A simple QoL thing I feel I miss the most to be honest. Not breaking or overpowering anything. While you are reloading, holding right mouse button will make you to block melee attacks with your weapon, clicking left button while at it would allow you to push mobs away (with no damage). For all related calculations (like stamina costs) some generic melee weapon’s stats would be used for all ranged weapons, different sets of stats for the light ones and heavy ones.
Otherwise it would work the same as when you start sprinting when reloading, interrupting your reload for a moment, then allowing you to resume the process.