The “Administrative Load” refers to a common sight on the police range. It is loading the pistol while the pistol is still in the holster. It involves reaching back behind your holster and inserting/removing/swapping out magazines while your pistol is still holstered. This takes place while the shooter is still on the line, facing down range. This nonsense got started when semi-automatics hit police ranges, and some bean counter figured that the more time that the gun remains in the holster, the less time there is for cops to shoot themselves, or each other. Fact of the matter is that it is a dangerous practice.
Dangerous, you say?
Yes, dangerous. On many levels. First off, it teaches the shooter that somehow it is O.K. to mess with the gun while it is still in the holster. Where the shooter has very little dexterity. It is fairly common on ranges that insist that officers use the Administrative load/unload/reload to see shooters draw the pistol and the magazine go skittering across the ground because it wasn’t seated correctly. That shooter then gets a “do over”. Failure to seat the magazine is probably the most common user induced malfunction we see on the range. Your dentist scrapes on your teeth from a position of dexterity while you are in the chair. Would you want your dentist working on you contorted like that? Of course not. You want them to operate where they have dexterity, and from a position of where they can see. So, why are we training shooters to operate from this position?
It also cheats the shooter of valuable training. Sports medicine tells us that it takes 5,000 to 10,000 to make something permanent. If we have the shooter load, unload, reload, clear malfunctions, and all gun related handling in their “workstation”, that basketball sized sphere of dexterity, they get another free repetition of valuable gun handling. In the age of cost cutting, one would think that would be beneficial. But some still insist on the administrative load/unload/reload.
Another bad issue I have observed with this technique in some “detective” holsters is applying force to get a full magazine seated, and the gun coming out the front of the holster. And crashing to the ground. Probably should file that one under the “not good” category.
Lastly, it trains the shooter to take their eyes off of down range, whether intentional or unintentional. People do things in fights how they are trained. And someone decided this was a good idea?
In the age of shrinking budgets, we should be training smarter. Having our shooters incorporate more repetitions of gun handling into simple technique such as a tactical or saved reload makes sense. Commonality of training makes sense. We can’t teach shooters to do it one way when it isn’t for real, but expect them to rise to the occasion and do it a different way when it counts.
Great post Jerry. I agree. I am not a big fan of admin loading in the holster. If I’m going to be fiddling with or manipulating my gun, I like to have it in my hands and be very deliberate about it, while also checking and verifying the status of my gun. One thing I have found in classes and competition matches is, the few times I’ve swapped out mags, topped a mag up, etc. using the in the holster admin load, I also noticed a significant increase in problems with starting out the string of fire or match with no round chambered, mag not fully seated, etc. Using the standard admin load I choose to, outside of the holster, I rarely ever have a single problem because I do it the same exact way EVERY time, while verifying the status of my gun. In the holster breeds complacency, in my experience.
Just how do you figure that is an actual admin load?
No, seriously?
I think the admin reload is taught at most police departments because the range staff for most police departments are told to teach it. The managers on most police department’s don’t consult their experts about anything and they think it is safer to teach an admin reload vs. a tactical reload. On another note, the management probably doesn’t even know what a tactical reload is! The Tactical Reload as well as the reload with retention take a little bit of dexterity I’ll admit, but when you execute one of these reloads it is teaching you GOOD behavior and not reinforcing bad behavior like topping off your gun while it’s holstered. I never do an administrative reload, not even during the initial “load and make ready” phase at a local or national IDPA match. I always do the tactical reload because it allows me to practice doing one AND I am assured that the mag is properly seated and the gun is in the condition I want it to be in. I’ll probably do a tactical reload after a shooting and never even realize that I did one. My gun will be topped off and I’ll never know how it happened because it will have been done subconsciously or reflexively (without thought). My two cents anyway. Take it for what you will…..
I disagree totally…..
