shakken:
out of Andy Mcnab's(ex SAS guy(also B squadron), actually an ass for writing books about the SAS) book Bravo Two Zero wich is about a patrol behind enemy lines in iraq wich got discovered and made a run for syria, they were 8, 3 died, 4 were captured and 1 escaped. they were using M16A1 with M203's attached (they just called 203's) and Minimes.
"We only loaded 28 or 29 rounds in our mags to loosen the springs a bit and so reduce the change of jams. WE ALSO TAPED OUR MAGS TOGETHER SO THAT WHEN YOU HAVE TO RELOAD, YOU'D ONLY HAVE TO TAKE THE EMPY MAG OUT, TURN IT AROUND AND PUT IT BACK IN."
out of Chris Ryan's (the only B-2-0 guy that escaped) book about the same patrol: We didn't load our mags up to the maximum amount of 30, but only put 29 rounds in them to reduce the change on weaponjams, and we taped our 203 mags together in pairs to speed reloading."
as you can see, twice exactly the same but in different words. so the SAS did use taped mags in desert storm.
quote from Mcnab's book Imidiate Action:
"we had two magazines attached to the weapon (an mp5) -one that was in the weapon, and then a bracket with another magazine just to the side of it, so i didn't have to go to my main beltkit in a rush"
however, this last quote was a description of a CT exercise. they didn't use them in their famous embassy assault. i know trained hands can reload very quick from a pouch but i think letting the magazine drop in your free hand, and immediatly putting it back in is faster then grabbing a fresh mag, let the old one drop in your hand, put the fresh one in, put the old one in pouch.
but then again, i didn't think of the mud.....
btw. you must have seen this suggested millions of times shakken