There are plenty of ways to load a semi auto pistol or rifle. Many years ago I was trained to perform a “deliberate” load procedure. I am a firm believer in some sort of deliberate load procedure. I use it as a chance to get 1 more repetition on things that matter and an inspection of the gun to make sure it’ll work when needed.

My full on load procedure goes as follows; find something small in a safe direction to present the gun to, this is a great chance to rehearse a shot sequence and see the gun come to what you are looking at. After a short marination on what “right looks like” bring the gun into your workspace and lock the slide or bolt to the rear. At this point I do a 4 point check, inspecting the chamber, magwell, breach face and one more look to the chamber. After a quick inspection of the gun, grab s magazine from your ” go to” spot and perform the mechanics of a reload while driving the gun back to what you were looking at. Once the reload is rehearsed I perform a press check for confirmation that there’s a round in the chamber. I then reset that mag pouch and check any other lights or lasers on the gun. For matches I’ll check my other mags and make sure they aren’t loaded too tight for an action forward reload.

This load procedure has never cost me anything and had prevented me from having that uncomfortable click no bang situations I’ve seen happen to shooters who load differently. Some items of note, the deliberate load procedure can be modified but I believe in getting more reps if you can. I will always do the press check, it’s just too easy and do critical. I perform this whole procedure with the trigger finger on the frame of the gun.

Here’s a video talking through the deliberate load and a coupled other techniques:

– Frank Proctor

Frank Proctor has served over 18 years in the military, the last 11 of those in US Army Special Forces. During his multiple combat tours in Afghanistan & Iraq he had the privilege to serve with and learn from many seasoned veteran Special Forces Operators so their combined years of knowledge and experience has helped him to become a better operator & instructor. While serving as an instructor at the Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat Course he was drawn to competitive shooting. He has since earned the USPSA Grand Master ranking in the Limited Division and Master ranking in the IDPA Stock Service Pistol division. He learned a great deal from shooting in competition and this has helped him to become to become a better tactical shooter. Frank is one of the few individuals able to bring the experiences of U.S. Army Special Forces, Competitive Shooting, and veteran Instructor to every class.

All this experience combines to make Frank Proctor a well-rounded shooter and instructor capable of helping you to achieve your goal of becoming a better shooter.

Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer some words of wisdom.

I strongly encourage students to position their carbine collapsing stocks as far extended as possible. For me it’s all about leverage on the gun. It’s much easier to shoot and control the gun with the stock extended. I started shooting the M4 with the stock collapsed for CQB stuff and it worked OK for those distances. As I got into competitive shooting I reluctantly tried shooting with the stock extended, it felt awkward at first and not cool, then I started noticing the control benefits and it dawned on me that it was a rifle and the stock should be long just like on every rifle or shotgun I had shot since I was a kid.The thought process that I have heard supporting collapsing the stock include, making the gun shorter and more maneuverable and fitting the shooter when wearing body armor. Here are my thoughts on those. I think that if you look at professional shooters that are winning in competition and they are shooting the stock long, it is probably the BEST way to run the rifle. If you carry a gun for a living and it comes time to use it then you should have the rifle set up to work the BEST way possible. In the case of body armor not allowing the shooter to mount the stock to the shoulder I would modify the body armor. I did this on the Eagle body armor I was issued by using 550 cord to cinch the loose material around the profile of the plate.

I hope this helps.

– Frank Proctor

Frank Proctor has served over 18 years in the military, the last 11 of those in US Army Special Forces. During his multiple combat tours in Afghanistan & Iraq he had the privilege to serve with and learn from many seasoned veteran Special Forces Operators so their combined years of knowledge and experience has helped him to become a better operator & instructor. While serving as an instructor at the Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat Course he was drawn to competitive shooting. He has since earned the USPSA Grand Master ranking in the Limited Division and Master ranking in the IDPA Stock Service Pistol division. He learned a great deal from shooting in competition and this has helped him to become to become a better tactical shooter. Frank is one of the few individuals able to bring the experiences of U.S. Army Special Forces, Competitive Shooting, and veteran Instructor to every class.

All this experience combines to make Frank Proctor a well-rounded shooter and instructor capable of helping you to achieve your goal of becoming a better shooter.

Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer some words of wisdom.