Yes, could be.
Or this was his approach to correcting a misfire. Putting in a new mag if he had a problem. It's not the correct procedure, but he might not have been taught basic sports or any other measures for misfires.
That, and he had different mags full of different types of rounds and simply wanted to see the difference in shooting. The classic ballistic gelatin observation, but with humans.
When you hear hoofbeats, don’t think zebras.