Intermediate
Pistol
Standing Reload
Source: Common dry-fire training standard
1s
Par Time
5 yd
Distance
15
Reps
Standing Reload strips the reload down to its pure mechanic. You start with the pistol aimed at the target. At the signal, you eject the magazine, insert a fresh one from your belt pouch, and return to a sight picture on the same target. You do not pull the trigger. The clock measures how fast you can swap magazines without losing the gun off the target.
A par time of one second is a real competitive benchmark. It is achievable, but it punishes any inefficiency. Watch the angle of the magwell as you index the fresh magazine — most shooters benefit from bringing the gun down and inward slightly so the magwell points toward the pouches, not square downrange. The grip pressure is the other thing that catches people. Firm grip in, firm grip out — if you go soft mid-reload to “help” the magazine seat, you lose the time you save.
Two micro drills break the reload into halves. Drill One ends with the fresh magazine just at the edge of the magwell, par 0.6 seconds. Drill Two starts in that same position and finishes with the magazine seated and the gun back on target, also 0.6 seconds. Combined, they tell you whether your time is being lost on the dump-and-grab or on the insertion. The goal times are calibrated for the first pouch on your belt — reaching for the fourth pouch is realistically slower.
Range Setup
Setup
One target at 5 yards. Pistol confirmed unloaded, aimed at the target with a firing grip. Spare magazine (dummy or empty) in the first belt pouch. Shot timer set to par 1.0 second.
Scoring
At the second beep, the fresh magazine must be seated and the pistol must be back on target with sights aligned. Dropped magazine reaches the floor before insertion = failed rep. No trigger press.
Tips
Angle the magwell toward your pouches as you bring the gun down. Square magwells lose tenths to bad geometry.
Progression
Prepare for empty-magazine drops (slide-locked) by adding a slide manipulation. Work through every pouch on your belt. Run the two micro drills (mag-to-magwell 0.6 s, mag-insertion 0.6 s) to isolate which half of the reload is your bottleneck.