Closing Slide on an empty chamber

[snoopycda]

Holy crap! It's a gun, a machine, not a set of fine china. Use however you want, when it's broke, fix it.
I dont baby anything intended for rough use. Besides practice, practice, practice, will make you familiar with your piece.

 

[plinker 777]

Just saying....

(E)

...So a sponsored professional doesn't give a sh1t about one of his gun's, I think I'm missing your point. I'm on the look out for a Danika Patrick red lining an engine, just because it can be done doesn't make it a "good" thing to do.

 

[enefgee]

Yeah, Todd Jarrett pushed 1,000 rounds continuous through a Para too - doesn't mean I'd pay 50 cents for one.

 

[grandmasterP]

exactly what he said..... obviously if you have a heavier recoil spring, a 2 lb trigger job, ect.....you're gonna do more damage sooner than later

an unaltered 1911 will take a lot of abuse before anything breaking. it still doesn't mean you should abuse it

in the old days, people would hold the trigger while dropping the slide to prevent hammer and sear bounce on a super light trigger job (not a safe thing to do). having the sear slip and slam into the half #### notch is not good for your gun

and in the video, half the time he doesn't bring the slide all the way back. his limp wrist absorbs some of the energy. he should drop it from slide lock 600 times

and then go slam his car door 600 times

Well first of all he's not dropping the slide from slide-lock; he's opening and closing it manually, which is a very different thing. Secondly, a youtube video doesn't actually measure anything. For instance, how heavy is the trigger pull? How heavy is the recoil spring and main spring? How much sear engagement? Etc. It's a nice dramatic video that doesn't really give you any information. Thirdly, you have guys like Bill Wilson, one of the best and most Knowlegable 1911builders IN.. THE.. WORLD telling people this is not a good thing to be in the habit of doing.
Last point; over the years I've had occasion to fix hundreds of triggers on 1911's. Anyone want to guess what the primary area of damage usually is?

 

[XCR User]

Just saying....

(E)

What can I say 500 drop slides on a 1911 WOW! Kudos to this shooter.
I guess doing the drop slides on his gun hasn't damaged the gun from
firing other than the last failure to feed and I suspect that it was the last mag
that may be the problem. Now I'm waiting to see the same thing again but this time
drop the slide and dry fire without a cap lets see what that will do to his 1911.

 

[relliott]

Actually, dry firing a 1911 is perfectly ok. You will probably get millions of cycles before you have to replace the firing pin spring. You don't even need a snap cap.
It's actually easier on the pin than actually firing it.

 

[Sharps '63]

Dropping the slide on the empty chamber of a 1911 is akin to slamming the cylinder shut on a revolver. Just plain poor gun handling and if it's MY gun, the last time you get to handle it!
A so called Black Badge trained jerk slammed shut the cylinder on my S&W M29 ala movie detective and I nearly ##### slapped him!

 

[Avenida]

I don't have time to worry about slamming a piece of metal specially a gun that has been designed to contain a small bomb going off every time the trigger is pulled. unbelivable that a topic like this one exists.

 

[relliott]

I don't have time to worry about slamming a piece of metal specially a gun that has been designed to contain a small bomb going off every time the trigger is pulled. unbelivable that a topic like this one exists.

Guy asked a question. Why is it unbelievable? Maybe it's more unbelievable that you read the thread all the way to the bottom and then bothered to post a comment.
Anyway, the small bomb of which you speak is contained within the pressure vessel that is the chamber and cartridge, and it is released in a very specific way and a very specific direction. And at no time during the proper cycle of the firearm is the sear and hammer forced into a situation where bounce can occur. But hey, don't worry about it; your gun, your rules.

 

[5440fight]

I would like to add something intelligent to this thread, but there is no point.

Opinions vary, I have mine, you have yours. When handling my guns, abide by my feelings, when I handle yours, your rule applies.

 

[Avenida]

I read a few pages and a video of a guy slamming a 1911 500 times. I think this conversation is ridiculous, If I am basing my firearms selection in something so finicky that could fail because of letting the firearms do what's been desgined to do, then in my book I would be doing the selection wrong, but HEY, you shoot whatever you like.

