PDWs...and other small arms.

[cory]

As ridiculously grandstanding as this statement is going to sounds, I'm going to make the statement because it has merit here. I could do a mag change faster than anyone in my platoon and anyone I went to SOI (Charlie Company Fall '05) with (while retaining the empty mag). I'm telling you switching to a pistol is quicker and much more reliable. We only ever did such trivial competitions in static environments. Now try the same drill in a dynamic environment where some one is coming at you, someone has you in their sights, you need to move etc and a lot can go wrong during a mag change (e.g. dropped mag, missed the mag well, etc...).

Now if I drop my carbine down the front of my chest I can hold it in place with my left hand while I grab my pistol rotate it and get rounds on target from the hip. I probably won't hit them, but it'll likely buy me time to get the pistol up in front of my face to get sights on target.

If you don't have your gear set up accordingly, you're going to have problems. You should have trained to do this and set your gear up in a conducive manner.

Now this is always situation ally dependent. If you can take cover of course changing your mag is the better option.