How to perform "Ball and Dummy" drills with an M1A/M14

[Stratocaster1422]

Fred provided us this little gem of knowledge today on how to perform ball and dummy drills with an M1A/M14.

On this rifle, you are unable to put the bolt forward with an empty mag in. By inserting a quarter in the mag, your problem is solved. The bolt will go forward, and you can now pair up with a coach to perform this fun and useful drill! Have one mag with a quarter and the other with a live round.

The same works if you're using .223 mags and inserting a nickel.

 

[Gadsden]

Nice, thanks for posting this!

 

[Redchrome]

I was just discussing this with Firewall99 this past weekend as we had a couple of M1A shooters on the line.
Firewall99 had some dummy rounds that we used instead.

The alternative would be to use fired cases to push down the mag follower and give the same 'feel' as closing on a round.
I would suggest that instead of swapping mags, the usual M14 method of single-loading should be used; i.e. leave the mag in the gun and just stuff the round under the mag lips from the top. With practice, this should be faster. I'll have to experiment tho.