1. With an empty magazine in the pistol, pull back
the slide until the slide stop engages the slide
stop notch and the slide locks back.
2. To release the empty magazine from the frame,
hold hand under magazine and push the magazine
catch which is located on the left side of the
frame behind the trigger. This will cause the
magazine to fall free of the magazine well.
3. To load the magazine, place the round at
the top (open end), push down and back
making sure that the back of the cartridge is
facing the rear of the magazine. Repeat this
procedure until magazine is fully loaded.
4. Place the magazine in the magazine well in the
frame, with the rounds facing forward, and
push up until magazine is fully seated. A click
will be heard when this is done properly as the
magazine catch engages.
20 21
5. To chamber a round, point the pistol in a safe
direction. Without touching the trigger, push
downward on the slide stop with your
left-hand thumb or left index finger. Allow the
slide to go forward unhindered. Do not “ride”
the slide down to the forward position.
Keeping your hand on the slide may cause
a misfeed, or stop the slide from fully closing.
The pistol is now fully loaded and ready to
fire. Keep muzzle pointed in a safe direction
and engage slide lock safety until ready
to shoot.

With the exception of not always keeping a magazine in the pistol when locking the slide back (step 1 & 2), yes, that describes my normal loading procedure.

Who the heck wrote these instructions? This would be like instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that start with "open fridge"

That set of instructions sounds very familiar to me. I'm almost certain that I read those in a manual somewhere.

I always lock back the slide without a magazine in the pistol.

quote:

Originally posted by marlinspike:
Who the heck wrote these instructions? This would be like instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that start with "open fridge"

They are in the operational manual for the full size Kimber under loading. It seems overly burdensome, and caught me by surprise.

Having had to write stuff like that for lesson plans, I know it sounds moronic, but they are written with the assumption that the reader knows absolutely nothing about the subject. Instructors know by hard experience that you can't assume that whoever is reading the stuff knows things like: "The rounded component of the cartridge, referred to as the "bullet," is place in the magazine so that when the magazine is inserted into the magazine well of the pistol, the bullet is facing forward; i.e. in the same direction as the muzzle."

quote:

Originally posted by sendec:
Having had to write stuff like that for lesson plans, I know it sounds moronic, but they are written with the assumption that the reader knows absolutely nothing about the subject. Instructors know by hard experience that you can't assume that whoever is reading the stuff knows things like: "The rounded component of the cartridge, referred to as the "bullet," is place in the magazine so that when the magazine is inserted into the magazine well of the pistol, the bullet is facing forward; i.e. in the same direction as the muzzle."

Which is why Scandinavian furniture always uses pictures rather than words. They really are worth 1000 words.

Anyways, Jersey, yes that method sounds fine. Basically it's saying load up the mag, put the mag in the gun with the slide back, and then hit the slide release. On guns where I can't comfortably hit the slide release with my right hand's thumb I just pull it back with my left hand and let it go.

I"m trying to figure out what other way you'd go about loading it... this sounds like the normal way regardless of it being a 1911 or not.

I skip using the slide stop to release the slide on all my semi-auto pistols, and "slingshot' the slide instead.

Those instructions were written for "the lowest common denominator." Written by lawyers, to be as precise and in as simple terms as possible, in an attempt to limit lawsuits by idiots.

This is the same reasoning that has almost all manuals cautioning against carrying with a loaded chamber. Attempting to limit lawsuits.

quote:

Originally posted by Thrak:
I"m trying to figure out what other way you'd go about loading it... this sounds like the normal way regardless of it being a 1911 or not.

What they are saying is to initially insert the magazine with the slide locked back, as you would when reloading during shooting. This method would do away with Condition 3 - The chamber is empty and hammer is down with a charged magazine in the gun, which I always felt was a safe way to keep a 1911 for home defense. I wonder if they have an issue with the slide pulling back over the top of the top round in the magazine. I have found the slides on 1911’s with loaded 8 round magazines hard to retract.

The only thing I would add is after the safety has been moved up into the safe position remove magazine and top off with another round. I'm one of those Murphy's law kinda people so I also check each round for a primer and that the bullet is seated in the case correctly. I have personaly had a round of factory ammo without a primer in the past. It would stink if you had to defend yourself and you had a bad round down the pipe.

quote:

Originally posted by jerseyshoreshot:
I wonder if they have an issue with the slide pulling back over the top of the top round in the magazine. I have found the slides on 1911’s with loaded 8 round magazines hard to retract.

I second this observation and it is generally true for all auto-loaders, not just 1911s. The fully loaded magazines are always a little tighter locking down, especially if you "top it off" after chambering a round. Look at the mechanics of it, it's really obvious why this is true.

quote:

Originally posted by sendec:
Having had to write stuff like that for lesson plans, I know it sounds moronic, but they are written with the assumption that the reader knows absolutely nothing about the subject. Instructors know by hard experience that you can't assume that whoever is reading the stuff knows things like: "The rounded component of the cartridge, referred to as the "bullet," is place in the magazine so that when the magazine is inserted into the magazine well of the pistol, the bullet is facing forward; i.e. in the same direction as the muzzle."

I've seen plenty of people put bullets in a magazine backwards.
Kinda' a clue that you are dealing with a newb.

Not a bad set of instructions. Way easier than mine.

1) Check to ensure chamber is empty
2) Stick finger in chamber
3) Lock slide back
4) Load magazines
5) Insert magazine
6) Cross fingers and wish this old archaic design runs correctly for this magazine
7) Palm over rear slide serrations, pull back and release to chamber round
8) Presscheck
9) Pray one final time to the 1911 gods for proper function
10) Presscheck again
11) Press magazine release to eject magazine
12) Top off magazine
13) Reinsert magazine
14) Presscheck again
15) Click safety on
16) Insert into holster or point downrange
17) Take out, press check again
18) If empty, revert back to #4, if not, start from #16.

that's how i load all my guns except sometimes my mags aren't empty so pulling the slide back and having the slide stop lever engage automatically does not always happen for me

Typical Owner's Manual writing. Tell the owner absolutely everything in minute detail. The uninitiated need it and the experienced can ignore it.

quote:

Originally posted by Tempest:

quote:

Originally posted by sendec:
Having had to write stuff like that for lesson plans, I know it sounds moronic, but they are written with the assumption that the reader knows absolutely nothing about the subject. Instructors know by hard experience that you can't assume that whoever is reading the stuff knows things like: "The rounded component of the cartridge, referred to as the "bullet," is place in the magazine so that when the magazine is i nserted into the magazine well of the pistol, the bullet is facing forward; i.e. in the same direction as the muzzle."

I've seen plenty of people put bullets in a magazine backwards.
Kinda' a clue that you are dealing with a newb.

yeah HK knows there photographers are noobs

If anyone buys a 1911, be it Kimber or anything else, then needs to read those instructions step by step to get ready to shoot... I for one don't want to be close by.