Well, I didn't get to shoot any over the Independence Day weekend. There was a Steel Match I had penciled in, but I didn't get to it. But that doesn't mean I didn't get to do anything with guns.
First, I finished Lee, my Mossberg 500 shotgun. It feels good - I now have a functioning shotgun in the safe. I got a wild hair a couple of years ago, and stripped the bluing off my shotgun, before I read up on how hard it was for a dabbler like me to do a goos job bluing. I will post a more detailed report of the work I did, but overall I am satisfied with the results. I learned a lot about using Duracoat, and I would do it again, just with different spray equipment, Again, more later.
Second, I spent some time dry firing and practicing magazine changes. In particular, I spent some time changing magazines without looking at my gun, to test whether this was a viable reason for the changing my magazine orientation to "bullets forward" in the mag pouches.
My conclusion: after probably 3 dozen repetitions at various speeds, with my magazines oriented so that the bullets faced to the rear, I didn't find that I had a difficult time changing magazines without looking. In fact, it was easier to do with my eyes closed than it was with my eyes open when I changed the orientation to "bullets forward." I did find that I needed to slow down a little to make it smooth, but that's probably not a bad thing.
For me, it is all about muscle memory, and I think that supports my original observation.
However, I think that when the time comes to teach someone else how to change magazines, I will tell them to orient the bullets facing forward. The idea of using the index finger on the nose of the bullet, to guide it to the magazine well, is valid and can be used effectively. No surprise, since much better teachers than I have been teaching it this way for a long time.
