Episode 5 of the concealed carry loadout series opens with the hosts explaining that SAR USA is sponsoring the content and providing giveaway pistols, including a SAR 9C, a Glock 19 Gen 5, and a Sig 320X Carry, along with ammunition. Matt lays out the core drill: from concealment at roughly 10 yards, the shooter draws, fires two shots on the left steel target to slide lock, performs a reload, then fires one shot on the right steel target. Later, the sequence will be reversed to keep shooters thinking. They highlight a realistic constraint for this session: no dedicated mag carriers, so spare magazines ride in pockets, including back pockets, to mimic how many people actually carry. The group discusses whether to carry extra magazines at all, and the idea of using higher-capacity backup mags for concealed carry. Before the first run, Matt double-checks that Clint’s pistol is loaded with exactly two rounds and that his spare magazine is oriented correctly in his back pocket for a clean, efficient grab.
The focus shifts to running the concealed carry reload drill on steel, with instructors calling out total times and individual shot times to give context. Shooters start from concealment, engage the first steel target, reload from a pocketed magazine, then transition to the second target. One shooter, working without a mag carrier, successfully retrieves a magazine from a back pocket and lands a solid hit on a reduced C-zone target, showing that pocket carry can still be workable with practice. Katie runs the drill with a Glock and immediately notes that her magazine does not want to drop free, slowing her reload. Despite the sticky mag release, her follow-up shot is strong and centered on steel, earning praise for accuracy over pure speed. Another shooter runs the same drill with a SIG pistol, which drops the magazine cleanly on release, illustrating how different platforms affect reload performance. Throughout, the group tracks split times, notes misses on first shots, and adds dark humor about whether an attacker might be incapacitated or even die of a heart attack simply from being shot at or seeing a partner hit.
Later runs of the reload drill become more data-driven, with the group calling out specific numbers like a 4.75-second total time and a 1.77-second first shot from concealment. They highlight problems such as missing the first shot on steel and magazines that refuse to drop free, forcing shooters to strip them out manually. One participant explains that chasing speed led to poor sight alignment and a compromised grip, underscoring the need for repetition so fundamentals become automatic under pressure. Clint calls for a mulligan and reruns the drill, accepting slightly slower times in exchange for confirmed hits on both targets. The instructors emphasize that, in a real self-defense encounter, accurate hits matter more than shaving tenths of a second. They also discuss the value of low round count drills that force frequent manipulations, making each draw, reload, and sight picture more deliberate. The conversation turns to inducing malfunctions with dummy rounds as a way to build problem-solving skills, while stressing that such training must be done safely and with clear intent to avoid confusion or unnecessary risk during informal practice.
The discussion moves fully into dummy-round training, with the hosts describing how randomly inserted inert cartridges in a magazine can create unexpected malfunctions that force shooters to diagnose and clear issues on the clock. In one instance, a dummy round caused a brief scare when a shooter thought they had a squib load, prompting a moment of panic and a careful check of the firearm. This leads to a story from an earlier AR build series, where an approximately $6,000 custom rifle was involved in a similar malfunction or training scenario, sparking concern that the expensive gun had failed. The group jokes about who was right in that earlier incident and lightly argues over whether the setup was a clever training aid or an unnecessary stressor. They wrap up by looking ahead to the final episode of the concealed carry loadout series, explaining that once filming concludes, the featured handguns will be given away to viewers, tying the SAR USA sponsorship, the Glock 19, the Sig 320X Carry, and the SAR 9C back into the series-long giveaway theme.
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