Prof Young
New member
What does it mean when one is shooting a semi-auto handgun and they ride the slide?
Life is good.
Prof Young
Life is good.
Prof Young
, there may be some value in riding the slide to decrease the risk of bullet setback.
How it's done? Ease the slide forward, usually with a loaded mag in the gun.What does it mean when one is shooting a semi-auto handgun and they ride the slide?
Life is good.
Prof Young
If you're going to ride the slide and risk a malfunction because you're worried about bullet setback, you need to get better ammo, so you don't worry so much.
I agree, IF you do your due diligence and make sure the slide is completely in battery, every time, its not a problem. But I have seen a number of pistols, of different designs that, if you close the slide slowly (ride the slide) they can sometimes stop short (1/4 or 1/8" or so), which MAY be enough out of full battery to engage the disconnector, rendering the pistol inoperable. A bump or push on the end of the slide normally closes it all the way, but you have to recognize it has happened in order to fix it.I get that you signed it with a grin, but you don't really risk a malfunction if you ride the slide and make a point of riding it all the way in.
Treating one's defensive ammo a bit gently seems prudent to me.
Depends on the gun and the ammo. I've seen some factory ammo that would set back very noticeably in one particular gun from a single chambering. It's something to be aware of because it can be a fairly serious issue--just not with every single gun-ammo combination out there.That said, I've rechambered the same round from slide lock multiple times. I've never seen significant setback, or even visually discernible setback.
If you're careful how you do it, it's possible to make sure the gun is fully into battery. But it can cause a failure to go fully into battery which would definitely be a malfunction--and potentially a dangerous one in some guns and under some circumstances....you don't really risk a malfunction if you ride the slide and make a point of riding it all the way in.
.40 is probably one reason that so many people know about setback. That's not because it's more likely to set back than any other caliber out there, but rather because there was one common loading that was very sensitive to setback. A relatively small amount of setback in that loading would cause the discharge pressure to essentially double.It seems to me that it is most common in .40, which I don't shoot, or make.
Yup, seen it in person, even. But I've never seen it with premium self-defense ammo that has only been chambered a few times. Chambering a round a single time shouldn't raise any concerns about setback. If that weren't true, semi-auto pistols would be dangerous to shoot normally.Surely you have at least seen photos of pistol ammo with set back.
Depends on the gun and the ammo. I've seen some factory ammo that would set back very noticeably in one particular gun from a single chambering. It's something to be aware of because it can be a fairly serious issue--just not with every single gun-ammo combination out there.