Chambering Rounds.

[bg226]

I've got a couple questions I can't seem to find the answer to. I know many others here are quite knowledgeable.

1. Does chambering a round without a magazine hurt the bullet or gun in any way?

2. It seems that the chambering process is violent, and I suspect it might have some effects on the bullet. When you chamber a round, magazine or not, does the bullet get deformed to a degree?

Thanks.

 

[Dobe]

It is better to use a magazine to chamber a round, because the extractor has to bend over the rim when fed via barrel vs. magazine; auto extractors are generally control feed types. Chambering by way of the chamber as opposed to the magazine can damage an extractor, expecially the 1911 internal type. The external coil spring-loaded types are not as prone to this damage as the stiffer internal 1911 type. The general rule of thumb is to always use a magazine. With a magazine, the extractor can control the round the moment the slide starts to scoop up the round. The round will then slide under the extractor. This is the control needed, and is far less stressful on the extractor as opposed to loading from the barrel or chamber.

With modern ammo, it would take a lot of chambering to distort the nose of a round from hitting the ramp and/or chamber. Most rounds, even defensive ammo are jacketed. Years ago, many automatic amunition makers were using semi jacketed bullets. The soft lead would deform when striking the feeding ramp. I am remembering a BHP I had. As for rifles, Nosler came out with Ballistic Tip bullets for a similar reason; not because of feeding deformities, but from recoil.

Dobe

 

[rellascout]

Always use a mag. You risk damaging your pistol.

As for chambering a round multiple times some people report that you will experience a setback of the round in the case causing pressure to go up. Many people claim that most commerical ammo should not be chambered more than 3 times.

This comes into play a lot with defense ammo. When I shoot my carry pistols I always shoot the chambered round and do not rechamber rounds more than once.

 

[Black Majik]

1) You can chip the extractor by dropping a round in the chamber and dropping the slide. Don't use this method no matter who says its ok. Your extractor will pay for it later down the road.

2) You risk bullet setback by constantly chambering a round. Once or twice is ok, but should do no more than that.

 

[dfariswheel]

As above, dropping a round into the chamber and closing the slide gives the extractor a real beating, and there's an excellent change that the extractor hook will break.
The worst gun for damaging the extractor is the 1911 with it's internal extractor that acts as it's own spring.

The real danger to the bullet itself is bullet set-back.
When a bullet hits the feed ramp the impact hammers the bullet back in the case. This causes pressures to skyrocket, and the shorter round tends to jam.

Back in the 80's when the big police move to the auto pistol began, there was a rash of second round feed stoppages.
The officer would fire his first round, and the gun would have a failure to feed jam.

It was discovered that officers were inspecting their pistol by removing the magazine, removing the round in the chamber and inspecting the gun.
To reload, the officer would chamber the next round in the magazine, and put the first round back in the magazine.

What this meant was, the same two rounds were getting chambered over and over again, and the bullets were being driven back into the case.
When the gun was actually fired, the too-short round would fail to feed.

So, always load by feeding a round through the magazine, and don't chamber a round more than about 3 times before shooting it in practice.
I keep a "gage" round handy. This is just a factory-new round that's never been chambered.
I use it to check a round for correct length before chambering it by comparing length.