Racking the slide hard vs. gently racking?

How should you rack the slide when you're about to leave the house?

  • "Hard" rack the slide.

    Votes: 96 86.5%

  • "Gently" rack the slide.

    Votes: 4 3.6%

  • I use the slide stop.

    Votes: 11 9.9%
  • Total voters
    111
  • Poll closed .
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D

djdelirius

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Mar 14, 2015
Messages
7
Should you rack the slide hard (just let go when you pull the slide back as far as it can go) or gently baby the slide (hold the slide with some resistance as it loads the next round) when loading?

Keep in mind I am not talking about when you're training at fast shooting which I always "hard" rack the slide. But I'm asking about when I'm about to leave my house and put one in the pipe of my EDC CCW.

Does gently racking it cause any problems or make malfunctions more likely to happen?
 
I always pull and release with my pistols. I've experienced some bad feeding in the past when gently riding the slide into battery. It's not babied when it's doing its thing so don't worry about it.
 
Does gently racking it cause any problems or make malfunctions more likely to happen?
Click to expand...

Yes - granted, you'll notice the issue immediately (round fails to chamber), but gently letting down the slide is almost always a recipe for trouble.

Think about the operation of the gun. When a round fires the slide cycles itself. Think about how hard and forceful that cycle is. THAT is the speed at which your gun is designed to operate. You want to replicate that when manually chambering.

Pull the slide back, and LET GO. Don't ease it or ride it down - just let it go and let it slam itself shut. That's what its supposed to do.
 
When the gun does all the work, it doesn't do it softly: bring the slide back sharply and let it fly fully forward at its own unhindered rate to chamber the round. Just like when it's firing.

If you're in a life and death situation and you require stealth, softly may be the better option. Just depends.
 
OK, well I think I see where this is going and it's towards hard racking.

So my next would be what is the maximum amount of times you would rack the same bullet? I usually put it in my range ammo pile after 4 times of the racking the same bullet so it won't cause bullet setback. Is this about right?
 
Do it smartly and briskly. The ol' kinda like you stole it deal. It does it more so than you when cycling.
 
Hard, usually

I voted for "hard" but i use the slide stop while shooting competition when i have a empty chamber reload. Some guns the slide stop is not very "positive" but mine is big and real easy to hit.

:neener:
 
Ditto what everyone else posted about racking the slide in a motion that mimics how it moves when the pistol is fired. Racking slowly and having a misfeed tells you nothing. Racking rapidly and having a misfeed is an indication your pistol will do the same when fired.
 
Whatever you do, always let it fly. That is what puts the gun in battery.

Why would you ever want to baby it forward?
 
I'm not into chambering and un-chambering rounds. The semiautomatic pistols I utilize for personal protection are equipped with the magazine disconnect feature. Thus with the magazine removed a round can remain chambered and the pistol is non operable.

(Yes-yes-yes I know mechanical safeties are subject to failure) Yet since 1988 Gen 3 pistols and the current M&P series from S&W I have not experienced a safety failure in regards to the magazine disconnect feature.
 
One thing that is very different when actually firing the gun - your finger is still holding the trigger back when the slide cycles. When loading a round by dropping the slide the trigger is free to bounce in the gun. If you have less than positive engagement on the sear bad things can happen with a gun that has a light trigger pull. Not will - can. Just make sure to keep the muzzle in a safe direction when loading and assume it's going to fire. It probably never will - but if it does you won't be surprised. I have seen plenty of surprised shooters when their gun fires when chambering. NEVER trust or put ANY faith in ANY safety device. They can and have failed on many guns. Safety is all about where the muzzle is pointing at all times. No exceptions. Factory ammo was never intended to be rammed into a chamber more than one time. Any chambering beyond that one time - you're on your own. If you handload then you will learn how to construct ammo that will withstand repeated chamberings. With factory ammo it is a very bad idea. Ask any of the ammo manaufacturers about repeated chamberings of their product. You may get away with it for a while - but with high pressure cartridges and less than fully supported feed ramps it's just a matter of time before a case lets go.
 
Last edited:
ny32182 said:
...Why would you ever want to baby it forward?
Click to expand...

To limit bullet setback.


Drail said:
....Factory ammo was never intended to be rammed into a chamber more than one time. Any chambering beyond that one time - you're on your own. If you hand-load then you will learn how to construct ammo that will withstand repeated chamberings. With factory ammo it is a very bad idea. Ask any of the ammo manufacturers about repeated chamberings of their product. You may get away with it for a while - but with high pressure cartridges and less than fully supported feed ramps it's just a matter of time before a case lets go.
Click to expand...

