Would a Burkett reload practice with an AR-15 be helpful or should it be a full reload?

It’s good practice with a pistol and I’m going to try it with the rifle. Just looking for thoughts and experience.

I didn’t look too far, but I was able to find only one video that explained what a “Burkett” reload drill was without wading through a bunch of ads or extraneous, unrelated discussion. It showed the drill as bringing the magazine up to the mag well and then stopping before continuing to insert it. If that’s a true demonstration of the drill, my immediate reaction was Training scar! What is the purpose of pausing the process and waiting before continuing to insert the magazine? Why would we want to become accustomed to pausing in the reload process in any situation, much less in a live defensive situation?

I imagine its supposed advantages are explained someplace, but it wasn’t obvious.
Explanation?

Training scar!

Just practice a full reload.
Eject empty magazine, Insert new magazine fully, re-grip the weapon, get back on target.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Lots of love for that drill apparently, but I'm in the "I don't get it" camp.

Never heard of a "Burkett drill".

And based on that description, I can tell why.

There are a lot of people with a lot of training ideas out there. Many of which aren't necessarily good ideas.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I didn’t look too far, but I was able to find only one video that explained what a “Burkett” reload drill was without wading through a bunch of ads or extraneous, unrelated discussion. It showed the drill as bringing the magazine up to the mag well and then stopping before continuing to insert it. If that’s a true demonstration of the drill, my immediate reaction was Training scar! What is the purpose of pausing the process and waiting before continuing to insert the magazine? Why would we want to become accustomed to pausing in the reload process in any situation, much less in a live defensive situation?

I imagine its supposed advantages are explained someplace, but it wasn’t obvious.
Explanation?

My experience with this drill...before it had this name...is with handguns, specifically the SIG 220ST and 226ST. I learned it from Bruce Gray...it was originally developed for the 1911

Ben Stoeger and Steve Anderson both recommend this drill to make your reloads both smoother and faster. The purpose is to break down a complicated technique into small skills that can be practiced individually. If you practice the whole reload sequence, from magazine ejection all the way through to getting the sights back on target, you learn to accept small flaws in your technique...then you start to ingrain these flaws...that's a Training Scar.

This drill is directed toward the most complicated (time consuming) part of the reload process...reaching for the magazine on your belt and bringing it consistently to the magwell of your pistol. You start with a generous par time which allows you to perform the technique perfectly. Then you start lowering the par time until your reach the limit where you can't hit the magawell perfectly. If you then time your whole reload process, you'll find that you'll be able to perform it much faster because you aren't fumbling or slowing down to insure correct insertion of the magazine...it will just be there

Thanks for the explanation.

In thinking about it I’m imagining being sent to a monastery high in the Himalayas as a child and learning and practicing individual fine techniques one at a time for two or three years each before being allowed to start combining them into a practical skill. Such a training regimen wouldn’t have any lasting bad effects because after all the individual pieces were learned, an equal or even greater time would be spent practicing the full technique before being released back into the world.
Either that, or reloading as an Olympic sport that’s judged on the perfection of one’s form rather than just whether one got into the water.

Just exaggerating for effect, of course.

I’ve been seduced a time or two into working on an individual form for some purpose or another (that we never hear about any more) and readily admit that I never had the self-discipline to carry through as it was intended. Or the desire. It’s good, though, that if it’s something one desires that people have developed the processes to do that sort of thing.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Such a training regimen wouldn’t have any lasting bad effects because after all the individual pieces were learned, an equal or even greater time would be spent practicing the full technique before being released back into the world.

I realize you were exaggerating, however...

It takes almost no practice in the full technique to put the different parts together. You just think of what you want to accomplish and it all just happens.

I hadn't shot my 220ST in a couple of years and took it out for an IDPA match just for a change-of-pace from my revolver. One my first reload, on the move while running between positions...with the gun pointing across my body (down range)and mag carriers moving...my hand grab it and inserted it into the magwell without even glancing at it until the gun was coming back up into a shooting position

quote:

I’ve been seduced a time or two into working on an individual form for some purpose or another (that we never hear about any more) and readily admit that I never had the self-discipline to carry through as it was intended. Or the desire. It’s good, though, that if it’s something one desires that people have developed the processes to do that sort of thing.

It's mostly the result of boredom. I've spent a lot of time getting folks to change to carrying their magazines with the bullets forward and drawing with their index finger along the front spine. Because they didn't see the benefit of practicing reaching and making contact with the mag correctly (an even more elementary skill than bringing it up) they were still garbing the base between their index finger and thumb.

I worked on these elements because they are the low-hanging-fruit...helps me keep up with guys half my age

To return to the original question, I can see how the drill might be more useful for becoming proficient with reloading a rifle. I don’t even look at the gun when reloading a pistol (which would probably cost me Olympic points ), but I admit that although I believe I can reload an AR fast enough for any practical purpose, it’s usually not very smooth. More practice with the technique would probably make me speedier.