School me on magazine witness holes

[Expat74]

Did anyone notice for a right handed shooter, the magazine witness holes for a lot of mag-fed handhelds are (mostly) on the wrong side. I have to flip the mag around to see what's left for a good number of my pistols. Anyone else? And why is that?

[Artful]

Hmm, lots of mine are drilled/punch thru both sides of the body or in the back/spine.
Which guns do you have giving you an issue?

[Expat74]

My ppk/s for example

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[Der Gebirgsjager]

Glock's holes are on the back.

[Expat74]

I should have excluded Glocks and the more modern polymer which mostly show witness holes on the back.. ;) oh and 1911s too.

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[reddog81]

What do you consider the wrong side to be? I prefer the right hand side when looking from behind. I hold the magazine in my left hand and load rounds with my right hand. If the holes are on the left hand side I have to adjust to view the holes.

I'm guessing drilling more holes would be an option on most metal magazines if it really bothers you. The only downside is a reduction in the resale view. Of course doing this with an aftermark or extra OEM magazine would also be an option.

[Tackleberry41]

Alot of 'vintage' guns dont have witness holes at all. Guess in the old days people could count better? I never really cared if a mag had the holes. Its fully loaded when I put it in, and don't take it out until its empty.

[bouncer50]

Alot of 'vintage' guns dont have witness holes at all. Guess in the old days people could count better? I never really cared if a mag had the holes. Its fully loaded when I put it in, and don't take it out until its empty. I have quite of few old automatic with no witness holes mags. It would have been funny if the old broom handle Mauser had witness holes. In the old days automatic where being made for the Military use. On the bolt action rifle the follower stop the bolt to tell you to reload. On most Automatic pistol the slide lock back on the last shot. In a gun battle no one has time to look at witness holes.

[Rick Hodges]

My S&W has through holes (both sides) so it doesn't matter.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Famous defense saying, `Shoot till the gun is empty - then reload`!Robert

[Plate plinker]

Famous defense saying, `Shoot till the gun is empty - then reload`!Robert

:groner:

[gray wolf]

Alot of 'vintage' guns dont have witness holes at all. Guess in the old days people could count better? I never really cared if a mag had the holes. Its fully loaded when I put it in, and don't take it out until its empty.

What else needs to be said

[Artful]

Well Google images for Walther PPK/S magazines seem to show
holes on one side - holes on the other - some with holes on both - some with only one hole
for when fully loaded - I'm guessing because the Walther design was made by more than one
factory and magazines by even more factories you can get quite a lot of choice.
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af265/knoxdiscountgoods/Walther/2246012-Walther-PPK-S-380ACP-7Round-Nickel-Plated-Steel-Magazine-3_zpsfvz6cooe.jpg (http://s1014.photobucket.com/user/knoxdiscountgoods/media/Walther/2246012-Walther-PPK-S-380ACP-7Round-Nickel-Plated-Steel-Magazine-3_zpsfvz6cooe.jpg.html)
https://media.midwayusa.com/productimages/880x660/Primary/746/746731.jpg
http://www.carlwalther.com/images/mag_ppk.jpg
http://www.atlantacutlery.com/images/Product/large/walther-ppks-pp-380-acp-7-round-nickel-magazine-3-pk_1265.jpg
https://media.midwayusa.com/productimages/880x660/Primary/127/127591.jpg

[35remington]

Witness holes are often helpful in magazine disassembly, especially for those with a welded baseplate.

[Bigslug]

"Witness holes". . .as in, "Witness all the crud that can get in through these little buggers when I drop my magazine in the dirt"? :mrgreen:

I think it's just one of those "design philosophy" things that makes sense to some people and NONE to others. Cases in point, DA/SA autos and magazine disconnects Some guys want to see their round count as they load, while others want to be able to check mid-magazine. In some cases, it may have been as simple as "the machine works better that way"

[bedbugbilly]

I understand what you are saying but I also think it is how you handle them as to whether they are on the "wrong side" or not. Looking at the photo of the PPK/S magazine above - they would be on the correct side for me and I shoot right handed. I carry my mags on the left side, withdraw with the left hand to insert so I would have them positioned in the belt holder to pull and slide in - the holes would be visible for me with a simple twist of the wrist on the way up. If I were to shoot left handed and carry the mags on the right, I'd be withdrawing with my right hand and on the way up, they still would be visible. I think that if a person "uses" the holes - you adapt to the magazine.

I don't own a lot of semi-autos, but though the years, those that I have owned I have never paid any attention to the holes to be honest about it. One can certainly tell the difference between a loaded mag and one that is not just by the weight. As far as counting rounds by looking through holes - I was brought up shooting revolvers and the lesson that was hammered in to my head was to "count rounds" - both when loading and when shooting - and that applied to every gun whether it be revolver, semi-auto, rifle or shotgun. For some reason, that is something that is often overlooked today when teaching shooting - and I see it all the time when at a range - especially by those who are more concerned with the quantity they can send down range instead of the quality they send down range. Not being "critical" of those who use the holes . . just looking at it in a different perspective.