I don't really shoot enough to justify reloading right now. But I use Federal HST .45 in my EDC gun and that stuff isn't cheap which is why I re-chamber rounds. Fortunately the good minds over at Federal Ammo crimped the ammo I use right under the bottom of the bullet to somewhat prevent setback on the P45HST2 I use. I'm not really sure what they would officially say about re-chambering rounds but you're prob right.
 
If chambering the same round a lot represented a massive safety risk, police across the country would be blowing themselves up every day.

I've never worried about it with my carry guns. I don't unload them very often, and I just shoot up and replace the ammo in them every couple years. Never had any problems.
 
I try to always let the slide ram home when I rack the gun. We're talking polymer and metal that is designed to be hammered upon in a similar manner 10's of 1000's of times before it starts to fail.

As far as rechambering a round goes, I try not to do it more than twice on any given sample. Generally speaking, I try to test my carry ammo when I first get to the range and shoot the gun dry that way. However, on my pocket and deep conceal guns like my Bodyguard and Nano, I usually give them a bi-weekly check up (not exactly a cleaning, but blowing out the pocket fuzz and stuff).

After I unload the gun for cleaning, I usually chamber a "new" round and rotate the previous one down a spot in the magazine. I don't do it enough to really keep a count on how many times I do this, but generally I hit the range and shoot the ammo before I have chambered the same round more than twice, many times it's not even more than once.
 
So my next would be what is the maximum amount of times you would rack the same bullet?
Click to expand...
I rotate the top round every time I chamber a round. Of course, I tend to not unload my weapons other than at muzzle velocity, so there is that.
 
Keep the firearm loaded and this won't be a issue.

Unloading and reloading rounds will increase the probability of causing a bullet to set back which will increase pressure and might cause a Kboom.
 
AL-ing firearms are designed to operate at the rate and weight of the spring produces, not by riding the slide softly.

Are you concerned about some how damaging the extractor or something?

The only reason I can think of that would justify riding the slide, would be to prevent setting bullets back. If that is where your concern lies, I would consider alternating the cartridge that gets fed, rather than repetitiously loading the same one.

GS
 
Riding the slide forward is just asking to induce a malfunction. Do this in a class, you'll be corrected. Do it where I learned to use small arms, you'll have a guy in green clothing invite you to do some serious calisthenics until the day after the apocalypse. Or maybe he'll just call you names and hurl general insults about your parentage.

If setback is a concern, this means the round is ejected periodically. Look at it when you eject it. If it is shorter than a round from the same lot, toss it in a baggie to be blasted at the next range session.

Anyway, my procedure for loading is to lock open and visually inspect chamber and mag well. Insert mag, drop slide. Brass check, then apply thumb safety. Give a light tug on the toe of the mag with my finger, then holster.

If you want to "baby" a range toy, go for it. However, I would encourage you to treat a CCW gun like the tool it is. Are you concerned about marring the face of a hammer when pounding nails?
 
Read any owners manual. Pull the slide back briskly and let it go. Never ride the slide.
 
1911 guy said:
Riding the slide forward is just asking to induce a malfunction. Do this in a class, you'll be corrected. Do it where I learned to use small arms, you'll have a guy in green clothing invite you to do some serious calisthenics until the day after the apocalypse. Or maybe he'll just call you names and hurl general insults about your parentage.

If setback is a concern, this means the round is ejected periodically. Look at it when you eject it. If it is shorter than a round from the same lot, toss it in a baggie to be blasted at the next range session.

Anyway, my procedure for loading is to lock open and visually inspect chamber and mag well. Insert mag, drop slide. Brass check, then apply thumb safety. Give a light tug on the toe of the mag with my finger, then holster.

If you want to "baby" a range toy, go for it. However, I would encourage you to treat a CCW gun like the tool it is. Are you concerned about marring the face of a hammer when pounding nails?
Click to expand...

Well, that guy in green clothing might be yelling at me pretty soon. Studying for the ASVAB/AFQT right now....hopefully I'll be fighting tigers pretty soon. Setback is my main concern here, I could care less if I cosmetically damage the gun. All my firearms are tools and were designed to be tools. Wouldn't brass checking get the same results as gently racking the slide back down though?
 
Quote:
Wouldn't brass checking get the same results as gently racking the slide back down though?

Nope. Brass check only involves moving the slide a fraction of an inch. Where a handgun has problems with riding the slide home is getting the cartridge up the feed ramp.
 
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