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Get an Uplulu magazine loader. $30 to save a lot of time and your thumbs. Magazines are built to be used hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of times. The springs will be stiff out of the box and should stay that way for a long time. So I call bull on the loading -1. If a magazine won't hold the number it's supposed to, toss it. If a gun won't run with a fully loaded mag, get rid of it. An EDC has to withstand the rigors of daily carry and still be reliable if the need arises, so if there's a part your system that you feel you have to baby, you might want to rethink things.

People used to load -1 because they thought it would prolong the spring life, but that was a myth that has been thoroughly debunked. If the spring is too stiff just take a stick or cleaning rod and use it to fully depress and release the spring a bunch of times and it’ll loosen up. Keep testing every so often and just do it up until you can comfortably fit the last round. Or get the Uplula. Either way you’ll be fine.

I test all my mags until I’ve weeded out any that don’t perform flawlessly. Those that are known to cause malfunctions get permanently marked and used for practicing magazine changes. Out of the good ones, I choose three dedicated carry mags and use the others for range practice. My carry mags stay loaded with good defense ammo and every three months or so I take them to the range, burn through the old defensive ammo and replace with new.

I do it this way based on advice I either heard or read many years ago. To be honest, I shoot a lot and I’ve never actually worn out a magazine. I guess I lose them or give them away before they give up the ghost.