droping slide

[T Money]

i would like to know if dropping the slide without a round to chamber was bad for a pistol

thanx

[twitch]

As it was explained to me by a certified ccw instructor/bullseye target shooter, it does not do any damage to the gun. The gun is simply performing the exact same movement it does when chambering a round, without the round. The lack of a round however cannot create any extra strain on the gun, if anything it might be lessened by this. This is simply what i was taught by someone who i respect for their knowledge and skill, however i do believe that there are many people who say it is bad for the gun, and they have their reasons. To be perfectly honest i do no disagree nor agree with what my instructor had told me, so i simply avoid dropping an empty slide when i can.

-twitch

[thehead7]

I think dropping the slide on a pistol is about as bad as hitting the breaks in your car. It might wear just a little more, but with a decent quality weapon that has a properly fitted barrel, it's not going to be much of an issue.

It's kind of like saying that dry-firing a weapon is bad for it. It's not really good for it, but it's not going to hurt a weapon that has properly hardened parts, et cetera (with the exception of rimfire weapons)...

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[stumbler]

Although there is a test done a gunsmith may do in checking out a 1911, I try to limit how many times it get done.


If one uses the same round every time to load the gun, the bullet will be pushed back into the casing (in effect, the round acts like "cushion" for the slide).

In my opinion, one should only drop the slide without a round as a safety test, and limit the number of times done. Otherwise, use snap-caps.

[John]

I am afraid I'll have to disagree with twitch and thehead7 on that. Dropping the slide without a round to chamber is not good for a 1911's health. The reason for that, is that the round in the magazine is slowing the slide movement down. Without it, the slide slams on the barrel without any cushioning effect. The barrel or the slide do not get affected, what does, is the sear/hammer engagement. Some times, especially on a gun with very light trigger, this slamming action can cause the sear to disengage from the hammer, thus we have hammer-follow-up, as it is called. Not a good thing.

A common suggestion, by some people, is to keep the trigger pressed, when you do release the slide on an empty gun. However, I do not endorse this practice, as it is against every safety rule, to have the trigger pressed, unless the gun is pointing at something you do not care to destroy.

Tuner will explain it better to you, I am not that knowledgeable as he is. As far as I am concerned, I try to avoid doing it, as much as possible, without that meaning that I never do it.

[thehead7]

John: I see your point. When I think about 1911s, I often find myself not taking into account all of the common variations. I am more of a combat gun enthusiast (I don't own a pistol with adjustable sights) and therefore have triggers around 4.5-5lbs.

As such I should ammend my statement to say that with some weapons the negative effect of dropping the slide CAN be negligable. It does increase wear, but at a rate that differs between weapons.

Twitch: John and stumbler do make the point that the round being stripped/fed does slow the process down and adds "cushion" to the lockup process, which I am inclined to agree with.

The fact of the matter is: You cannot cycle a weapon without firing a round and have it exactly duplicate a true weapon cycle. This is true for just about everything I can think of in the 1911, from the magazine to
the fire control group. Anyone who doubts this could benefit from searching for posts from 1911Tuner. Aside from, in essence, outright saying this, he illustrates it often. I can only hope that, one day, I will be half as salty as him :)

-Head

[twitch]

I think that you are both right, John and thehead7. I am in the same boat as thehead7 so i was not thinking about competition guns, but my own field gun. I think i may have heard what John said about holding the trigger back when dropping the slide, however i completely agree that although the gun is designed to not drop the hammer, there are a multitude of things wrong with doing this, its just not safe as John said.

[John]

Field gun or competition queen, doesn't make any difference, it's not something I would like to do on my gun. A perfectly executed trigger job can go south quickly, just by dropping the slide on an empty gun. OK, quickly is relative, but it will, eventually.

Rgds

[mister2]

The KISS....

if dropping the slide without a round to chamber was bad

Because the answer "No" would have so many "ands, ifs or buts", I'll simply say "Yes".

[gpo1956]

This has argued a million times. I don't doit. Personally, other than an ocacasional safety check, I think there is absolutely no logical reason to do it. I am always amazed that the question keeps coming up.

[Nathan]

Well, I think you have herad it all, but I must throw my $.02 in. . .

I don't do this in normal handling. Normally, unloaded I lower the slide slowly. I do do this as an occasional hammer follow safety check. IMHO, this is the most extreme shock one can put on the ignition parts to try and induce hammer follow. If it passes this, it will be fine with ammo. That said, I keep this to less than once every 3 months.

Every 1911 should be able to do this fine. Yes, I have heard the hammer/sear engagement doesn't like this. I really haven't noticed. Because the slide velocity is so high doing this, I don't like to. Loading a round slows the slide a bunch. I think this is why people fear broken parts.

[stumbler]

I would compare dropping the slide without a round that same as using a 10-12 oz. hammer (slide) with 16-18lbs of pressure (recoil spring) and hitting bar stock metal. Once or twice may be okay, but after a while, something has dents, is broken, or worse.