A SMARTMAG turns every reload into a Tactical reload. Meaning you will have one round chambered at all times. So if you need to buy more time to get to cover or to finish your reload, you can send that round flying within a split second.

 
No, a SMARTMAG adds a number of benefits and advantages over the standard reload doctrine. These advantages are listed below.

• World's fastest Speed Reload. The SMART Reload cuts 0,57 - 1,17 seconds of the standard Speed Reload, depending on whether you are doing a chamber ID or not, on your standard reload. The 1,29 sec SMARTMAG Speed Reload is including chamber ID.

• Early warning. When the bolt locks to the rear, you will normally stress to find a new mag and do a speed reload. With a SMARTMAG you will release the bolt to chamber the last round. As you do this you should scan the environment, evaluating the threat. If you have time to kneel to cover you should do that. If not you can use that last round to buy time as you move those few feet needed to get to cover. 

• Eyes on target. First step of the SMART reload is to drop the bolt on the last round in your magazine. The snap of the bolt will let you know, that the last round went into the chamber, thus it was not a malfunction, as the bolt would have still been stuck (not moving) even though you pushed the bolt release. Meaning, you don´t need to take your eyes of the target to “ID” the chamber.

• Logic Movement. SMARTMAGs forces you to “ID” the chamber by dropping the bolt before finding your new magazine. Why is this a good idea? Because if you start finding a new mag, just to realize that the old mag is stuck and the rifle didn’t cycle, you have now turned your 2 sec reload into a 5 sec reload. The SMART reload will force your hand back to the bolt stop/bolt release. If that bolt doesn’t run forward, your hand is now exactly where you need it to be for you to immediately lock the bolt to the rear, strip your mag, triple rack the charging handle, insert fresh mag and rack & reload back into the fight. SMARTMAGs forces you to take care of one thing at a time. Chamber ID/Reload, Mag out, Mag in, GO!

   

• SMARTMAGs will affect the order of steps of your Speed Reload. All other tactics and procedures remains the same. 

1. Release Bolt
2. Eject Mag
3. Insert Mag

If the bolt does not drop as you hit the bolt release, it means that some kind of malfunction has occurred, which is not related to the SMARTMAG bolt lock system. It is therefore not a bolt lock at the last round that has stopped the weapon from cycling. In this case you should follow the standard procedure below:

1. Lock the bolt to the rear.
2. Strip the magazine from the well.
3. Triple rack the charging handle to clear the rifle/gun.
4. Insert new magazine
5. Rack the charging handle to reload.

The procedure is standard but because your hand is already at the Bolt release/Bolt stop, you can start the procedure faster after identifying the problem.

SMARTMAGs gives you a long list of advantages over the standard. The transition is easily done and retraining is not hours and hours at the range. Actually the retraining starts even before you fire a single shot at the range. Here is how we suggest you start your retraining: 

1. Mental training. Think the new steps through. Release Bolt, Eject Magazine, Insert Magazine. Release, eject, insert.
2. Dry training with your rifle/handgun. Combining mental- and muscle memory training we suggest you dry train your SMART Speed reload. Lock your bolt to the rear and think shoot, shoot, shoot, Bolt stop. Now slide your hand back along the rail of the rifle backwards to the bolt release. Index the bolt release with your palm, which will drop the bolt on the last round. Now eject the magazine and insert a fresh one, completing the SMART Speed Reload. Keep working on it until you feel comfortable with the new steps.
3. Range time. You are now ready for live fire training, and we suggest you load your mags with a random number of rounds between 4 and 9 rounds. This will give you that surprise bolt stop, which should trigger your SMART Speed Reload. Start out slow and smooth until you feel comfortable. Then speed it up a notch and do it again. Before you know it, your body will learn the new sequence and you will be doing one good SMART Speed Reload after the other.

Because as you slide your hand backwards to the bolt release, while at the same time tilting your rifle slightly so you can see the ejection port in your peripheral vision, it will be easier for you to release the bolt with the part of your palm beneath your thumb. It will then be the muscle that pulls your thumb inward that forms a lump that will easily index the bolt release. Much easier than slapping or pushing it with your thumb.

We went through our suggestion for how to retrain above and step one and two are the most important steps. Mental training and dry training. You can become a SMART Speed Reloading expert even without pulling a single shot. 

So the cost efficient way to retrain is working on step 1 and step 2 of the above retraining program.

The more years of experience you have, the more likely it is that you will need more time to retrain. But don´t worry. Even if you eject the mag, just to realize that you forgot to send the bolt home first, you just continue the reload. The bolt is still locked to the rear, so if that happens you should just insert a new mag and then send the bolt home according to the standard reload doctrine. 

Even if you do the old reload 1 out of 10 times because of muscle memory under stress, you will still be just as safe and fast as before you converted to SMARTMAGs. And you still had 9 safe and super fast SMART Speed Reloads.

Remember, SMARTMAGs doesn’t change any of your tactics or procedures other than the order of reloading steps. 

No. Whenever you have time, you should replace your partially expended magazine with a new full magazine. Simply because you want to have as many rounds ready as possible. It is not about that one round in the chamber, you do it in order to avoid having to do a reload while taking fire.

However if you fail to do your Tactical Reload in time or you simply didn’t get a chance to do it, your SMARTMAG will make sure you have one round chambered as you are working on getting that “HappyMag” in and get back into the fight.

There is two kinds of reloads. The Tactical Reload and the Speed Reload. 

The Tactical reload is the reload you do when you are in control of the situation and you have expended a number of rounds from your magazine. You will then find a new mag and replace it with the one in your rifle, in order to make sure you will have a full magazine if the threat reappears. 

