diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb
index b8187b1c6abc5066e9817b2c90392aadc1dcc711..8b5e600c96d85b2d79320368b390c92705f6cfbf 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/association_collection.rb
@@ -354,12 +354,13 @@ def load_target
         def add_to_target(record)
           callback(:before_add, record)
           yield(record) if block_given?
-          @target ||= [] unless loaded?
+
           if @reflection.options[:uniq] && index = @target.index(record)
             @target[index] = record
           else
             @target << record
           end
+
           callback(:after_add, record)
           set_inverse_instance(record)
           record