Review: How to Use the UpLULA

June 14th, 2021

5:16 runtime

Loading magazines by hand is one of the most tedious chores when all you want to do is shoot. To spend less time loading and more time shooting, invest in a speed loader. My personal favorite is the UpLULA speedloader by Maglula. This speedloader is my personal favorite for a number of reasons.

Maglula UpLULA with pistol magazine and ammo — Without a doubt, the author feels the UpLULA is one of the best tools to have in your range bag. It made loading magazines a breeze.

Size Matters

The first thing I like about it is the size. This thing is tiny compared to some of the others out there. It is super easy to travel with, if you are running to the range it will fit in your range bag with no problem, and it will easily fit into your ammo box. The bottom line here is that the size of this thing is very user-friendly. It also can fit in your pocket pretty easily, too.

Maglula UpLULA with ammo and pistol magazine — The Maglula UpLULA is a compact tool that can be carried in a cargo pocket or attached to your keys. You should have one with you on every range trip.

It Won’t Break

The second thing that I love about this speedloader is its durability. This thing feels so solid that I think you could throw it off a cliff and it wouldn’t break. It’s a very straightforward design, without a lot of springs, buttons and knobs to break. It’s almost all one solid piece. The durability and size of this makes it a perfect speedloader to take with you out on the range.

Ammunition loaded into a Springfield Armory XD-M magazine — If your intent is to efficiently load magazines, the UpLULA can help you get it done – even with large capacity magazines.

The Do-It-All Pistol Loader

The third thing I like most about this speedloader is that it’s universal. You can load single-stack as well as double-stack mags. This mag can also be used to unload mags, too, if that’s something you need help with.

UpLULA magazine loader — Deceptively simple, the UpLULA is a rugged tool that can prevent many sore thumbs.

How It Works

The mag carrier works by you simply squeezing it and pushing down on the mag to depress the magazine’s follower and load a round. There isn’t much technical or complicated to it, and that’s why I like it.

Man demonstrates how to load a magazine with the UpLULA — In testing, the author confirmed his suspicions: the UpLULA significantly reduced magazine loading time.

Just to see how much faster it was to use this mag loader versus loading a magazine by hand, I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of loading my XD-M Elite magazine. When doing the test, I tried to complete both trials with the same sense of urgency. After completing the experiment, I did notice the UpLULA allowed me to load the magazine about 20 seconds faster. If I were loading three magazines at that same pace, it would have saved a full minute.

The thing I noticed for sure was how much it saved my fingers. When using this mag loader, it’s guaranteed that after a day of shooting and reloading magazines you will not have sore thumbs from pushing rounds in.

Call To Action

I’d advise when you buy one to get it in a bright color so that it’s hard to lose or misplace. Now, is this speedloader as fast as some others out there? No, it’s probably not. But it’s cheap, small and durable, and it’s easy to use anywhere. So this one is my favorite.

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