Don't beat up on me...
Sorry I have ran into this before...logic that flies in the face of reality...Glenn....
1) If you don't want to do a tactical reload, fine, don't want retention, fine, but in the real world you don't want to run out of ammo while someone is shooting at you. Obvious Results. If some military guys tells you that they reload running down the street saying...'I'm out, I'm out, so what. Military firearms training is minimal at best anyway, pistol? Almost non existant. They don't train for CCW, or civilian situations, no real legal issues...they have buddies with them firing...the lone armed civilian is in a different circumstance...
2) If you want to reload out in the open, while someone is shooting at you, fine, be my guest. Obvious Results. If your complaining that you can't duck down and reload at an IDPA match, good for you, but I can, and do, and will...
3) Chamber indicator...who's? Glock?, one where you have to find it with your tirgger finger..basicaly useless...what about the MP, you have to look down a little hole, try that in the dark....1911, I don't have one. I think the XD is probably the best, but almost..it's moot anyway..I can tell if my gun went into battery anyway...if there is a lull I will check, but feeling around for the right side Glock indicator, racking the slide a little to check, in the dark or while someone is shooting at me, is well, just a little time consuming...yes if I have time, if not, and it's not in battery....0001 tenth of a second to rack the slide.
4) Magazine seat test, slamming a mag home hard enough the first time, should preclude this.
1,2,3,4...if you have a gun that has reliablly cycled for the last 3000 rds, no mag, seating, chambering, feed issues, then why would you take the time to all of sudden worry about this stuff, go through the motions, if it's never been a problem before. One more reason to bring a reliable, personaly tested gun to the fight. Yes crawling up on a guy, where you now have to expose yourself to an AK47 terrorist, you can best bet I will check, check, and double check, prior to running up behind him, while he is whacking people, but that's a premeditated, time on my side move...not in the heat of battle, bullets flying....
Yelling that your out, might be an IDPA thing, but yes in team deals, if you need ammo, your buddy in the tac team can throw you his extra mag. I don't operate in a team, moot point for me, and I certainly don't want to let the bad guy know that NOW is the time to for him to come around behnd that baracade and shoot me. That won't be problem for you, though as you will be out in the open, reloading for him to see that your out.
'However, some FOF experience convinces me otherwise. The opponents can surround you despite your Code Chartreuse level. They can be quite big. You can miss them. Training suggests sometimes that a major hauling of ass is the best strategy (seen at an Insights FOF).'
What if you can't run? do you think that killers and muggers are going to be sitting in wheelchairs when they roll up, that you can outrun everyone. Get it clear that no sane person wants a gunfight, but might have to step up, and putting on a pair of track shoes isn't always an option. If your not ready to fight when you have to, when running isn't an option, say to protect your family, pirates at sea, in an alley, in your home, then carrying a gun is moot point. Don't bother, your just not ready to use it.
While training might not be perfect, let's be realistic. I remember reading that you can't get knife training from a real knife fighter, they are all dead. The same might be true of gunfighters, the last of which we saw about 150 years ago. So we have to look at what has worked for others, what didn't and what is most logical, what makes sense.
If you can run, great, if you can't, you fight, or you give up, leaving your fate, and the fate of your family perhaps to the whim and will of others that are not so nice. Your choice, but you have to acknowledge this...sometimes, you have to fight, or you will die, period, running is not an option.