safe slide load setup for home

+1 for the 5 gallon bucket of sand. (If you really think you need it...IMhO I don't need it.)

I think it would be nuts to spend hundreds of dollars for those commercial rigs.
 
If your 45 is a 1911, just shift your hand down completely below the grip lever. That blocks the trigger, so you can't get inertial trigger pull when the slide slams home. If you have a 1911 with a firing-pin block, that provides even greater assurance (and protects agraist the more unlikely eventuality that the sear will break, or get jiggled off the hammer notch).

Or, you can use a bulls-eye reload: with the slide locked back, pull the trigger all the way aft, AND HOLD IT THERE. While holding the trigger fully back, release the slide (I like to use the "overhand" method), and don't release the trigger until after the slide has slammed home.

I use the first method at home, when loading back up after cleaning, etc, because it has the additional safety of the firing-pin block. At the range, I use the bulls-eye reload method, because in a self defense situation (or when practicing for it), I don't want to shift my grip down and then back up. There, I always insure that the gun is pointed down-range during the chambering.

It's very unlikely to happen with stock triggers, which are all pretty heavy. But with my very light trigger (2-1/3 lb on my 10mm 1911), it can happen. For me, a light trigger is is well worth having to use the above special handling. Of course, it also brings the additional responsibility to never let anyone else shoot my gun without proper supervision and a thorough briefing about the special handling required.

P.S.: I recently DID learn that the reason that Wollf always includes a new firing-pin spring with every recoil spring shipped, is that they believe that as the recoil stiffness is increased, the firing-pin spring stiffness needs to be increased also, to insure that the firing-pin itself can't inertially move forward enough when the slide slams home to ignite the primer.
 
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It doesn't hurt to check if a firing pin is sticking out when loading any gun.
It can happen.
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That's VERY true. Nothing can protect you from that, except for noticing it, and not releasing the slide. Never release the slide without checking that the firing-pin is not protruding out of the hole!
 
I guess the protruding firing-pin problem COULD occur after firing a round! And I guess if you DO get a stuck firing-pin after a round fires, it's somewhat likely that it'll KEEP firing until the mag is empty. I keep accumulating more and more reasons to prefer carrying my .44mag 5-shot S&W69 revolver!
 
I have many things to worry about. A round firing when chambered is not one of them. That doesn't mean I don't practice good muzzle control every time I chamber a round though. If I was concerned, a 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full of sand would stop anything I own, although a 3" 00 buckshot round might make a mess.:eek:
 
I don't think this is common with any modern designs. By modern I mean the last 50 years. There are older firearms, especially rifles that have issues. For instance, one should not load a round into a Garands chamber. The firing pin floats and stripping the bullet out of the clip slows the bolt down. If you load one directly in the chamber and drop the bolt full speed it will hit had and the firing pin will continue into the primer with enough force to possibly fire a round. It doesn't happen every time and I've dropped the bolt on a manually loaded round without it going off, but there are pretty reliably reported cases. Whenever there is an unexpected discharge there is a tendency to make excuses, so I take all such reports with a grain of salt. Any design with a floating firing pin has this issue to some extent. I don't think there are any modern semi-auto designs with floating firing pins.

There are other ways it can happen, but almost all the reports I have read relate to that issue.
 
One other thing you can do when chambering the first round at home (where in many locales, an unintentional discharge must NOT happen), is to use a magazine that has a smooth (no "bump") follower, and move the slide forward slowly. If your gun feeds smoothly under those circumstances, that makes it pretty safe with any gun. But in case of a slip, you should still move your hand down below the grip lever, just to guard against an inertial trigger-pull.
 
I had an AR-15 that I was building in .300 AAC that did a slam fire on my one night in my "reloading shack" as I was testing some rounds that I had just loaded for it to ensure they would feed. I believe I was using Federal pistol primers since it was a low power loading and I was loading the round directly instead of through a magazine. Ended up blasting a hole in the carpet and taking a small chunk out of the concrete. Couldn't find the 230 gr bullet though. It apparently basically vaporized and spread itself under the carpet pad. :)
 
I believe I was using Federal pistol primers since it was a low power loading and I was loading the round directly instead of through a magazine.
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Navy, I count three errors here.
1. Using pistol primers, softer than rifle primers, way softer than mil spec.
2. Using FEDERAL pistol primers, the most sensitive of the type.
3. Slamming the bolt on a loose round.

The AR has an unrestrained firing pin, you can see a slight mark on the primer when unloading the rifle.
 
Navy, I count three errors here.
1. Using pistol primers, softer than rifle primers, way softer than mil spec.
2. Using FEDERAL pistol primers, the most sensitive of the type.
3. Slamming the bolt on a loose round.

The AR has an unrestrained firing pin, you can see a slight mark on the primer when unloading the rifle.
Click to expand...

Yeah, 20/20 hindsight... I had never had a slam fire before with any firearm that I had owned and had dropped the slide on a bullet in the chamber *many* times over the years with no ill effect. In fact, I had done this numerous times that evening with the AR that I had built while trying to get my new reloads to chamber correctly. Let's just say that it was a "very awakening" experience, especially since my foot was very close to the muzzle. First thing I did was verify that there were no extra holes in my body and upon finding out that was the case, I relaxed and tried to determine where the bullet disappeared to. Never did find it.
 
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