How do you load +1

[JohnsXDM]

Kind of a dumb question, but is there a proper way to load +1? I have a XDs .45 with a 5 round mag. When CCing I like 5 +1 just for having the extra round. Do you drop 1 in the chamber then insert a full mag or cycle from a full mag and then add 1 more to the mag?

 

[Sergei Mosin]

Load the magazine. Chamber a round from the magazine. Drop the magazine, top it off, and reinsert.

 

[Greg528iT]

With 1911s you have to insert mag, chamber round, remove mag, put a new bullet in the mag and re insert. The internal extractor does not like dropping a bullet into the chamber

 

[radar1972]

ditto

 

[Bovice]

There was a thread a few months back on which guns can be single shot loaded (dropping a round into the chamber and closing the slide). Some guns have extractors which are accepting of "push feeds" where the extractor has enough reach to snap over the case groove rim from behind. These guns can be loaded that way.

Most guns are NOT this way and trying to load them in that manner will break your extractor.

Load a magazine, chamber one, and top off. No fuss, no muss, no broken extractors.

 

[JohnsXDM]

Thanks guys!!!

 

[gamestalker]

Excellent thread! I've never even thought about it until now, I've been doing it the wrong way for many years, as it seems. Guess I'm lucky to not have broken an extractor after some 40 or so years of improper +1 loading.
GS

 

[Urban_Redneck]

The mag you reserve to chamber the +1 round is often referred to as a "Barney mag" after the legendary lawman Barney Fife, who was allowed to carry only one cartridge

 

[g_one]

I've always considered loading one straight into the barrel and letting the extractor bump around it as an emergency resort only. I do it one time and one time only on my guns just to ensure that it will if I ever need it to, but then never again because it definitely can damage the extractor over time. I just load two or three rounds into a mag, rack the slide, then fill the mag up to capacity.

 

[Greg528iT]

IF your gun has an external extractor it might be fine to drop a bullet into the chamber. I was speaking of traditional 1911s. Each gun will be unique. For sure, loading via the magazine is correct on all guns.

 

[MedWheeler]

The mag you reserve to chamber the +1 round is often referred to as a "Barney mag" after the legendary lawman Barney Fife, who was allowed to carry only one cartridge.

Yes, this is a good idea for those concerned about repetitively compressing their magazines. Keep a spare that is not in your carry rotation (mark it on the base) available. Load it with one round, insert it in the weapon, chamber that round, and remove the magazine. Replace it with your fully-loaded carry magazine.

Don't use the same round in your "Barney mag" more than one or two times without learning about "bullet setback" first. That's a condition in which repeated re-chambering of a round pushes the bullet a little further back in the case. This reduces the room the powder has in there to burn, increasing cartridge pressure.

 

[Drail]

Everyone should try to avoid rechambering the same round more than once at all costs. It's like playing Russian roulette. Some of the factory ammo being sold today is so loose you can push the bullet back into the case with your fingers. Gamestalker, if you have been loading your chamber without a magazine do yourself a favor and buy a new quality extractor and have it correctly fitted. Even if the old one did not break it's probably out of spec now. The extractor is essentially a spring with a very short range of motion.

 

[David E]

With 1911s ........The internal extractor does not like dropping a bullet into the chamber

Except that it doesn't care. A well known 1911 gunsmith put this to the test and found zero change in extractor tension.

But I still load from the mag.

 

[GCMkc]

I don't recommend loading one into the chamber and closing the slide. I had an AD last year with a Browning Hi-Power doing this. This might not happen with some guns but I just want to put the info out there.

I load the magazine into the gun and rack the slide. Then top off the magazine.

 

[usp9]

I always load one round in the mag, then insert the mag and chamber the round. Then I insert a full mag. This way I know a round is chambered and I'm not loading the hardest round in the mag twice.

 

[HKGuns]

Load the magazine. Chamber a round from the magazine. Drop the magazine, top it off, and reinsert.

Pretty sure this is about the only way it is done?

 

[Greg528iT]

Except that it doesn't care. A well known 1911 gunsmith put this to the test and found zero change in extractor tension.

Tuner, on this sight has said that IT DOES CARE. We've also had a few reports of breakage.

 

[Greg528iT]

I'm not loading the hardest round in the mag twice.

Amen to that.

 

[rondog]

Wow, I've never loaded the chamber from a second mag, and I doubt I ever will. Different strokes I guess.....

 

[David E]

Tuner, on this sight (SP) has said that IT DOES CARE. We've also had a few reports of breakage.

The well known smith dropped the slide 1000 times, IIRC, so maybe he stopped too soon and he used a quality extractor, but it's not the "oh, crap!" people make it out to be.

 

[Greg528iT]

I've risked, misquoting someone here.

"well known smith" tells me.. ummm nothing.

 

[David E]

IIRC, it was Jack Wiegand, inventor of the 1911 extractor adjustment tool. The test was briefly referenced in a Combat Handguns article a couple years ago.

I am not advocating dropping the slide on a chambered round, only relating what I recall reading in that article.

 

[Urban_Redneck]

Here's two schools of thought on dropping the slide on an empty chamber. I don't recall ever seeing a test on dropping the slide on a chambered round.

http://youtu.be/Keky5hRykiE

http://youtu.be/P7Y5cgMZytM

I'm more or less with Mr Caputo

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I am not advocating dropping the slide on a chambered round, only relating what I recall reading in that article.

Yes, and all that tells me is that it probably won't hurt, every once in a while, if you have a quality extractor. And as such, my Colts have had it done to them a couple times over the decades, but not as a general practice.

Here's two schools of thought on dropping the slide on an empty chamber. I don't recall ever seeing a test on dropping the slide on a chambered round.

I'm more or less with Mr Caputo

I'm not, because I drop the slide on an empty chamber every time I clean, since the 80s, with no ill effect.

 

[Motownfire]

The proper method is to load your magazine, insert the magazine, rack the slide, remove your magazine, load one round & re-insert your magazine.