Chernihiv, Ukraine – In combat, the speed of loading your assault gun’s magazine is a matter of life and death.
Sometimes, a soldier has to load the rounds in sub-zero temperatures, with wet or wounded hands. An improperly loaded magazine could jam the rifle and get its owner killed.
A simple and inexpensive accessory – magazine speed loaders known among gun enthusiasts as “magloaders” or “thumb savers” – pushes the magazine’s top so that the rounds are inserted with little or no pressure.
Widely available in the United States, the speed loaders were virtually unknown in Ukraine until Take Back Our History, a volunteer group in the northern city of Chernihiv, began manufacturing and supplying them to the military, free of charge.
“They could save a life,” Bohdan Sereda, a 36-year-old engineer who volunteers with the group, told Al Jazeera.
“I loaded a magazine with one without any training in 30 seconds,” he …
![GRAPHIC WARNING: Multiple Russian strikes on Kharkiv kill at least 11 | REUTERS [Video]](https://europenewsvideo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mp_1044031_0_0jpg.jpg)
![Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi ‘missing’ after helicopter in convoy ‘crashes’ sparking massive search operation [Video]](https://europenewsvideo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mp_1043481_0_newspresscollagexulf8gcef1716128304234jpg.jpg)
![Police fatally shoot Amazon warehouse guard who tried to kill supervisor, authorities say [Video]](https://europenewsvideo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mp_1036937_0_https3A2F2Fdo0bihdskp9dycloudfrontnet2F051520242Ft695152a4efc140c39ebe542242d0dd40namefile1280x7202000v31jpg.jpg)
![Putin concludes a trip to China by emphasizing its strategic and personal ties to Russia | KLRT [Video]](https://europenewsvideo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mp_1039974_0_66477c2b598aa721615187jpeg.jpg)