i was in shop today looking at a DW PMC. Owner came over when he saw I was going to drop slide ( on empty chamber of course) Asked for the gun , took magazine out and gently closed slide . Said " you can do that once it's your gun "
I've seen articles & videos on both sides of this issue I wasn't really put off by his comment although he could have used it as a teaching moment , and explained the why.
Any thoughts about this are welcome . How much damage would this do to internals ?
i was in shop today looking at a DW PMC. Owner came over when he saw I was going to drop slide ( on empty chamber of course) Asked for the gun , took magazine out and gently closed slide . Said " you can do that once it's your gun "
I've seen articles & videos on both sides of this issue I wasn't really put off by his comment although he could have used it as a teaching moment , and explained the why.
Any thoughts about this are welcome . How much damage would this do to internals ?
One of the videos that bill Wilson has discussed this and they said the finer the gun the more it matters .
I get it and no complaints about the warning . Wondering why other shops have not mentioned this
I try to use all controls just to make sure of their feel . I'm actually glad he pointed this out
I know lots of shooters will drop slide on a reload but the chamfering if a round acts as a buffer
So it's totally different to wear and tear
One of the videos that bill Wilson has discussed this and they said the finer the gun the more it matters .
I get it and no complaints about the warning . Wondering why other shops have not mentioned this
I try to use all controls just to make sure of their feel . I'm actually glad he pointed this out
I know lots of shooters will drop slide on a reload but the chamfering if a round acts as a buffer
So it's totally different to wear and tear
The only time damage can occur to the hammer/sear engagement is if the hammer actually falls to half cock on the sear nose. Even then it would typically have to happen several times to cause a problem.
I do not condone dropping the slide on an empty chamber. Doing it repeatedly over and over will certainly put undue wear and stress on your slide/barrel fit...but an occasional slide drop won't hurt your gun.
If it hurts your gun who really knows, just don't do it on a gun you don't own, period.
I've had a couple folks do that to my guns that weren't even 1911's and it still left a bad taste in my mouth towards that person, one who won't be laying hands on my weapons again anytime soon after he did it three times in a row to a brand new gun I hadn't even shot yet.
How do all of you guys test for hammer follow after cleaning your guns? I thought the best test is to release the slide on an empty chamber... [emoji41]
Unless I alter/change sear or hammer spring tensions, or mess with the sear and hammer geometry there is no need. Or at least I've never found a need.
Also, I'm pretty good at just testing the trigger by dry firing with a snap cap. I can usually tell if a trigger is on the 'ragged edge' of stability so to speak. I don't know how to explain it, but I can feel it.
I am guessing that the esteemed gunsmiths you find here amongst us do not routinely do this.....so if Joe Chambers, Bill Miller, Jason Burton, Karl Beining, Greg Derr and Bill Wilson, Steve Owens et al don't....I won't.
The experts' advice makes sense to me, but I've just never done it with any of my guns, especially someone else's. It just seems and feels (literally) wrong to me. It cannot be "good" for the gun, so why risk it.
Yup, I too don't drop slides on empty chambers, certainly not on my Les Baer, or even my Glock. Like my sister-in-law slamming the living daylights out of my car door for no reason
I thought I've heard Rob at Alchemy and Bill Wilson at Wilson Combat both give reasoning why not to drop 1911 slides on empty chambers in some of their video's. I think Bill's was a video with Larry Vickers...
I've been doing autoloaders since the 80s. Its always been a bad idea to drop the slide on an empty chamber. It's all been covered pretty thoroughly here, just wanted to throw my 2 cents in...
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