A Girl & A Gun – How to Load a Pistol Magazine

Originally posted at A Girl & A Gun by Robyn Sandoval

New shooters can be frustrated when loading their pistol magazines. In this video Tatiana Whitlock offers some tips and techniques for how to easily insert ammo cartridges into a magazine.


Tatiana suggests first orienting the magazine in your support hand so that the angle of the follower (i.e., the top plate inside the mag that is 
mounted to the top of the spring) matches the angle of your thumb.

Next, take a round in your strong hand fingers so that you can read the stamping on the back of the cartridge.

Brace against a table or bench, use the ammo round to press down on the follower and slide the round under the feed lips (i.e., the curved parts that look like wings) of the magazine.

You can use an Uplula to help load quickly and easily; however, if you don’t have a loader, use your support hand thumb to press down on the rounds already in the magazine to help relieve some of the spring tension. This will help you insert a new round more easily.