The Speed Reload is the reload you do when you have fully expended your magazine and the weapon has stopped cycling due to the fact that you are out of rounds. In this situation you will need to find a new magazine fast and you are not in control of the situation. The concept of the HappyMag is a magazine you have placed with easy access in mind, so when you have fully expended your magazine, you can get your hand on that HappyMag without even looking. Your hand will just automatically go to this place immediately. 

You can have one or two mags placed as easy access mags.

The SMARTMAG was developed to increase your speed, safety and survivability during your speed reload.

HappyMag is a magazine you have placed with easy and fast access in mind, for when you have to do a Speed Reload. Also referred to as an emergency reloading source.

Normally you will see the HappyMags in one or two mag pouches on a operators left hip.

You decide where you want to place your HappyMag, but keep in mind that it should be a place where you can access it fast no matter what position you are in.

Absolutely not. You, the shooter, will always be responsible for your firearm, additional components and the theory behind them. However you should not let SMARTMAGs intimidate you. As long as you follow the four primary rules for gun safety and safely unload your weapon after use, SMARTMAGs will not compromise safety.

1.

All firearms are always loaded, Period! 

2.

Never point a firearm at anything you are not willing to destroy. 

3.

Always be sure of your target, foreground and background.

4.

Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target and ready to shoot!

And remember, there are no accidents, only negligent acts!

Additional safety information:

SMARTMAGs locks the bolt as the second to last round is fired. Reloading the rifle is a cognitive action, so when the shooter hits the bolt release, he/she will be aware that the rifle is now loaded and ready to shoot. 

Hence the fact that you will never find yourself without at least one chambered round, SMARTMAGs actually removes any excuse for not following the first rule of firearms safety. 

1. 

All firearms are always loaded, Period!

As SMARTMAGs is now a reality, there is absolutely no excuse for not treating all firearms as if they are loaded, always pointing them in a safe direction, never putting your finger on the trigger until you are on target.

You should also always safely unload your firearm at the end of each use.

PROVE it safe.

Point the firearm in a safe direction.

Remove magazine and ammunition.

Observe the chamber and magazine well.

Verify the feeding path. (Triple rack the charging handle/slide)

Examine the chamber once more.

Additional Information:

You should always unload your firearm after use for safe storage. When you finished shooting you should point the rifle in a safe direction and remove the magazine. Always remember to remove the magazine even after a bolt stop, no matter if you are using SMART-Follower technology or not. You can never be sure why the rifle stopped cycling until you have done a chamber ID. 

Once you removed the magazine, you should pull the charging handle repeatedly to either see one round leave the ejection port or none at all. 

Now lock the bolt to the rear and observe the chamber both visually and physically if in low light or no light. Remember to observe the magazine well also.

After making sure that magazine and all ammunition is removed and nothing is in the chamber, you should triple rack the charging handle or slide to make sure nothing is in the feeding path.

Observe the chamber once more, and your firearm is now safely unloaded and ready for storage.

Please see this National Shooting Sports Foundation video on safe loading and unloading of your firearms.

Whether you are in the armed forces, with law enforcement or a private sports shooter, different procedures may apply. We have chosen to recommend the safest and most thorough standard.

If ever in a situation where you will need to quickly pass on one of your SMARTMAGs to a fellow operator who has not yet adapted the SMART-Reload, he/she will never even notice it is a different magazine, as long as they do their reloads and procedures according to standard.

The SMART-followers locks the bolt to the rear when one round is left in the magazine. If a shooter is not aware that the magazine has this function, the bolt lock will automatically trigger the standard reload procedure. 

This means, the shooter will eject the magazine with the last round in it, insert a new magazine and release the bolt according to the old standard reload procedure. Thus the non-SMART shooter will never even realize it was a different magazine.

The only noticeable difference is that one round will be left in the magazine on the ground or in his/her dump bag.

In smaller operations groups, you are most likely to ever need to use other mags than your own. (If you are a competitive shooter using SMARTMAGs we do not recommend transitioning back and forth.) 

If you ever have to use a standard magazine you should be aware of the following:

When the bolt locks you will not have one round left, and if you release the bolt before changing the magazine your gun will not shoot nor be able to cycle.

If that ever happens you should solve the problem like you would if you failed to properly insert your magazine. Use the Tap, Rack, Bang procedure.

1. Quickly Tap/Slap the magazine bottom to make sure it is seated correctly.
2. Rack the charging handle.
3. Continue to fire.

Tap, Rack, Bang is a good example of a standard procedure that completely complements the SMARTMAGs.

Absolutely not! You can only release the bolt once. Either before changing the magazine which is the case in a SMART-Reload, or after changing the magazine according to the standard reload doctrine.

During retraining you might hit the release button a second time because you still haven’t untrained the standard procedure. However this will only be an excess step, which will eventually be untrained. 

Because the bolt is already released and the weapon is locked & loaded it is not possible to release the bolt once more to cause a double feed.

This is a common misunderstanding.

Starting out with a 31 round SMARTMAG, you will be able to fire 30 rounds before the bolt locks on the second to last round.

This round is then loaded and the next SMARTMAG with 30 rounds is inserted. 30+1 in the chamber.

From here on you will have 30 rounds until bolt stop after each mag change.

No, as long as you follow the SMARTMAG Speed Reload procedure, a SMARTMAG can not be over inserted as you will always reload on a closed bolt.

If you have another question than those listed here in our Q&A, please direct it by e-mail to:

martin@smartmag.com

We will be ready to answering your question and might even add it to our Q&A.

Thank you for reading through our Q&A