Chambering Live Ammo at Home?

[carnaby]

Is it ever dangerous to chamber live ammo at home? I've heard of slam-fires on bolt action rifles with ultra-light trigger pulls, or botched trigger jobs.

For the average bolt action or AR-15, is there any risk of unintentional discharge on the equipment end? I just built an AR and I'm reloading ammo for it. I want to test the cycling of the thing before I get to the range, but I'm a little hesitant to put live rounds through it and cycle it by hand. Is this safe to do while obeying all the rules? Maybe I should go in the garage, point the thing at the work-bench and put on hearing protection just in case? Or just not do it at all and wait till I get to the range?

Anything I need to know?

 

[AK103K]

Why dont you either get some snap caps or load up some dummy rounds to test with?

 

[carnaby]

Snap caps are kinda spendy, and I haven't seen any around in 6.8spc. I did load one dummy round, but I don't have a bullet puller yet, and I don't want to make too many of those. I should probably get a bullet puller pretty soon.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Snap caps are kinda spendy

Oh Lordy! Wait until you see how "spendy" a ND or AD can wind up being, even presuming nobody gets hurt.

Checking gun function with live ammo at home is a really BAD idea. Additionally, manually cycling ammo really doesn't let you know how the weapon will behave during live fire.

Wait until you get to the range.

 

[carnaby]

Yeah, absolutely ZeSpectre, but if there's no real danger to cycling live ammo, then why bother? It's my understanding that the primary function of snap caps is for practicing everything, including the trigger pull.

You ought to be able to safely chamber a round in an AR rifle, and then cycle the round, correct? That's all I'm really asking.

 

[ZeSpectre]

You ought to be able to safely chamber a round in an AR rifle, and then cycle the round, correct? That's all I'm really asking.

In theory you should be able to. In my opinion it is a really bad idea and an ND -actively- looking to happen.

 

[CZ223]

Dummy rounds are the way to go

Snap caps won't help check the fit and functionanility of your ammo in your firearm. Dummy rounds will allow you make sure the ammo chambers easily and that the overall length of the cartridge functions in your mags. Beyond that you need to got to the range anyway. Don't worry about ending up with and odd amount of ammo because you used a few bullets in your dummy rounds or you used 3 of your 100 rounds of brass. If you keep your dummies for comparison, and you should, be sure to mark them so that they are readily recognizable with a marker.

 

[ArmedBear]

Related Question:

If you can't chamber a live round at home, how are you supposed to load a repeating home defense gun?

Or are revolvers the only safe option, and then only if they are double actions, so you don't have to lower the hammer after loading?

(I don't use live ammo for practice, testing, etc., but I don't exactly want to try to fend off an armed robber with a snap cap.)

 

[ZeSpectre]

ArmedBear,
He's not talking about having a loaded SD weapon on "hot standby", he's talking about having a live round in the chamber while he's actively tinkering and testing a weapon.

 

[WayneConrad]

CZ223 said it. If you have the stuff to reload, you have the stuff to make dummy loads. Just leave out the primer and powder and do everything else the same. I like to drill a hole or two in the side of the case to make it easier to identify them as dummy rounds, so that I won't put in a live one when I think I'm handling dummies, or put in a dummy when I think I'm handling live rounds.

 

[carnaby]

Er, not while "actively tinkering and testing." exactly. The gun is done. I just want to run a bunch of rounds through it to test feeding. Well, I guess that is testing. I think the dummy round answer is the answer.

The holes in the sides of the dummies sounds like a good idea, Wayne.

 

[Chipperman]

Take a five gallon bucket. (You know, the ones that are more dangerous to children than guns) Fill it almost to the top with sand. Point muzzle into bucket when chambering round. If it fires the sand will stop it, unless it's an uber-powerful round.

 

[Soybomb]

It should be safe but equipment fails and people do dumb things without realizing it at the time. Follow the 4 rules, paying special attention to the safe direction. Personally I don't like to play with live ammo at home and would save my testing for the range where its really tested. The more you mess with it...

