How to Reload in Iron Blight and Ready the Next Shot

Use R to reload and Space to ready the next round: a loaded rifle, revolver or pump shotgun may still need the separate action before it fires again. These bindings come from the October 4 Steam player discussion. If you changed your controls, use the corresponding actions in your own layout. Start with this distinction when a gun fires once and then seems stuck.

Reloading and cycling are different jobs

The first two rows are community-documented controls, reviewed October 9, 2026. Unload Ammo is an official Patch 1.05 addition. Your rebound controls take precedence over the keys shown here.

A gun fired once and now will not fire

1. Move behind cover or back into a cleared room so you can inspect the weapon without another enemy closing in.
2. Use the next-round action once and let the animation finish. Try a deliberate shot rather than repeatedly alternating both inputs.
3. If the weapon is empty, use the reload action, wait for completion, then check whether it still needs to be readied.
4. If neither action responds, check your bindings and whether the inventory or another interface still has input focus. Close that interface before retesting.

This order separates a weapon that needs cycling from one that needs ammunition. It also makes a useful bug report: record whether the reload animation played, whether the next-round animation played, and which action failed.

Rifle, revolver and pump shotgun

For the OTs-48K, OTs-20 Gnom and RMB-93, use the reload-versus-ready distinction above before assuming the weapon or save is broken. The October discussion specifically addresses the rifle, revolver and pump action; it does not establish one universal firing cycle for every gun.

When switching to the TOZ-34 or a magazine-fed firearm, follow that weapon's own reload prompts. Practice one reload in a cleared area before carrying it into a fight. The weapons page helps you identify the gun you picked up, while inventory planning helps you keep its ammunition available.

Unload a gun before replacing it

Patch 1.05 adds Unload Ammo to the inventory. Select the gun there and use the action before abandoning it, then check the rounds that returned to your inventory. Compare their ammunition type with the next gun instead of assuming every firearm uses the same rounds. This is ammunition recovery, not the action that readies a loaded weapon.

The same patch fixes the old behavior where dropping and picking up a weapon refilled its magazine. Plan your next encounter around the ammunition you actually have.

Evidence and corrections

Iron Blight Wiki reviewed the player explanation and the original poster's follow-up, the Steam description and the official patch notes on October 9, 2026. This is a sourced control guide, not a claim of a new hardware or in-game test. For a persistent input failure, use known-issues troubleshooting; for pads, use controller support.