The admin load has its place like many other techniques in firearms. I use it especially around numerous unknown novice shooters when perfroming slide lock reload drills. Ensuring the weapon stays in the holster while they bend down to pick up the empty off of the ground prior to ejecting the loaded magazine out of the butt of the weapon (while in the holster) and re-inserting the empty into the but of the weapon. This prevents a novice shooter from bending down with an unholstered weapon and lasering themselves, other students or instructors. Also it prevents an inexperienced shooter from attempting to perform a reload with two magazines in their hand. While this isn’t an issue for experienced shooters whom are used to performing a reload with retention (tac reload) it prevents any potential issues with novice shooters. Especially shooters taking a class once and never to practice it again until next year, longer or never again.
I still use the very same technique setting up the drill everytime I work on my slide lock reload drills. When you’re performing 2-300 of them it frees up both hands so you can eject the mag, switch empty mag in the left hand with loaded/partial loaded mag in the right hand then re-index you mag puches with your left while you re-insert empty with your right. Simultaniously this can be done to save time and be proficient with your training. Also while others are on the firing line performing different drills this is a safe efficent way of doing this drill around them.
I do believe in performing a task thousands and thousands of times correctly so you can attain the ability to perform the task at the subconscious level. However this will be performed just as easily with many other standard drills. I believe in commonality of training and manipulation of my weapons. I try to keep it similar between all weapons used. Stance, grip, loading/unloading procedures between rifle, shotgun and sidearm. Due to the actual weapon design some things it can’t always be achieved but the common similarities between them all will give you plenty of thousands of repititions to acquire the level of proficiency we are discussing. I do not negate the necessity of certain drills, skills or techniques to one perceived way gentlemen.
We all teach a way, NOT THE WAY! I’m sure none of us invented much of this and pretty much borrowed, molded, and put our spin as well as our opinions on these techniques.
I use this technique constantly to check the number of rounds in my weapon while its in the holster. Now when I am online I check it eyes up gun up but not back behind the firing line or at the loading table. Also when at the loading table I don’t need a shooter removing the weapon from the holster to remove the magazine to load it when he simply has to hit the mag release, fill it and re-insert it. We have no issues doing this 320+ officers and none failing to seat the magazine properly. We train constantly and get to shoot a ton complared to most agencies. We are lucky in that aspect.
I’ve used this technique since the Marines back in the mid 90’s and I’m a police officer, competition shooter and Swat guy at 15+ years. This technique doesn’t hamstring me or any I have seen using it correctly. Now like I stated prior, it like everything else has its time and place to be used. If the individual performing this is doing it at the wrong place and time then he probably won’t be any more proficient at a specific technique (not just this individual skill) or any safer performing it at the time, place and way you are stating it needs to be done.
As far as the individual slapping the back of the magazine into the magazine well to full seat it and knocking his weapon from the holster to the ground, well I believe if he’s that incompetent he sure wouldn’t be any safer or more proficent eyes up gun up and I’d probably keep a watchful eye on that individual. Yes these are combat weapons and they are rugged and reliable however weapons skills and handling require a little finesse and intelligence not just gross motor skills and harsh uncorrect handling.
I check my magazine constantly all day on patrol and while on Swat by making sure the magazine is seated properly using the same technique. I don’t have to look down to do it, or take my eyes off the intended target to perform a push pull of the magazine inside the weapon while its inside the holster. I perform this task from seeing too many weapons with the magazine partially ejected due to the mag release getting pushed while seated in a patrol car. This rarely happens nowadays due to most holsters having the mag released covered while the weapon is holster where the older holster didn’t cover the release. Still some officers have the older style holsters and I’ll see this every now and then. Because those officers are not in the habit of subconsciously checking the condition of their weapon throughout the day/mission, or haven’t been taught how to perform that technique they are setting themselves up for failure. I know most if not all of our officers have been taught that but its big boy rules and it’s sink or swim time when you’re on your own.
I have seen plenty that routinely fail to seat the magazine properly doing it (well attempting to do it) the correct way. I recommend that while you have your opinions and I have my opinions that we don’t remove an option or attempt to influence to remove an option from someone that might use it in his/her tool box at the right time, at the right place, while in the right capacity, and it work for that person.
Man, I’m glad this technique works for you. But, we as trainers can’t teach one way of doing things when it doesn’t matter, and have the expectation that they will do it a different way when it matters.
