28 Mar Tips for Speeding Up Your Mag Drops/Reloads with Your HK VP9, VP9s, and VP40
Speed is an integral component of scoring, just like accuracy. Hitting your target is only a part of the deal.
All things considered, if you can make the point of aim correspond to the point of impact, and do it faster, that is decidedly a good thing.
When drilling with your HK VP9, VP9s, or VP40, if you’re looking for crafty ways to speed up your mag drops and reloads, here are some things you can do.
Use a Dedicated Mag Carrier
Whether you have a mag holster clipped to your belt or prefer to use a tactical vest, make sure there are dedicated slots for your mags and you don’t have them free-floating in a pocket.
Your mag holster/clip/pouch should be sized appropriately for the magazine in question and hold the mag securely with the baseplate of the mag sticking up and exposed.
The mag should also be positioned in the belt/carrier so that the bullets are facing nose out. This will enable you to make only one rotation with your support hand without needing to “figure out” which way the mag is facing.
This orientation will prevent you from sapping milliseconds (or more) adjusting the mag before inserting it into the mag chute/magwell.
Don’t Expect the Mag to Drop on Its Own; Flick Your Wrist
Every gun has its own personality. Some guns drop mags fluidly and with no extra assistance, others not as easily.
If your HK pistol hangs onto spent mags, give them a little assistance. Before you hit the mag release, drop your support hand and grip the baseplate of the mag and be ready to tug it free.
Alternatively, you can “flick” your wrist down slightly to encourage the mag to drop from the mag chute. Just have your support hand already under or on the baseplate to catch it.
One more thing you can do to ease the drop is install an HK extended magazine release (see below for details).
Keep Your Mags Clean and Treat with Silicone Spray
You know what encourages a magazine to stick up inside the mag chute? Dirt and fouling, which increases friction.
There are far better reasons to keep your mags clean that have nothing to do with dropping them – that is, clean mags feed better and last longer when they’re not corroded half-through – but a clean mag will also drop free more easily.
Another shooter tip is to give the mag body a spritz of high-quality silicone spray that will increase its lubricity.
Treating the mag with silicone spray also has the added benefit of offering another barrier against water intrusion and corrosion.
(Don’t overdo it, though, silicone spray, like gun oil, is a magnet for dust and fouling. You don’t want the mag to end up dirtier than it started.)
Bring the Gun Close
It might sound counterintuitive, but once you’ve dropped the empty mag, as you bring the new mag up to the gun, you should draw the gun in towards your body and rotate it slightly so that the magwell or mag chute is roughly facing down towards the left side of your body from which the new mag is coming (for right-handed shooters, that is; southpaws reverse this suggestion).
Bringing the gun closer to your body will give you better control over both it and the magazine, and will decrease the overall distance your support hand has to travel during the reload cycle.
Get a Good Grip on the Mag; Use Your Index Finger to Guide the Mag
One more suggestion we have is that you should not grip the mag by nothing but the base plate/base bag and expect to be able to pull off fast, accurate reloads.
Mag bodies are long, slender, and unwieldy, and if your only grip on the mag is at the base, you will not be able to guide it up into the magwell/mag chute accurately. End of story.
Instead, when you grab a mag, grip it so that your palm is flat on the base plate with your index finger extending along and up the leading (front) edge of the mag body.
That finger will help you guide the mag into the magwell/mag chute and all you need to one once you get the top of the mag insert is extend your finger away from the mag to complete insertion.
Practice Makes Better
One more bit of advice before we sign off with a gear upgrade suggestion. You will never get faster if you don’t practice. Don’t expect to drill during competition when scoring matters. Do it on your own time.
You can practice at home or at the range with snap caps. Remove the mag from the gun and rack the slide so it locks open.
Prepare a few magazines each loaded with a single snap cap. Drill reloading the mag, then after each snap cap reload, rack the slide back to eject the snap cap and lock the slide open. Rinse and repeat.
Install an HK Extended Magazine Release and Magwell
There’s no piece of gear, and no gun upgrade, that can replace drilling and practice, but there are some parts that can support good habits.
Take, for instance, our HK extended magazine releases that HK magwells, both of which can help you pull off faster mag drops and reloads.
Our HK extended magazine releases are compatible with HK VP9 and VP40 pistols. They represent an easy upgrade you can make to your HK pistol that will help you speed up your mag drops.
As for our HK magwells, they are also compatible with VP9 and VP40 handguns. These magwells, which do not damage the handgun frame and are easy to install and secure, naturally help you funnel the mag up and into the mag chute.
Both upgrades enable you to drop and reload mags more fluidly, minimize or eliminate fumbling, and help to cut time off reloads.
Plus, like all AO parts, they come with a 100% lifetime replacement guarantee. If you have any questions about compatibility or installation, get in touch with us at Support@AnarchyOutdoors.com.
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