Daily Defense 1-22: How To Reload a Revolver

What's the best way to load / reload a revolver? You can move it to your left (or non-shooting) hand for the reload. Since most people shoot a handgun with their dominant hand (the right hand for most of the population), this method enables a cleaner reload because you're using your hand with the better dexterity to handle the cartridges. Or you can hold the revolver in your right (dominant) hand and reload the cylinder with your support hand. Jeff favors this method for himself because that's how he reloads semi-autos. Once you've worked out your hand preference, how exactly do you reload? You can eject the spent shells and insert fresh cartridges one at a time. This is the slowest method, but it allows you to do a partial reload and conserve ammunition. "Speed strips" or "quick strips" hold 5 or 6 rounds and enable slightly faster reloads, with partial reloads still an option. An even faster way to reload is to use a "speed loader," which inserts all the rounds in the cylinder at once. The FASTEST reload, however, is to have a second gun! Whatever reloading method you choose, the most important thing is to PRACTICE it. Get it in your muscle memory, so you do it automatically.