download mags by one?

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Depends on the gun. Yeah, single stacks with good quality mags will *generally* feed 100% from a stacked mag after firing the one carried in the chamber. Most double stacks do experience a little more resistance in the slide movement from the strong upper pressure of the top round, when at capacity, and thus can be less than 100% reliable. Just have to test your gun and find out if it's 100% or not in that condition. Generally I download 2-stack mags by 1 or 2. CZ 75 18-rounders I download by two. Two-stack .45s I download by 1.

And as mentioned, the reason is not spring compression (causing spring to 'wear out' faster - it won't) - the reason (if any) is solely related to reliability.

 

[dieseltech09]

I download by 1 on my carry gun just so I have a place to put the chambered round when I unload the gun. I do however carry my backup mag full.

 

[Glocktogo]

I've noticed that some magazines have a little extra give when fully loaded, while others have little to none. If you cannot push the top round down a little, or its extremely hard to fully seat a full mag, you might consider downloading by one. If not, load it up full and don't worry about it.