Troops will do as they are trained. And if we waste valuable training time with the admin reload, we are cheating them of valuable repetitions of loading the gun out there where they perform all the other functions. They will revert back to the most dominate training they have, and we as instructors can’t let our personal preferences get in the way of teaching them to win their next lethal force encounter.
Nicely put Jerry but that doesn’t mean we have one way of training or teaching, this has nothing to do with it. We don’t train one way hoping they will rise to the level of training. This is another technique which has its place as well as any other function on the range. It doesn’t have a tactical function out in the real world but does have a purpose. I as well as many others been doing just fine with it and have no issues. I have been teaching and training for years using this technique and it is just that, a technique. So you don’t like it or think it is relevant, that is perfectly fine for you to think that way and have your own opinion. This doesn’t mean you are any more proficient than I would be at any other skill. I practice everything and train on other techniques but that does not mean I use evey technique I train in being proficient at either. This is the same with all shooters, you fight the way you want to run the gun.
Trust me we get plenty of reps out on our range facility in every type of drill. Our basic recruits are required to beat the mid-south intermediate pistol standards and they won’t accomplish that admin loading from the holster. They admin load their magazines at the loading table when they are topping off unless they have already charged their weapons up while on the line. This equates to, hell I don’t know, 4-5 reloads missed out on in a day of shooting. I really don’t think that 4-5 extra admin loads at the loading table, if its even that high, will actually make a difference in training. That’ll be dependant on the shooter and if he trains to be proficient in his skills drills.
With cops there are a certain amount who want to improve and become great shooters and there are those that just go through the motions. Most go through the motions. Its pretty much sink or swim. I can only help the ones trying to stay afloat. A few extra reloads aren’t going to help a shooter who isn’t more concerned than making the minimum. I don’t force my will upon them but attempt at influencing them to be better. They have to want to walk that path I can’t drag them down it. Most want to get off the range faster than they have gotten on to it. Not everyone, especially administrations, are concern with improving their shooting skills like we are.
Earlier you stated how well you can accomplish a tactical magazine reload, how fast and without even knowing you probably performed it in a stressful encounter. I perform them just fine myself but I’ll never do them in anything but an admin type training environment because I don’t believe it has any relevance in the real world. That’s right, and thats my opinion. I am very proficient in dry reloads, wet reloads and tac reloads. However I choose to only perform wet realoads while on the range during quals and courses of fire unless it requires I go dry. If the drill doesn’t specify it I won’t let the weapon go dry. I never let my weapons run dry, rifle, pistol or shotgun. That’s pissed off many a fellow instructor and two former Delta instructors who stated I needed to let the weapon go dry so I could get reps at dry reloads. I still do it my way and can perform dry reloads just fine because I train at those types of reloads often. Why wet realoads? Because I know that I will be performing it this way in a real situation. In my opinion tac reloads (reload w/retention) belong on the range. I perform nothing but speed realoads wet or dry. If I need that magazine I’ll bend over and get it but the less time the weapon is empty is better. Handling two magazines are great on a flat range but moving and reloading, reloading in the dark, reloading in the dark while moving, having wet hands/bloody hands its not practical in my book. I am much more proficient handling a single magazine in any of these conditions over handling two. I have plenty of fellow Swat guys who choose to reload with retention and we run plenty of drills for it. I perform them when they are required but I choose to not do them on duty. There is no way the tac reload is faster than my wet or dry reload. That’s why I’ll only perform those and like I said, if I really want those extra rounds I’ll bend over and get that magazine when I am for sure my ass is out of danger. At 1.97 seconds dry reload time shot to shot with a glock and 2.4 seconds dry reload time shot to shot for an M4 I’ll stick with getting my gun up and running full and as fast as possible.
