Most games have an auto-reload feature on empty. But most games also let you cancel the reload to swap weapons, and you just redo the animation when you return to the gun. Not only is it more realistic, it's also much less frustrating since you are in control at all times.
In early game 7DtD I expect to tag a charging dog with a hunting rifle and finish it off with a club. Not tag it once with the hunting rifle, frantically press hotbar keys while nothing happens, try to run while my feet are in molasses from the animation, then respawn on my bed while still bleeding (glad they fixed the last part lol).
And now that I have the Marksman Rifle with an 8x scope, I have the opposite problem where it doesn't auto-reload while I'm zoomed so I lose track of how many rounds I have left and can be empty. Much less of a problem, especially if I count, but still mildly annoying every time.
My ideal fix would be if the animations for weapon reloads were broken down into different segments like dropping the mag, inserting a new mag, and charging the weapon. Then if you cancel the reload at any time it will remember the steps you've already finished. I remember the shotguns in Left 4 Dead 1 had this type of thing if you fired the weapon dry, reloaded a few shells, but swapped weapons before racking a shell into the chamber. When you swapped back you'd have to work the pump to get the weapon ready to fire. A small detail but I really appreciated the realism.