Empty Chamber

[mkb909]

I have been around 1911s for some time now and I have heard and read that it is a really bad idea to drop the slide on a 1911 when the chamber is empty. Can anyone tell me why and does it still apply to todays current 1911s?

[John]

It's bad to drop the slide without a loaded magazine in place. The reason is that the slide rams forward too fast and causes the whole gun to jerk. Due to inertia the sear/hammer surfaces can move (due to the trigger nugging the sear) and too much of this can easily damage a good trigger job.

When the slide is moving forward, stripping a round from the magazine, it is slowed down enough to not cause problems. There is a sticky somewhere in here about this. Here it is:

http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=11707

[hutch1510]

not to mention the hard impact of lower barrel lugs to the slide stop getting battered

[log man]

Mmkb909, Hutch is right.Think about it, all you have to do is remove the slide stop pin to remove the slide. And the only thing that hits the slide stop pin are the barrel feet which are only 0.100"to 0.110" thick, not much metal to stop that much force. Once, now and then maybe okay, but on a regular basis is a big no-no. I also consider it an act of disrespect and arrogance. :D