Below Chuck says that he has shooters that can’t perform standard slide lock reload drills within the time standards. We don’t have that issue and we still admin load at the loading table or when we are setting up a slide lock reload drill so I don’t see the relevance of us stopping this technique. Hey, by all means if your officers are having that much trouble with their reloads then I’d definitely change something. I don’t know what type of officers you train with but we don’t have these issues and we sure don’t blame them on any technique that is done maybe once or twice at a table or topping off walking back to the next yardline. We practice slide lock reload drills, tac realods and wet reloads time after time with our recruits, officers and others we train and that is why they are proficient at that particular drill. Not because they are lazy and too robotic and that they can only reload while in the holster. I also observed in his post that he believes in going to slide lock (probably gonna happen), tac reload and wet reloads. I believe that you could go to slide lock in a fight but being more proficient at knowing the condition of your weapon then making sure you are full up during a lull in the fight would be the better goal to achieve. That’s my goal but not everyones and that’s my business and their business is theirs. When that goal can’t be achieved due to circumstances I’ll revert to the dry reload.
Correction, I was referring to Marshall’s post on the tac reload not Jerry’s
I never thought of it in that way. My agency’s academy teaches it from the standpoint of topping off a mag after chambering a round. They also teach to give the base a tug to ensure it is still seated. On the otherhand, there a a big number who can’t manage to remember to keep their pistol topped off in any way, shape, or form…
Having been a trainer/instructor since the early 80’s, I remember when this silly practice came into being. During the transition years from wheel guns to the pistol, it was instituted as a feeble attempt to make less than competent gun-handlers safe with platforms they weren’t particularly familiar. It may have had some relevance back then as part of “basic transition” training, but I find it a useless practice if a comprehensive curriculum is taught well.
I’ve been waging a single-handed war against this practice since I became an FI at my agency. With as little training time as we get with our agents, getting rid of this bad habit is just one small thing we can do to impart better habits on our coworkers.
In Federal service, I do not see admin loading much anymore. We now only do “admin loads” for one purpose, topping up the mag i.e., after chambering your +1.
Draw, insert fully loaded magazine, rack & chamber, (de-cock if req’d) re-holster, withdraw mag, top up with a single round, re-insert mag, tug to ensure it’s seated.
Does anyone have a fullproof method for safely handling a weapon AND loading a magazine simultaneously? If not, the admin load has a place on the range but this may be the sole time admin loading has a place on the range. I cannot think of anytime it has a place in the field unless: (1) you are down to one hand and (2) your situation dictates your holster is your best & safest place to secure your weapon while obtaining or loading a magazine.
Jerry
I totally agree. We as Instructors need to teach smarter and utilize the training time we are allotted to the fullest. I teach the reload with retention. Insert and seat magazine, rack the slide or hit the slide release, remove magazine and place it in a pocket, withdraw a magazine from the pouch and seat it in the mag well and holster, then remove the magazine from the pocket top it off and place it in the pouch. The usage of inserting a magazine while holstered certainly has a place in one handed reloading drills, but I think that’s it’s only place.
I have to agree the “admin load” has no place in any realistic training program. I had a ton of work to do when I took over our program in breaking our coppers of using this method of topping off.
The issue becomes that this is the default lazy shooter’s method of keeping the pistol topped off between strings of fire during a qual. I have seen all of the issues already noted, and also that folks couldn’t get a reload completed under time stress due to not getting their reps in to make sure they had that skill.
I teach our people to either shoot to lock-back (which I feel is street realistic) and do a reload, or to do a “tactical” reload whenever they feel the need to top of the gun.
I only allow in holster reloading when the shooter is doing a wounded shooter drill. I’ll even allow them to top off the gun in the holster whenever they feel like it, but it has to be done as a one handed reload drill.
I am sort of 50/50 on this. I look at it like this-It is an “ADMINISTRATIVE” technique. There are places for administrative techniques and they need to be taught in context to what they are. If you are allowing shooters to use a administrative technique when it is not applicable, then who is wrong? Students need to know when and how to perform administrative techniques, and when to use field techniques-our job as instructors is to teach it correctly and form good habits. There are times when people are loading magazines off line, in a locker room or home when it is not appropriate to remove a pistol from the holster or handle the firearm. I would not discount the use of an administrative technique that is acceptable in some cases or scenarios in order to try to shove a tactical technique in when it isn’t a good place for it.
DITTO
That’s what I have been trying to explain.
