Loading Pistol Gas Mags

[emilianoksa]

I just wondered how many owners load from the top and how many from the bottom.

With something like a TM hi capa it is relatively easy to load from the bottom because the bb channel opening widens after a couple of cm. It is relatively easy to hold down the spring and squirt in five bbs at a time from a speed loader.  You can't do it so easily with the TM M9A1  though.

With the M9A1 jor a WE Glock you have to pull the spring a long way down to get the bbs in from the bottom. The spring is hard to hold on to, and I always get more bbs on the floor than in the mag. 

I've always been wary of using a speed loader to load from the top since the mag lips are pretty fragile.

But recently I have taken to loading one at a time by hand from the top. It takes longer but the bbs seem to settle better in the mag.

 

[Cr0-Magnon]

Always from the bottom. I pull down from behind the follower, rather than on it as otherwise it can spring back up. One thing I love about my Umarex Glock 19X is the gap is wide enough to fit BB's in the whole way up.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

generally top load, either via speedloader or by hand.

dislike loading from the bottom as you always get an uneven stack and the shaking/rattling that goes with trying to get it to even out.

however i tend not to completely fill mags, my rule of thumb is whatever the RS capacity for the gun is what i expect to mag dump from a fresh fill, if i need more than that then that's what extra magazines are for. so thumb loading 12 rounds into the makarov isn't exactly a chore.

 

[Tackle]

As a real steel shooter many years before I'd even heard of Airsoft, always top load, but to be honest I wasn't aware there was an alternative method?

 

[Cr0-Magnon]

generally top load, either via speedloader or by hand.

dislike loading from the bottom as you always get an uneven stack and the shaking/rattling that goes with trying to get it to even out. 

Click to shrink...

I can apply just enough pressure on my speedloader to expell one BB at a time. That way I don't get gaps but funnily enough the only guns I had which were fussy when it came to that were the SSX23 and SSP1.

 

[Skara]

I can apply just enough pressure on my speedloader to expell one BB at a time. That way I don't get gaps but funnily enough the only guns I had which were fussy when it came to that were the SSX23 and SSP1.

Click to shrink...

You obviously weren't loading bbs the correct way...

I always load from the bottom, the ssx23 followers are absolutely wank to pull and as @Cr0-Magnonsaid, even when loading one bb at a time, they often stack up inccorrectly.

Whereas my glock mags are 101% fine

 

[Shamal]

Always from the bottom. I pull down from behind the follower, rather than on it as otherwise it can spring back up. One thing I love about my Umarex Glock 19X is the gap is wide enough to fit BB's in the whole way up.

Click to shrink...

+1

As a real steel shooter many years before I'd even heard of Airsoft, always top load, but to be honest I wasn't aware there was an alternative method?

Click to shrink...

That's the only way with rs? ?

 

[Tackle]

+1

That's the only way with rs? ?

Click to shrink...

lol obviously ?, who'd consider an alternative, especially when most speedloaders have the flip over guide/funnel that tends to match up to mag feed lips perfectly ?

 

[Shamal]

 most speedloaders have the flip over guide/funnel that tends to match up to mag feed lips perfectly ?

Click to shrink...

My new viper speedloader came with that gizmo on it.

Seems a bit wobbly but will try it and how it works?

?

Regards 

 

[Hatchet]

On my TM MK23 mags I load from the bottom, angled top down, by hand.

This ensures the correct stacking of the bb's to fit maximum amount in and that they'll all feed correctly. There's definitely a "right" way to stack them on these because the follower is slanted.

I guess if I were using a GBB and in a hurry I might do it with a speedloader, but that's about the only time I would.

 

[38super]

I can apply just enough pressure on my speedloader to expell one BB at a time. That way I don't get gaps but funnily enough the only guns I had which were fussy when it came to that were the SSX23 and SSP1.

Click to shrink...

Same for me. Load from the bottom with a speedloader, just pushing one BB at a time and tilting the mag a little each time to get the alternating sides.

My Hi Capa doesn't seem to mind if the stack isn't perfect. I haven't shot the XP-19 enough to be sure yet.