SHTF and Mag changes

[Tinelement]

Just a thought, but if you are in a firefight, you change mags either when you can, or when you have to.

If you are changing "when you can" i.e. you are behind cover and you are about to move, then you retain the mag you are swapping out.

If you are changing because you have to, i.e. you are moving and run dry, then you drop it and keep moving.

If you survive the firefight and are not forced to leave the area, then you can always go scrounge your empties and any other empties that might be available. If you survive the firefight and are forced to leave the area, then what you dropped is probably not worth going back for. If you didn't survive the firefight, someone else will be scrounging off of you. Make the bastards look all over for whatever you dropped

As a rule, we practice both, tactical reloads and emergency reloads. This is done with every weapon, from shotguns to rifles, and pistols.

Be safe.

Thanks Cstone! That's what I'm looking for.
As always you have a great insight.

So, as a civilian, would this be a realistic thought process?
Should I go back and scrounge, or should I keep moving??
Do M&P train to scrounge??
I ask cause I don't know.

In the next 10yrs I'm moving with 2 pre-teens........ And a wife!!

[Mick-Boy]

The first time I was sent to Supply on a working party, the orders from my squad leader included the phrase "and you better come back with something the squad can use too."

Do M&P train to scrounge??
I ask cause I don't know.

I can't speak to the police but I'll throw some food for thought into the discussion for post-engagement TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures).

In general there are three different categories for an AO (Area of Operations).

Permissive - Host Gov't Military/Police control with support readily available (think police operating in their cities US).

Semi-permissive - Host Gov't doesn't have total control and can't effectively support operations but isn't hostile to your presence (think Iraq/Afghanistan post-invasion).

Non-permissive - Host Gov't has effective control of the AO and actively opposes operations (think Iraq/Afghanistan during pre-invasion reconnaissance or during the invasion).

Now, to extend this thinking to a SHTF situation, replace "host government" with "whoever happens to control the area". If that's you and yours, then post fight TTPs should include site exploitation.

That means policing up everything that might be useful and can be transported back to your base of operations. Intelligence, weapons, ammo, food, fuel, vehicles, etc. It's all going to depend on the security situation in the area (and therefore the amount of time you can spend in one spot after making a lot of noise) and your capability to transport whatever it is.

At the other end of the spectrum would be an engagement in a hostile area. In that case the fight would be more of a break contact and any magazines that get emptied are left where they fall. There are no pieces of equipment (normally) that are worth your life.

The old saying "to the victor go the spoils" is just as true now as it was when it was first said (although there is a good deal less rape and pillage now..). If you hold the ground at the end of the fight, and you have the bodies and weapons to keep it, you can police up whatever you want. If you don't, you can't.