Let’s put it in this context. What does the administrative reload do “better” than loading/unloading/reloading the gun in the students workstation each time? I think the answer to that is universally it does nothing better. It is a technique to keep the guns in holsters for liability purposes. Why teach 95 ways of doing a particular function when you have limited training time and budget? If all you did was train, I could see lessening the impact of the danger and problems of the technique. Fact of the matter is, police agencies do more than train. Matter of fact, they train very little. We can make excuses on why we like a technique. We can defend why we like the technique. But in the end, when you teach 95 techniques in a 16 hour per year period, you have 95 really crappy techniques. As instructors, we do not do our students service by letting them do one thing when it doesn’t matter, and expecting them to do another when it does.
In the limited amount of training time you have with the troops, make them train like their life, and not some bean counters life depends on it.
Best,
Jones
Russ,
In reading my reply it seems a bit harsh, and that is not the intent it was written for. Problem with the typed word is that you can type it out with a meaning in mind, read it, it sounds good, and reread it and think you might have come off like a prong.
I am not tied to any particular technique. Do I think this one is dangerous? You bet I do. On so many levels for the reasons above. However, this determination is not one I came to over night. Many years ago, I realized that training time wasn’t going up in abundance. So, the program you teach has to be stripped down to “Does this technique check a box in a gun fight?”. Upon studying gunfights, we saw no one administratively loading or unloading their pistol in the holster. What we did see is numerous occasions of folks, reloading in their face, clearing a malfunction, and even a couple of actual tactical reloads on video. None of which occurs in the holster. Some folks will say that reloading in the holster is a one handed reload technique. I get that, but I even think that is not even a good technique because it only works efficiently with one hand, and doesn’t work in a number of places.
But what we did see was many people “administratively” loading their guns, not seating magazines, turning around behind them to look, etc. Yeah, I get it. Those people most likely would screw up a hammer. But, as a FI, I’m morally and legally responsible for those folks too. In that case, it becomes imperative that I look at the components of what I teach to make sure it checks a box in them winning a gunfight. And when you look at the boxes, there isn’t one for the admin reload.
One can say “It’s just a harmless admin reload, you’re taking things too seriously”. I get it. Check. But, if I have my folks index their magazines out in front of them, grab the slide the same way each and every time, it drives their chances up of winning. I may not like their work ethic on the range, but I can’t turn my back on them. We even make them draw and do a press out (without firing) each time they load, unload the pistol. We make them do a smooth dry fire when clearing out. We make them lock the retention on their holsters each time. One more positive repetition on a stripped down program that teaches gunfighting.
Yeah, I too can do the admin reload thing with no issues. But, by doing it, it doesn’t make me a better gunfighter. And I’m always looking to be better. I’m always looking at technique to see if there is something better.
Hope this makes a bit more sense.
Jones
I have to agree with Ross and Darryl. I see nothing wrong with teaching an ‘administrative’ technique, as long as you are teaching when it is appropriate.
So along the same lines, do we have to stop doing an administrative unload as well. I imagine that to enhance us as gunfighters, we simply shoot our pistols empty every single time we need to unload as well to make it all “gunfightery”.
My “opinion” is that we handle guns far more than we actually fight with them. I would also bet that in the L/E world there are more cases of negligent discharges than in-policy good shootings. It is just as important to train when to use the appropriate handling procedures as it is to teach pure straight up lethal force shooting. Personally, I teach in-battery speed loads, out of battery speed loads (shooter induced malfunction), tactical loads, and administrative procedures for loading, unloading, and magazine management. Just because some people screw all of the above up, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t teach them correctly and how to avoid screwing them up.
With all that said, I am also huge on maximized training time with what you have available. I just think there can be a balance.
My suggestion would be to teach them to unload the gun out in front of them, racking the slide with the pistol pointed down range. Perhaps if we use every opportunity to teach them actual gun handling, chances are we would cut down on negligent discharges. You raise a good point about the number of negligent discharges, and I wonder how the admin load/reload/unload plays into poor gun handling/discharges, as opposed to making them actually handle their guns and become competent in gun handling instead of using short cuts.
Excellent point!
