Switching To Your Pistol Is Always Faster Than Reloading

About

Switching To Your Pistol Is Always Faster Than Reloading is a memorable gameplay tip said by character Gaz during the tutorial mission in the 2007 video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and its 2019 remake of the same name. Starting in 2019, the phrase achieved recognition online, being intentionally misattributed or used as a caption for gaming clips.

Origin

On November 5th, 2007, the first person shooter video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was released.^[1] In the tutorial mission of the game, character Gaz gives the player a tip that switching to a sidearm in combat is faster than reloading the primary weapon. The moment also appears in the 2019 remake of the game of the same name (original and remake versions shown below, left and right).

Now pull out your sidearm. Remember – switching to your pistol is always faster than reloading. Using your knife is even faster than switching to your pistol.

On January 30th, 2019, YouTube^[2] channel Call of Duty Clips uploaded the video of the moment. The upload garnered over 140,000 views in four years.

Spread

The phrase started gaining online popularity following the release of the remake in October 2019. For example, on November 22nd, 2019, Twitter^[3] user @Dysmo posted a clip in which they efficiently switched from their primary weapon to their pistol in a Modern Warfare multiplayer match, captioning the post with the quote. The video (shown below) garnered over 40 retweets and 670 likes in four years.

Remember, switching to your pistol is ALWAYS faster than reloading ;) #ModernWarfare pic.twitter.com/wF3TStyO6h

— Dysmo (@Dysmo) November 22, 2019

On March 2nd, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @IamHarrison242 replied with the quote to a Crying Boo meme posted by another user, with the reply earning over 50 retweets and 1,100 likes in two years (shown below, left).

In late March 2021, a format in which users humorously misattributed the quote to various historic figures started spreading on iFunny. For example, on March 31st, 2021, iFunny^[5] user Hopppp_2021 posted an image macro misattributing the quote to the Dalai Lama. The post (shown below, right) was featured and garnered over 24,000 smiles in two years.

The phrase maintained its popularity online through the early 2020s, appearing in memes and as a social media comment on Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and other sites. For example, on May 2nd, 2023, YouTube^[6] channel Evike.com Airsoft posted a video demonstrating that switching to a pistol is in fact faster than reloading a primary weapon, which received over 1.8 million views in one month (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References