 

[MechAg94]

I used to do that occasionally. I don't do it anymore. Chambering a round in a pistol for self defense is one thing; running the entire magazine of round through the chamber is different. 99.999% of the time, you'll be okay, but when does that 0.001% come around?

 

[WolfMansDad]

Chipperman, you beat me to it!

In the marine corps, it is standard procedure to point the muzzle into a barrel of sand when chambering, cycling, or unloading a weapon. They call it a "clearing barrel." It's a good practice and worth duplicating at home, especially if you are talking about cycling several rounds in succession.

Ask yourself this. How comfortable would you be, if you knew your next-door neighbor was cycling rounds through HIS AR, in his home, right next to you?

 

[dadman]

Practicing or checking function, DON'T do it!
+1, 2, 3, etc. on dummy rounds/snap caps.
Wait until at the range for cycling live rounds.

Nothing like the pucker factor from the smell of gunsmoke wafting through the house.

 

[enfield]

Yes it's dangerous - any time you chamber a live round you could have a discharge. Go out in the back yard and point the muzzle at the ground when you do it.

 

[MErl]

if you must do this, remove the firing pin first.

dummy rounds are the way to go though.

 

[MisterPX]

Since you're running an AR, pop out the firing pin. The odds of you actually discharging a round due to cycling is very minute. You'd have better luck getting hit by a beer truck.

Just don't recycle the same round repeatedly, as the free floating pin will eventually dig deep into a primer.

 

[Manedwolf]

Snap caps are kinda spendy.

Yes, like $8 for two.

Care to wager how much the court costs are after you get arrested when the neighbors call you in for an ND?

A snap cap is a lot cheaper than a house surrounded by police cruisers and your face on the local news. That CAN cause you to lose your job as well, which is even more "spendy".

Snap caps won't help check the fit and functionanility of your ammo in your firearm. Dummy rounds will allow you make sure the ammo chambers easily and that the overall length of the cartridge functions in your mags.

Only if you're talking about the old lousy plastic ones. The newer aluminum ones do both functions.

BTW, not long ago, there was a story of someone "messing" with their AR in an apartment in the news. They NDed through the wall, the round went through the headboard of their neighbor's bed and killed them instantly.

 

[carnaby]

I like the firing pin idea, especially for checking my handloads.

Dummies sound best, cheaper than snap caps and exact match of my real loads. I think I'll cover them with green marker to help tell the difference between them and live loads. That would be way to easy a mistake to make otherwise.

Thanks for all the help. I'm not as long a firearms enthusiast as the rest of you and I had nobody to show me the ropes, so I appreciate the wisdom. I guess that's what this forum is for.

 

[RevolvingCylinder]

One of the flaws of the AR15 system is the design of the firing pin. It lightly strikes the primer upon cycling, giving it a dimple(try it yourself to see what I mean). That's not something I'd want to repeat too many times. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be too worried.

 

[AK103K]

One of the flaws of the AR15 system is the design of the firing pin.

They are not the only ones that do this, most other military auto loading rifles do the same.

 

[iamkris]

Read this, extrapolate to a .223 then reconsider your question

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=235817

 

[dfaugh]

Just remember the 4 rules!

And don't point the gun at anything you don't wanna destroy. Use the sand bucket method, if you don't have any othe safe direction to point it. Proceed with due care.

And, while we're at it: Treat all guns as if they were loaded, at all times.

For example: I have a Mossberg shotgun, that I use for deer hunting. The ONLY way to unload it is to cycle the rounds through it. If I come back to the house after being in the woods, I might do this out in the yard (depends on how much snow is on the ground so I can FIND 'em. Or I might do it in the house, with the muzzle pointed downwards, towards the woods, next to my back wall. Safety on, finger off the trigger, etc. In case of the .01% chance that it goes off, I'll have a slug sized hole in the wall, but little else.