Guy asked a question. Why is it unbelievable? Maybe it's more unbelievable that you read the thread all the way to the bottom and then bothered to post a comment.
Anyway, the small bomb of which you speak is contained within the pressure vessel that is the chamber and cartridge, and it is released in a very specific way and a very specific direction. And at no time during the proper cycle of the firearm is the sear and hammer forced into a situation where bounce can occur. But hey, don't worry about it; your gun, your rules.

 

[Tom Morrison]

Just had a look at the documentation for my Nighthawk Custom Talon II bobtail. They say not to let the slide drop on an empty chamber, as "eventually it will cause the sear to go out of alignment". Mine is a 10mm, so the spring is a beast as well.

 

[Johnn Peterson]

I would like to add something intelligent to this thread, but there is no point.

Opinions vary, I have mine, you have yours. When handling my guns, abide by my feelings, when I handle yours, your rule applies.

Agreed. I don't let the slide slam shut on an empty chamber, I don't 'coolly' slap or flip the cylinder shut on a double action revolver and I don't dryfire on an empty chamber. I concur with your statement whole heartedly.

 

[relliott]

I read a few pages and a video of a guy slamming a 1911 500 times. I think this conversation is ridiculous, If I am basing my firearms selection in something so finicky that could fail because of letting the firearms do what's been desgined to do, then in my book I would be doing the selection wrong, but HEY, you shoot whatever you like.

Will do.
Just one point for clarity: the 1911 is not designed to do this. It is designed to feed a loaded cartridge when the slide is dropped forcefully into battery. That was the point of the whole discussion.

 

[misanthropist]

A 1911 is unlikely to fail because you drop the slide on an empty chamber. You will just beat up the sear and make the trigger worse.

You probably won't cause your car to fail if you close the door by kicking it straight in the middle of the door panel, either.

 

[sunray]

"..."that's the worst thing you can ever do to a gun"...." Minimum wage earner. He's clearly never seen some bone head flip a revolver's cylinder shut. That is bad. Closing a slide that way, not so much.

 

[Heddok]

People smarter than me say not to do it........ people dumber than me say it's OK

My Daddy always told me to pay attention to what the smart guys do, good advice I've always followed.

 

[762shooter]

Hey everyone, Just wanted to get some feed back on this. I was in a my local gun store yesterday when I saw some Newb ask to see an old Russian tokerev. The shop employee took out the gun from the case and handed it (slide open of course) to the guy. He promptly hit the slide release slamming shut the slide. I thought the the store guy was going to knock him out!! He grabbed the gun from him and yelled "that's the worst thing you can ever do to a gun". I could hardly contain my laughter at that comment. But rightfully so you never do that to someone else's gun. My question is, is this still a common misconception with gun owners? All my semi autos( R1 1911, Beretta 92, and a tokerev) I let the spring tension close the slide that's how they were built and all my manuals say to "snap" it shut. I have never had an issue and have done it hundreds of times.

I've had this conversation with the guys at the local gun shop. They do the same freak out routine. The Queen's servants taught me to release the slide on an empty chamber with the Browning Hi Power so it must be ok! My opinion is that if the gun can't take that its not much of a gun. However, since the guns I'm looking at are the property of the gun shop, if that's what they want, that's what I'll do when looking at their property. I still release the slide on my owe pistols, tho.

 

[plinker 777]

People smarter than me say not to do it........ people dumber than me say it's OK

My Daddy always told me to pay attention to what the smart guys do, good advice I've always followed.

Very well said...smart guys those dad's huh!?

 

[Dsiwy]

Well here are the facts from my experience, the follow pistol have no issue's having the slide dropped on a empty chamber.

-SIG
-Glock
-Beretta
-BHP

As for a custom 1911 I dont know but if dropping a slide on a empty chamber screws up a 1911, then the 1911 is a POS kidding lol. Lets face it I have never seen or heard of any combat pistol having this problem.