If you carry with a full mag +1, how do you do it?

[CNYCacher]

Friend was visiting recently, and we had a little show-and-tell with our carry pieces. He carries with a full mag +1 in the chamber (Sig 226). He properly cleared the gun before handing it to me to look at, which left him with a loose round, a full mag, and an empty gun. He followed these steps when re-loading:
- Place full mag in gun
- Drop slide (loading chamber)
- Eject mag
- Juggle gun and mag while trying to insert loose round into mag
- Insert now full mag back into gun
- Holster

I didn't like all the extra gun handling once the chamber was loaded.

Best way I could think of to do this would be to holster the gun immediately after dropping the slide, and then doing all the funny business with the magazine and loose round by ejecting the mag when the gun is still holstered. Of course this depends on you having a holster that allows access to your mag ejection button.

I carried +1 for a while but I don't bother anymore. I won't admit to how I did it, but if you caught the trick that Denzel Washington pulled in the end of "Deja Vu", you would give me one of these:

 

[Langenator]

I just put the pistol down on a safe flat surface, load the extra round, pick up the pistol, and put the mag back in. No juggling that way.

 

[.cheese.]

juggle?

here's what I do.... it's simple... and I'm sure lots of people do it.

I insert a full mag with the slide locked back. Then I draw the slide back and let it return to full battery. I don't just let it go under spring tension though as I figure there's probably .00000000000001% of a chance of a bad primer causing a slam-fire.... and inside my house that's too high of a chance.

After that I place the gun on the table next to my bed with the gun pointing away from me and away from other rooms (just an extra handling safety precaution even though guns don't go off by themselves - especially not Glocks).

Eject the mag, replace the round, pick up the gun and reinsert it.

Holster the gun.

Done.

Probably sounds longer than it takes - which is usually 20 seconds or less.


---

I've thought about just putting a round directly in the chamber with the gun pointing down and then lowering the slide and placing a full mag in there, but I wonder if that would damage the ejector.

 

[PTK]

I don't yet carry but I doubt I would carry +1. I train from full magazines. I figure that whatever the capacity is, is what was designed to function most reliably.

 

[Snapping Twig]

If I'm wearing a holster, I put the pistol in it, eject the mag and top it off, otherwise I lay the pistol down and top off the magazine.

 

[raytracer]

Two methods:

1. Loading up for the first time, I'll generally use a "Barney" mag - a mag with one or two rounds in it. I charge the pistol and while keeping it pointed into a safe area, I swap the "barney" mag with a full mag and holster.

2. If I've cleared the pistol during the course of the day, I'll charge it, holster it, and remove the mag replacing the original chambered round and re-insert the mag with the pistol in the holster.

Joe

 

[helpless]

I just put the pistol down on a safe flat surface, load the extra round, pick up the pistol, and put the mag back in. No juggling that way.

Same here.

 

[Telperion]

The way we did administrative loads on the firing line in gun skul was to insert the magazine and chamber a round, holster the pistol, then operate the mag release on the holstered gun, top off the magazine and re-insert.

 

[jefnvk]

Fill mag, chamber round, drop mag, add one, replace mag.

All while muzzle is pointed in a safe direction, safety is engaged to its fullest extent (depending on gun), and the finger is nowhere near the trigger.

 

[wjustinen]

Perhaps the quickest way to return to +1

1. Close the slide on a loaded magazine chambering a round,
2. Holster the sidearm,
3. Eject that magazine and insert a fully loaded magazine,
4. Top up the first magazine and place in mag holder.

 

[boredelmo]

so why dont you just....

1. Slide locked open. drop a round in the chamber
2. slide release.
3. insert mag

 

[Telperion]

Doing so forces the extractor to snap around the case head, which is harmful for the extractor.

 

[Euclidean]

Assume for the sake of argument all 4 rules are followed at each step.

Prior to any of this: Function check firearm.

- Fully charge magazine.
- Insert magazine and insure it is seated.
- Rack the slide, which puts a live round in the chamber.
- Engage safety if applicable.
- Eject magazine.
- Holster firearm.
- Recharge magazine (1 round)
- Draw firearm
- Insert magazine and insure it is seated.
- Holster firearm.

 

[sm]

Pistols

Note : It is rare I carry +1

I was born in '55, and was taught as a wee brat, IF +1 :

Charging Mag Insert this mag, chamber round, engage safety, drop Charge Mag and insert Full Carry magazine.

Set Back Mag ("trash mag"), was the Magazine those ctgs that had been chambered a certain number of times, and whether they were actually "set back" or not, still chambered a certain number of times, went into.
These were inspected before being put into Set Back Mag of course, still fired at the range to use up, save brass.

