Releasing the slide on a 1911 with an empty chamber....

wayupnorth said:
while i in all seriousness cant believe that dropping a slide on a empty chamber is going to do anything to a gun that handles the explosive pressures and G forces that all guns do - i do not drop the slide.
it just makes me cringe when its done.
just the sound of it sends a shiver up my spine.

especially AR's, when someone drops the bolt release on a empty AR that drives me NUTS!
i just wait to see the upper go pinwheeling off the gun and the take down pins to go flying off in every direction shattered.

truth be told im more concerned with having the slide dropped empty on a plastic gun than i am on a 1911.
plastic fatigue scares me more than metal peening.
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I always dry practice all my semi automatics including my AR's. As POWERWAGON has pointed out if a firearm can not take it with the normal chamber pressures associated with firing a gun then I wouldn't feel comfortable with said brand of gun.

Now that is my opinion and I would only do it with my property and never on another individuals.
 
Here's a quote from Hilton Yam on the topic:

Always ease the slide down on an empty chamber, never slam it shut from slide lock. A G.I. rack grade 1911 may do fine when you slam the slide on the empty chamber, but a gun with a tuned trigger and fitted barrel will do better without it. The jarring of the slide slamming down on an empty chamber can cause the hammer to follow and the sear nose to crash into the hammer hooks. Your trigger job will last longer if you ease the slide down. Further, the lower lugs on a match fit barrel take a lot of impact when they contact the slide stop, and without the buffering effect of the round feeding into the chamber, you increase wear on your barrel by slamming the slide on an empty chamber. It's not the end of the world if the slide drops on an empty chamber, but it's not a good habit to develop either. It is the sign of an amateur 1911 handler.

http://www.10-8consulting.com/article_page.php?articleID=13

HY is neither Larry, Curly, nor Moe. (Possibly Groucho...)
 
grumpyold said:
The top 1911 manufacturers say the practise should be avoided but the Larry, Curly and Moe's on GunNutz say it's fine. Don't you just love the internet!
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Food for thought.

Is dropping the slide on an empty chamber wearing the gun more than if you drop it slowly by hand? Yes, absolutely. Is it wearing it more than by simply shooting it? Probably to some degree.

On the other hand, consider that there are plenty of 1911s out there that have well over 100 000+ rounds through them. Barrels and small parts will need replacement at regular intervals, but otherwise these firearms (and many other designs) have demonstrable frame/slide lives in excess of 200 000 rounds if they're well maintained and springs are replaced at regular intervals.

For those that do shoot extremely high round counts, where locking surface wear actually ends up being a concern, then it's really just trying to count angels on the head of a pin. If your frame cracks at 250 000 rounds and never makes it to 300 000, is it because you dropped the slide on an empty chamber a couple thousand times, or is it because you didn't replace replace your springs often enough? Maybe you shouldn't have shot so much +P over the life of the gun? etc.

Despite all the collective wisdom about how bad it sounds, nobody can even point to an example (of any type) of the evil slide dropping witchcraft juju actually claiming a precious .45.

Your gun, your rules, but it's just a rather silly thing to worry about considering that by the time you're actually close to wearing one of these guns out, you'll have fired enough ammunition to pay for a nice sports car, or replace the gun about 20 times over.
 
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