I’d posted in feedback but have now done some testing.
In vermintide 1 you could get a trait to reload ranged weapons faster. Now this trait was given to Bardin as a default power for his ranger class.
Thing is in vt1 the reload speed would be different if you a)fired then reloaded va b)fired, swapped weapons then swapped back to reload.
In vermintide 2 this remains true, easy to see with the crossbow. So it looks like Bardin’s reload skill is temperamental.