 

[karz10]

Sorry for off topic, but you mentioned Denzel, another goofy thing he did w/ a gun at the end of a movie was the fairly recent one where the bank robbery took place where the guy built a room inside the bank to stay in there, and at the end he comes out and drops a diamond in Denzel's pocket, and he discovers it at home as he takes off his weapons, phone, jacket etc.... Anyway, he puts if .40 glock in the case, as he ejects the mag and sets it in the case, the mag is completely empty, you can see the black plastic tip of the inside of the mag poking out the top, so NO BULLETS were in the mag, I think he even racked the slide or something, so I don't think any bullets were in the gun at all, but only someone who knew what to look for would notice...

Here's the movie, apparently it was called Inside Man http://imdb.com/title/tt0454848/

So to be on topic, he likes to carry +0 -ALL

As for the OP, I'd agree w/ many, drop the chambered gun in the holster or set it down while capping off the mag, and reinserting...

Karz

 

[fletcher]

- Place full mag in gun
- Drop slide (loading chamber)
- Eject mag
- Juggle gun and mag while trying to insert loose round into mag
- Insert now full mag back into gun
- Holster

I do it sort of like that, but I put the gun down when putting the extra round back in.

 

[jerkface11]

Why bother +1ing the gun in the first place? If your magazine doesn't hold enough for you maybe it's time to switch guns.

 

[zeroskillz]

- Place full mag in gun
- Drop slide (loading chamber)
- Eject mag
- Juggle gun and mag while trying to insert loose round into mag
- Insert now full mag back into gun
- Holster

I'm sure if it was a Sig, you left out a step he took after dropping the slide, which was De-Cock. (at least I hope)

Personally, I carry a 229 and follow much the same procedure, with the notable exception of juggling the gun. I either put it down or back in the holster while adding that round back into the mag.

Why bother +1ing the gun in the first place?

There's something about having 40 rounds that just makes me feel better than 39

 

[geekWithA.45]

Gun is stored with mag in, nothing chambered.

Pick up gun, rack slide, press check, decock.
Drop mag, put in spare, holster
Top off storage mag, promote to spare via pocket.

All done.

 

[alex_trebek]

I carry a 1911. I have decided that the one extra round is essential when only have 7 in the mag. I usually load a mag, chamber a round, eject the mag (incase of nd/ad), CAREFULLY ride the hammer down, then top off the mag and insert. I am careful to follow the four rules, and I feel that this is the safest way to handle my 1911 since it is a series 70. Dropping a round the chamber, can cause ad/nd according to my owners manual. Since the pistol is single action, once the hammer is down it is safer than cocked and locked.

 

[fletcher]

Why bother +1ing the gun in the first place? If your magazine doesn't hold enough for you maybe it's time to switch guns.

Why not load your gun to capacity? No need to fill your 15 gallon fuel tank to 15, just do 14, it's all you need.

If you find yourself in a situation in which you need to use a gun, I'm pretty sure you'll be very glad you put that extra round in there just in case.

 

[ID_shooting]

I +1 my P3AT. I insert loaded mag, pull slide and release (no slide lock on a P3AT) Holster gun, drop mag, add 1 round, reinsert mag.

 

[roo_ster]

One thing I try to be sure of is to not rotate the top two rounds with repeated loadings/unloadings to +1. This is to avoid bullet set back, as it repeatedly smashed against the feed ramp and goes into the chamber.

I will, when loading up (after unloading & securing pistol), remove all rounds form the magazine and then pick one at random to be the round that is my +1, excluding the one that was previously in the chamber. Then the rounds go back into the mag, previously chambered round at the bottom & new +1 on top. Insert mag, chamber round, remove mag, place last round in mag to get a full +1.

So far, I have not had a problem with set back.

 

[usp9]

I load one round in the mag, insert, chamber the round, decock, remove and load mag, re-insert, holster.

 

[Father Knows Best]

I think some people on this board don't understand what y'all mean by "+1". For example:

I don't yet carry but I doubt I would carry +1. I train from full magazines. I figure that whatever the capacity is, is what was designed to function most reliably.

and

Why bother +1ing the gun in the first place? If your magazine doesn't hold enough for you maybe it's time to switch guns.

These guys seem to think y'all are trying to cram 11 pounds of flour into a 10 pound bag. That isn't the case at all. What we're talking about here is carrying with a round in the chamber, aka "one in the pipe." The mag is still loaded only to its design capacity. For example, a Glock 26 magazine has a design capacity of 10 rounds. Many (most? all?) people who carry the Glock 26 actually have 11 rounds in the gun -- 10 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber. The question presented by the original poster is how to you go about getting to that condition from an empty gun? It is generally considered to be bad practice to drop a round in the chamber and then drop the slide, because it forces the extractor to snap over the cartridge rim, which can either damage the extractor, or even worse, prevent the slide from going fully into battery. Therefore, you must load the +1 round (the one in the chamber) from a magazine. If you start by putting a full mag into your gun and then dropping (or racking) the slide, you get a cartridge in the chamber, but now your mag is down one round, e.g., in a Glock 26 you would now have 1 in the chamber but only 9 in the magazine.

Make sense?