solid grip on the gun (I know for certain that this is an issue with the Walther PDP-F). Hang fires are something I wouldn’t worry about in a gun fight; if it doesn’t go bang, immediately cycle the slide and drop the round. Squibs on the other hand… If you get one of those, well, you aren’t shooting with that gun any more, not until you can clear it. If it goes pop instead of BANG, then you definitely should not try a second time.
Honestly, if you, as a non-cop/non-military person are in a gunfight, the odds that you will need to reload are incredibly low. The biggest reason to carry a spare magazine along with your carry gun is so that you can drop your mag and swap out if you have some kind of failure. But even that is highly unlikely, assuming that you have bought a reputable firearm in the first place (e.g., not KelTec, Taurus, or a Sig P320), and have kept it maintained. Keep in mind that gun fights outside of police standoffs and military engagements are almost always very, very fast; like, less than five seconds most of the time.
Oof on that Walther lol, go Glock or CZ! But yeah a new mag ain’t the fix for any of those.
Avg civilian encounter is 3s no reloads, but yeah it never hurts to be prepared!
It’s not my Walther; it’s my partner’s, and they got the F version specifically because the reduced spring power on the slide makes cycling it easier. But the reduced spring power also makes it less likely to go fully into battery without a very firm grip. In general, the Walther PDPs are very nice guns, but the F versions have to make some trade-offs to work for smaller/weaker hands.
Me, I’ve got a CZ Shadow II Compact (I would have gotten the Carry, but that came out a month or two after I got the Compact). Love it. I went from using an inexpensive steel boat-anchor of a double-stack .40S&W/10mm 1911 in matches to the CZ.
For anyone that reads this, with the time for a gunfight that ArcaneSlime notes, .8 seconds for a draw from concealment and a single shot on target in the A zone is ‘competitive’. You should practice to get to that point. I’m not there, and I need to practice to get there myself.
…'Cuz carrying a gun isn’t like a magic talisman. It doesn’t make you safer to carry a gun unless you practice, and practice a lot. No one wants to get in a gun fight unless they’re either psychotic, suicidally stupid, or both.
I’m not there yet either lmao, also working on it!
I’ve just personally never been able to get used to the newer Walther’s grips. The ppk is fun for the neat factor at the range (also I’m a nerd) but as far as a carry pistol goes none of their “duty” lineup does it for me (or, I can’t do it with them lol. Either way.) CZ all day for me, trustworthy, good grip, can shoot well.
But that’s all just personal preference anyway, fully agree on the rest though! Second to last thing I want is a gunfight, the last thing would be what the fighting is intended to prevent lmao.