1911 questions...fact or fallacy??

[zammyman]

Many 1911s (such as the Kimbers) are actually made to be dry fired versus creeping the hammer back down. Doing so many damage the sear and really mess with things.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Next I pick out a deer head up on the wall and squeeze the trigger to see how it feels. CLICK. Clerk is cringing and says, "you can't dry fire any 1911's"

If you check the owner's manual on that Kimber, you will see it tells you to always drop the hammer on an empty chamber by pulling the trigger. Never lower the hammer - you may snag the sear on the half cock notch and damage it.

 

[rcmodel]

Unless this condition is discovered you have what is in effect an open-bolt machine gun the next time you go out to live-fire.

I believe a 1911 with a firing pin stuck out the breach-face will not feed one round, let alone go full auto.

The stuck firing pin will stop the loaded round coming put of the magazine from sliding up the breach-face and under the extractor.

It is a fail-safe design feature.

Another John Browning stroke of genius.

rcmodel

 

[1911Tuner]

i think ramming into battery empty would be tough on the extractor

Not unless the extractor nose is contacting the barrel face, in which case it won't matter whether the chamber is empty or not.

I have seen a few that did that to the point of damaging the barrel...but that's a whole 'nother set of problems.

 

[FlyinBryan]

Not unless the extractor nose is contacting the barrel face, in which case it won't matter whether the chamber is empty or not.

you da man!!!!!!!!!

just kidding, seriously, i dont remember where i heard that or in what context it was.

actually, now that i think about it, i believe it was someone telling me not to drop a round into the chamber, then release the slide, and that is what was hard on the extractor.

not being able to remember is making me feel older so im gonna stop trying now, lol.

 

[mljdeckard]

It is abusive to drop the slide on the empty chamber of any auto. It is designed to be cushioned by the extractor being full of rim. HAVING SAID THAT, I have no idea how many times you would have to do it before you actually break something. I suppose you could think of it as store etiquette, like if you go to a Chevy dealership, and they DO let you test drive a Corvette, you aren't going to burn rubber and scorch the clutch, just because some other guy thousands of miles down the road is going to get to fix it later.

They asked Todd Jarrett in an interview what the average Joe should do to be a better shooter. He said dry-fire until your finger falls off. Hundreds of thousands of times. They asked him if it would harm the gun, he said; "I've done it literally millions of times and I've never had a problem. If it really gives you the willies, use a snap cap, but on any modern 1911, you're not going to hurt anything." (The idea is to make the feel of squeezing the trigger and feeling it break become sub-conscious.)