Dropping, the slide, shooting without a clip, what will and will not hurt your gun?

A

adn258

New member
So I know that dropping the slide on an auto loading gun without ammo in it is BAD for the gun, but I've heard different opinions on whether you should ever use the slide lock release at all. Some say it's fine so long as you have at least two shots in the clip to drop the slide using the release etc.

Yesterday I went out shooting and there were a few instances with using my Glock 19 that I took the clip out leaving one round in the chamber and firing that single round without a clip in the gun. I got to thinking could there be a reason why this is bad for the gun?

Is leaving a round chambered in the gun for long periods of time bad for a gun? Does that mess with the springs?

I'm good at following gun safety but some of these formalities in terms of keeping the gun in good shape leave me confused lol. Opinions or facts on what I'm asking above? Just need advice on the three things above mainly.

Thanks in Advance guys.
 
Pretty much every question has been covered before,,,

So ignore unhelpful comments and ask your questions.

Aarond

BTW,,, Welcome to the forum.

.
 
They say slamming the slide on an empty barrel is bad for it. Some folks won't hit the slide release on a full mag either but these are probably the same people who change the oil in their cars every 1500 miles, spend 30-45 minutes cleaning a gun each time they shoot it etc. When you think about it, each time you shoot, the slide slams an other round into the pipe. If that doesn't hurt it, me doing won't hurt it either. As for leaving it chambered, I've never heard how that has hurt a gun. The only spring that is under tension with a round in the pipe is the ejector and if that were a problem the internet would no doubt be full of "brother's friend heard it from his uncle's fishin buddy..." type stories.
 
I have read a lot of the information on these subjects but a few of them I can't find anything on like firing a gun without a clip perhaps it's just my bad search skills but yeah. Thanks HardWorker btw useful information.

Thanks
 
Is leaving a round chambered in the gun for long periods of time bad for a gun? Does that mess with the springs?
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Cops leave a round in the chamber like all the time. Do they have problems?
 
1. Leaving a round in the chamber is NO PROBLEM. LEO's do it for years with no issues. I have several guns that have had rounds in them for a decade or more, never a problem.
BTW, don't forget the mainspring or striker spring (depending on action type) will also be under tension, unless you decock (NOT RECOMMENDED ON SINGLE ACTION AUTOS!). Still no big deal.

2. Releasing from slide lock - IF (big if) you do it all the time, you could possibly damage something. I can't afford enough ammo to think it could be a problem. Firing a round without the mag does subject the gun to a bit more shock when the slide slams home. Just watch the difference in slide velocity between loading a round and an empty chamber.
I know Bullseye shooters who never drop the slide without holding the hammer with their thumb on a 1911. They claim it could chip the sear. I think modern steels and heat treatment have eliminated that issue. Of course, they have trigger pulls too light for a fighting gun.
 
Worry less, shoot and practice more.
What you describe won't hurt nuttin'.
It's one of my standard exercises - one round in the mags, shoot to slide lock, reload, keep going.
 
What springs are tensioned just because a round is in the chamber? The chamber loaded indicator?

Do you mean leaving a mag fully loaded?

Here is my take on the rest of it... the amount of energy it takes to strip a round out of a magazine and load it into the chamber is negligble... if that difference in energy between the slide going forward without that reducing force is going to crack the slide or the frame - I need to get a different gun. I don't think this would make any difference with quality steels most commonly used in high-quality firearms.

Also, there are guns like the Kahr CM9 & PM9 that don't do will when you ride the slide or otherwise try to load the first round by cycling the slide with your hand, the recomended way of loading it is lockign the slide back with the slide stop lever and then pushing down on the slide stop lever to release the slide to go forward under spring power.

You can call it a slide release lever if you want. ;)

When it's used to lock the slide back it's called the slide stop, when it's used to let the slide go forward it's called the slide release - that's what I say.



(I don't have any weapons that use clips - although some do exist),

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_(ammunition)

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adn258, it's a magazine, not a clip. Sorry, but if I didn't correct you, someone will.

Most people agree, closing the slide on an empty chamber is not a good thing to make a habit of.

Leaving a round chambered causes no problems that I am aware of.
 
On my Bersa Thunder 9 I had the bad habit of using the slide release after loading another magazine or after clearing it. After a few years it sheered off the top of the draw bar spring. Apparently this is a problem with these models and really can only be avoided by releasing the slide by pulling back on it and moving the slide release by hand. Pretty poor design but thankfully the repair is easy. So now I am not as nonchalant about how I close my slides on all my handguns just in case.
 
My Kahr P9 instructions recommend always using the slide release to chamber a round. The only failures to feed/chamber I've ever had with the pistol occurred when I ignored these instructions.

Guess the second poster gentleman hasn’t tried using the search engine lately. It can be a booger bear to locate precise info sometimes, but I digress. Got no idea if harm is done by firing a single round with no mag, but suspect it may be firearm dependant. As for leaving one in the pipe, that shouldn’t be a spring problem, but without any personal empirical evidence (means - I’m guessing) having the magazine spring under compression for eons might be not so good.
 
I was just thinking that for some actions - if you use the slide or the bolt to get a round in the chamber the gun is cocked, so yes - that spring that is tensioned, ready to make the hammer or striker go forward, but I've never heard of those springs wearing out due to a weapon being cocked for long periods of time.

I wouldn't put a weapon in long term storage cocked, but for most weapons, you don't have to worry about only cocking it right when you need it in order to prevent the spring from failing.
 
C0ountZer0 said:
I was just thinking that for some actions - if you use the slide or the bolt to get a round in the chamber the gun is cocked, so yes - that spring that is tensioned, ready to make the hammer or striker go forward, but I've never heard of those springs wearing out due to a weapon being cocked for long periods of time.
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But leaving the pistol cocked wasn't the question, was it? The question was whether or not leaving a round in the chamber is harmful.

The answer is, "No, if the pistol is not left cocked, and possibly if the pistol is left cocked."
 
I keep shotguns and rifles with the chamber unloaded in the cabinet, but I never dry fire them. They've been sitting for years cocked. And I mean years and years. Same for any pistol with no external hammer. My buckmark never gets dry fired and it still runs like a top.
 
Pretty much every question has been covered before,,,
So ignore unhelpful comments and ask your questions.

Aarond

BTW,,, Welcome to the forum.
Click to expand...

yep......funny it takes no more effort to answer a simple question as it does to scold and give a link to the search engine in most instances.....and then there's the grammar Nazis.:rolleyes:

Welcome to the forum and to the shooting sports. In every venue there are those that are willing to help and those that just want to criticize. The majority here are more than willing to help.
 
Thanks buck460XVR you are right. Some of the stuff I asked you could find easy info on and the firing one shot in the gun with the chambered round having no magazine in the gun it seems is still up in the air with little help from google searching (though people like you helped me on here so I appreciate that) but it's probably not a big deal to fire with just one round chambered.

I really appreciate everyone's help on here by the way so just saying thanks again too.

Thanks
 
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