# NEWB questions on loading



## diskgolfer109 (Feb 19, 2009)

I just got a new xd(m) 9mm and was wondering how people usually get the +1 i heard it was bad to drop one in the chamber do to a risk of damage to the gun or the bullet ? so do most people drop one in or load a magazine, insert , chamber one then drop mag to add one more to it? Due to my inexperience with firearms in general i do not plan on keeping one in the chamber anyway, but that may change as i get more comfortable with it.
Also is there any harm in loading and unloading a magazine a couple times with the same rounds just to get familiar with the process? I think i saw somewhere on this forum not to chamber the same round over and over something about pushing the bullet into the case and building up pressure but did not see a mention on weather you can damage bullets just by loading and unloading a magazine and i would like to practice before i go to the range, its snowing like crazy here anyway so nothing to do but fondle it up in the house and get used to it.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Fill a magazine. Insert it into the pistol. Rack the slide. Remove the magazine and reholster the weapon.
Insert one more cartridge into the magazine.
Draw the gun, put the magazine back into it.
If there's a safety, engage it. Now reholster.

The only effective safety device is the grey, gelatinous mass between your ears. If that safety device isn't working full-time, neither an empty chamber nor a safety lever will save you from someday making a horrible mistake.
If you intend to carry your pistol as a defensive weapon, teach yourself to be alert-but-comfortable with a fully-loaded weapon ("condition 1"). Otherwise, you will be carrying nothing more than a small, lightweight club.
There is no time, in a save-your-life situation, to draw and then rack a round into the pistol's chamber. I don't care what you've heard or read about the so-called Israeli method: it doesn't work. No ifs, buts, or maybes. It doesn't work.


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## PhilR. (Apr 25, 2007)

The reason why you do not want to just drop a cartridge into the chamber and then drop the slide is because the extractor slams into the back of the cartridge, and this might damage it. 

This is different from when the slide forces a cartridge from the magazine and into the breech. When the forward-moving slide pushes a cartridge out of the magazine and into the breech, the rim of the cartridge slides under the extractor from below and thereby kinda sorta "mates" to it. Therefore, the only way to +1 is to chamber from a loaded magazine, and then top off the magazine.

You are also correct in that you do not want to re-chamber a cartridge a number of times. Twice or thrice probably won't make a difference, but I never chamber any particular round more than twice.

PhilR.


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