Dropping slide on Empty chamber?

[5.5Merc]

Hi fellow calgunners, so I had quick debate with my friend today about dropping the slide on an empty chamber. He's saying it does not damage to the gun as it was designed to slam forward anyway, but I have a different stance. I say the round cushions the impact when the gun goes into battery, vs no cushioning when the slide goes foreword empty. What's your guys'es opinion on this? Do you think it causes any damage?

[bazineta]

Apparently you shoot rounds made of soft, fluffy things, that cushion the impact of the slide going into battery.

Might I suggest that you instead try the ones that I've come to enjoy; they're made of brass. They don't cushion anything, but I do think you'll like them better.

Seriously; it's made of steel, very good steel. It's designed to contain absurd pressures, and do so for a very, very long time. It'll be fine, trust me.

[guywithbluepants]

I don't think it will hurt the slide if it does that would be manufacturer defect

[tanks]

People dry fire tens of thousands of times (at least the ones that practice) a year. Doesn't seem to hurt the firearms.

[tbc]

Physically, the round does cushing the impact. But the impact on empty is insignificant IMO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ruchik]

Apparently you shoot rounds made of soft, fluffy things, that cushion the impact of the slide going into battery.

Might I suggest that you instead try the ones that I've come to enjoy; they're made of brass. They don't cushion anything, but I do think you'll like them better.

Seriously; it's made of steel, very good steel. It's designed to contain absurd pressures, and do so for a very, very long time. It'll be fine, trust me.

Might I suggest that you do your homework before making generalizations?

The rounds themselves don't cushion anything. It's the additional drag caused by stripping a round off the mag, sliding it under the extractor, and pushing the round into the chamber that causes a cushioning effect.

OP, to answer your question, it depends on the gun. On a 1911, this is one of the things you never do, UNLESS you are testing sear engagement. The reason why is that when you let the slide slam forward on an empty chamber, the hammer can jar loose from the hammer hooks and crash into the nose of the sear, degrading your trigger job. The lower lugs of a match fit barrel will also take a lot of impact when they hit the slide stop when the slide is dropped on an empty chamber. It might not have an effect tomorrow, or in a decade, but it eventually will. Letting the slide slam forward on an empty chamber of a 1911 is a sure sign of an uninformed 1911 owner/handler.

As for other autoloaders, I can't say for sure.

[bwhited]

You are correct.
When loading a round, there is less force from the slide on the frame due to the round taking the energy.
As far as to weather it is a good idea, the answer is it depends.
If you are using a stock trigger, then no issue.
If you are running a light trigger then the impact from dropping the slide on an empty chamber can cause trigger bounce which can damage the lightened trigger components.
My recommendation is to not do it.

Hi fellow calgunners, so I had quick debate with my friend today about dropping the slide on an empty chamber. He's saying it does not damage to the gun as it was designed to slam forward anyway, but I have a different stance. I say the round cushions the impact when the gun goes into battery, vs no cushioning when the slide goes foreword empty. What's your guys'es opinion on this? Do you think it causes any damage?

[Carcassonne]

Hi fellow calgunners, so I had quick debate with my friend today about dropping the slide on an empty chamber. He's saying it does not damage to the gun as it was designed to slam forward anyway, but I have a different stance. I say the round cushions the impact when the gun goes into battery, vs no cushioning when the slide goes foreword empty. What's your guys'es opinion on this? Do you think it causes any damage?

Loading a round from the magazine slows down the slide so that when the slide hits the barrel it does it with less force than it would if there is nothing in the chamber. I do not know if it is harmful. It may act like shot-peening, and make it last longer.

[orangeusa]

I bet there would be a lot of threads on guns that could not handle this normal function.

Last round in a semi auto does the same thing. No brass, recoil of slide powered by recoil spring.

I wouldn't own a gun that can't handle this.

[FF90]

On all my semi autos, the slide locks open after the last round,,. therefore it does not slam home on an empty chamber

[razr]

The hammer can jar loose from the hammer hooks and crash into the nose of the sear, degrading your trigger job.

[CWDraco]

Might I suggest that you do your homework before making generalizations?

The rounds themselves don't cushion anything. It's the additional drag caused by stripping a round off the mag, sliding it under the extractor, and pushing the round into the chamber that causes a cushioning effect.

OP, to answer your question, it depends on the gun. On a 1911, this is one of the things you never do, UNLESS you are testing sear engagement. The reason why is that when you let the slide slam forward on an empty chamber, the hammer can jar loose from the hammer hooks and crash into the nose of the sear, degrading your trigger job. The lower lugs of a match fit barrel will also take a lot of impact when they hit the slide stop when the slide is dropped on an empty chamber. It might not have an effect tomorrow, or in a decade, but it eventually will. Letting the slide slam forward on an empty chamber of a 1911 is a sure sign of an uninformed 1911 owner/handler.

As for other autoloaders, I can't say for sure.

There are stores that will refuse to allow people to handle some 1911s for this reason... they dont care if you want to "play" with it before buying it...

there was a post here a few months back. The guy couldn't understand why the store wouldn't let him play with a $4000 gun before he bought it.

[p7m8jg]

I remember this argument from 1982 and I still have the .45 auto from then. I've dropped the slide thousands of times in 34 years and it still works just fine.

Will it affect your hoop-de-do $3,500.00 custom-trigger-job-by-god if you do it?

WTH do I know? I'd never buy such a gun......Mine shoot. And I hit what I aim at.

[orangeusa]

On all my semi autos, the slide locks open after the last round,,. therefore it does not slam home on an empty chamber

I dump the mag so fast, like an operator, that it does.

.

[RandyD]

I was advised by a Wilson Combat gunsmith to not drop the slide on my 1911 without chambering a round. I was told that doing so was hard on the extractor. When I was in the Marine Corps, we slammed the slides home on our 1911's and it did not seem to hurt them, but there is no valid reason to allow a slide to slam home.