But when would this particular skill–unloading the weapon by holding it out in front of you and, pointed downrange, and racking the slide–ever be used in a real-life gun fight? If that’s supposed to be the standard for training techniques, why is it relevant to shoot at cardboard targets that can’t shoot back? For that matter, why wear hearing protection–you probably won’t be wearing those electronic ear muffs when the flag flies for real.
Aren’t there dozens, if not scores, of accommodations made for the training environment, precisely BECAUSE it is a training environment?
Personally, I don’t care about the “admin” reload one way or the other, but the rationale offered for “dissing” it doesn’t seem to work as a general principle.
Brand new to the forum. I am pleasantly surprised to see this issue not only being featured but being intelligently commented on. As an FI for a small rural FED agency with a wide range of officer experience levels, the administrative reload is fast becoming the bane of my existence. There is a whole generation of ofc. here who’ve been taught that they can and must accurately count rounds being thrown downrange during the stress of a gunfight. I think many of us can agree that this is generally BS. In order to avoid a slap on the wrist from the FI, police officers being generally the lazy SOB’s that they are, will administratively upload from the holster in between strings of fire. Given how rare it is these days to get any quality training time scheduled, I feel any rep even during the administrative environment of a 30 round qualification is worthwhile.
Thank you very much,
SPF
I like to try to put things in the right place. There is a place for admin loads and unloads. A perfect example of a place for admin loads is at a “loading barrel” that graces a lot of police facilities and even my local cop shop at the gun counter. There are times when not on a range and not in a field scenario where someone needs to access their ammunition or handle the gun. These are times for admin techniques. They are also the times when there seems to be great potential for negligent discharges when people are trying to handle to many things in a restrictive environment. Another place for the admin load is when people are working behind a shooting line. There is no reason for a firearm to be out. When I used to have to run twenty person classes or groups alone, I had little control behind the line at loading areas and my people could perform “half” of an admin load behind the line (magazine stuffing) and then I could have them do an admin load and chamber verification on the line. Now this is all before the shooting begins, which is when admin procedures should be done. Post shooting, I required a tac load prior to holstering or moving from cover to another position after shooting-exactly when they should be used in the field. At that point, if more loose ammunition needed to be loaded, the shooter could turn around and face me with a holstered weapon and push ammunition. It was a visual indicator for me that the student was managing ammunition. I did not want a firearm out of the holster when this was going on, and they are simply swapping mags in the holster. Now, if we are doing admin loads when facing downrange or in the middle of a scenario when a field technique is better, then I am the first to join in the call for this. I do not believe in “over handling” of guns in places where they shouldn’t be handled and we need to provide viable techniques to our students in how to check or work with their equipment in these situations safely. Some work with this on the range is a good place in order to ensure they can do it by themselves correctly when not under our supervision, and when they are likely to screw it up for real. I have seen enough ND’s during improper admin loading and unloading to make sure I give my students the means to be able to get loaded and un-loaded in a non-tactical environment without an issue.
For what its worth, I learned the hard way about being “tactical” all the time and not having good administrative habits for use in the right place. Sometimes using great range habits in the wrong place will compound mistakes. There is a place for slow, careful and handling with minimal time on the gun itself.
Thank You Mr. Jones. The Admin Load was standard at my Academy no too long ago; the strangest most bizzare procedure pertaining to training-and that (training) is what is happening in the academy for many LEOs: it is their first exposure to firearms and a start of training. Where in any of the rest of our careers do we insert magazine into pistol, while it is in the holster? To me anyway, it is parallel to reinforcing the revolver-shooting LEOs to pocket their brass between re-loads, of the 70s and 80s. It cost lives and we know it. When we are aware of it, we can begin to do something about it. Excellent writing.
I use an “administrative reload” only to insert a full magazine when I know I have +1 in the chamber, but only when I need to start the next drill with a fully loaded magazine. If a fully-loaded magazine is not required, I just so a standard tactical reload after commencing a given drill. I’m not a FI, so I can’t comment with a long history backing up whether I feel it is safe or not…I just know when I do it, that it’s perfectly safe and my trigger finger doesn’t come close to the “bang switch”. Likewise, I use an HK, so I can access the mag release lever with my weapon fully-seated in the holster (AIWB).