Dropping the slide on an empty chamber

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The reason one drops the slide home with the slide lock is the same reason one flips the cylinder closed on a revolver: Mall Ninja Coolness! Also impresses girls and non-gun type people. Oh yeah, it's probably been done in the movies so it has to be OK.
 
The engagement surfaces of the stop and slide notch will not wear badly unless - they are made from soft steel that was not properly hardened or the mating angles are so far off that all of the bearing is on a corner instead a flat. I have been using the stop to release the slide on all of my 1911s for over 25 years and they still look just like they did when they were new. No peening - no wear.
 
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This thread is getting pretty tense. Are there not guns that do not have a slide lock-back after the last round? I guess those guns all start to fall apart after a few thousand rounds or maybe less. I do believe that the Ruger LCP and the Keltec both don't auto lock back after the last round. I know that there are others.
 
This thread is getting pretty tense.
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It is, for a fact.

The experiment that I did lo those many years ago was done out of curiosity, to see what stresses were on the slidestop crosspin.

But I've seen other issues with old 1911 pistols that modern designs don't exhibit because they utilize a different means of stopping he slide...with a more massive lower lug and a cross-member through the frame.

This is why dropping the slide on an empty gun isn't the same with a Glock or even a High Power.

Disassemble a 1911 and slip the slidestop crosspin through the link and swing the link and pin to the in-battery position.

Now, take a close eyeball at the interface between the pin and those tiny lower lug feet.

That is all that ultimately brings the slide to a stop.

I've seen those feet deformed, cracked, and even sheared off in a couple instances.

The modern designs will tolerate a lot more abuse than a 1911. This is no doubt good news for those who abuse their equipment regularly.

Carry on, gentlemen. Smoke'em if ya got'em.
 
I Shoot the dickens out of my Colt 1903 .32's and they do not lock back on the last round. The youngest pistol is 84 and the oldest is 96....all of them have seen quite a number of rounds yet are sound and accurate with all their original parts save new return springs and one has a cheezy slide stop/safety modification.

But none of them have been battered into being defective shooters.

That said I do not appreciate having folks drop the slide on an empty gun and the 1903's will not chamber a round from the magazine from a stopped slide. They must be racked completely. I don't necessarily think dropping on an empty chamber is destructive all the time everywhere on every gun but it certainly sets my teeth on edge. I always ease them forward on all my autos and on autos I handle.

I guess I see both sides.

VooDoo
 
I Shoot the dickens out of my Colt 1903 .32's and they do not lock back on the last round.
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That's sorta apples to oranges.

The 1903 is a straight blowback pistol that has an impact abutment to stop the slide in both directions...unlike the 1911 which only has one to stop it in the rearward direction.

The impact is absorbed mostly in compression. Whatever shearing forces are in effect, there's little leverage.

In other words...that abutment is designed to take repeated impacts.

The lower barrel lug feet on a 1911 isn't. The lower lug stops the 1911's slide in shear..with a good bit of leverage. Though it will absorb a surprising amount of impact, it wasn't really meant to absorb repeated, full-speed events.
 
1911Tuner said:
That's sorta apples to oranges.

The 1903 is a straight blowback pistol that has an impact abutment to stop the slide in both directions...unlike the 1911 which only has one to stop it in the rearward direction.

The impact is absorbed mostly in compression. Whatever shearing forces are in effect, there's little leverage.

In other words...that abutment is designed to take repeated impacts.

The lower barrel lug feet on a 1911 isn't. The lower lug stops the 1911's slide in shear..with a good bit of leverage. Though it will absorb a surprising amount of impact, it wasn't really meant to absorb repeated, full-speed events.
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Exactly and completely agreed....letting the slide slam on various autos is a mixed bag and in keeping with the OP's request for thoughts on this practice on various autos I'm trying to point out that one size/one mindset does not suit all pistols.

While allowing the slide to slam on an empty chamber is fine and dandy on a Colt 1903 it is *not* a great idea on a Colt 1911. I see both sides. Some folks seem to be getting bent out of shape that some folks are abusing their pistols (disrespecting for lack of a better term) and some are getting bent because they feel that any pistol that can't "take it" is junk and that every pistol should be fine doing that. It's not that simple as we have just discovered.

It's not a topic worth becoming polarized on, IMO. Different guns, different designs, different mindsets - one size will not fit all in this case. Both allowing a slide to slam on an empty chamber and not allowing it to do that are proper etiquette depending on the original design of the pistol. Erring to the "ease it forward" side of the argument takes all designs into consideration unless one knows for a fact that the pistol one is manipulating is OK in this regard.

This is why I personally ease 'em forward out of training and habit....I default to the safest common denominator for all pistols.

VooDoo
 
Every autoloader has to stand up to some amount of it highly tuned or not, as it'll happen when a mag fails to lock back on the last shot, or you shoot with a mag not fully inserted and it fails to pick up the next round.
 
OK, after reading this thread it seems that dropping the slide on an empty chamber is OK unless you have a 1911.

Since I don't own a 1911, not a concern.
 
stchman said:
I know people that have been shooting for years and they do it. When does the newbie tag go away?
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It doesn't. I know hunters who don't think anyone needs more than 5 rounds and think black rifles are evil. They've been shooting and hunting for 30+ years too, but it doesn't make them right.
 
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