One in and out of the chamber

[Slasher]

I have kind of a noob question. Does it have any effect on the cartridge to keep one in the chamber? If I were to keep one cartridge in and fairly ofter pull it out and put it back in the magazine then practice dry firing and then reload it back in to the chamber, could that somehow mess up the cartridge or seat the bullet further in the case than it should be.

I didnt know if when a round is chambered if it compressed the bullet any or messed with the seating any and after doing it many times to the same cartridge if it could possibly cause it to fail.

Thanks

[buck1032]

You should probably look into getting some snap caps for dry firing. I wouldnt have live ammo any where within reach when dry firing. Just my 0.02

As far as damaging the cartridge, it shouldnt have much effect on it sitting in the chamber. However if you had cycled it a few hundred times you are bound to have some sort of cosmetic scraps and scratches. Your concerns about over seating the bullet are valid, but if you were to cycle your ammo and carefully eject it while cycling (ie not letting the cartridge fly across the room and land on a concret floor) I wouldnt worry about it.

[Guest canynracer]

Yes, after a bit, the bullet will compress more into the casing...therefore compressing the powder more, and could be ugly from there.

my suggestion would be to rotate the top cartridge regularly.

I also recently learned that dropping the cartridge into the chamber, then dropping the slide is bad for the extractor, and apparantley dangerous....so dont do that...

[dralarms]

Yes, after a bit, the bullet will compress more into the casing...therefore compressing the powder more, and could be ugly from there.

my suggestion would be to rotate the top cartridge regularly.

I also recently learned that dropping the cartridge into the chamber, then dropping the slide is bad for the extractor, and apparantley dangerous....so dont do that...

Sounds like a story we need to hear.

[Guest Ben]

BOOM?

[molonlabetn]

Slamming the slide shut on an inserted cartridge forces the extractor to snap over the case rim (instead of sliding under it, as when fed from the magazine), and can cause it to break (cracked/mangled claw, or broken pivot pin or spring)... on top of the risk that your slide may not completely close, or worse, the cartridge not be seated, and some portion of the slide contact the primer (BOOM).

Always feed from the magazine, and try to only feed each cartridge one or two times... some calibers are more susceptible to bullet setback than others... and some are less forgiving of it (such as high-pressure calibers, .40s&w and .357sig being most notable).

[Retired Navy GMC]

I concur... snap caps when dry firing and practicing loading and unloading. Too many things can go wrong especially for someone that may not be very familiar with firearms. As for chambering and extracting the same round, you shouldn't have any problems initially with using the same round, but it would be good practice to rotate ammuniton due to set back. Just to ensure no problems in the future. Just my $.02

[Guest Matchguy]

In LE firearms training, including instructor training, we were always taught never to seat a round in the chamber and drop the slide on it unless it was all we could do to survive...ie it had to be life or death. Breaking the extractor was the main reason, with a slam fire in a defective gun being another. But it is a really bad idea unless you just have to do it to survive.

Using the same round in the chamber time after time does indeed force the bullet further into the case, compresses the powder charge and dangerously raises chamber pressures. This has recently come to light with the increase in HCP holders across the country, and has resulted in its share of documented kabooms in law enforcement in the past few years as well. So, being a little paranoid about such things, my personal standard is never to chamber the same carry round twice. When I remove it I put it upside down in a box of live rounds and shoot it at my next range session.

I especially appreciated Buck's comment about not having ammo in the same room with the gun while dry firing. This is standard training doctrine in firearms classes nationwide, whether dry firing or making a presentation in a firearms class, and is really a good comment. And to add one other thing, most negligent discharges I heard about during my LE career happened when the officer finished dry firing and reloaded his pistol....and then picked it up for one more try and fired a live round. One guy I knew blew the picture tube out of his TV set with a .357 magnum doing this, and another blew an electrical outlet out the back side of the wall doing it.

So it's also important after dry firing to leave the darn gun alone for a while.

Best wishes

Jerry

[Guest canynracer]

[/b]

Sounds like a story we need to hear.

Naw...I was corrected before anything bad happened.

BOOM?

Nope...but could a been,

Slamming the slide shut on an inserted cartridge forces the extractor to snap over the case rim (instead of sliding under it, as when fed from the magazine), and can cause it to break (cracked/mangled claw, or broken pivot pin or spring)... on top of the risk that your slide may not completely close, or worse, the cartridge not be seated, and some portion of the slide contact the primer (BOOM).

Always feed from the magazine, and try to only feed each cartridge one or two times... some calibers are more susceptible to bullet setback than others... and some are less forgiving of it (such as high-pressure calibers, .40s&w and .357sig being most notable).

This is what I was told!

[Slasher]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the replies.

I do have snap caps and a separate mag that I leave out for dry fire practice. I keep my gun in a handgun safe so when it is time to dry fire practice I pull the loaded mag out of the gun and leave it in the safe then manually load the snap caps in the spare magazine to make sure that for whatever reason no live rounds were loaded in with the snap caps.

As for the ammo getting messed up it sounds like it is a better idea not to keep using the same round over and over. If the bullet was seated further than it should be I take it I would be able to detect that and not use that round. Only problem with that is it is normally Gold Dots and I don't want to waste any of those, of course I also know that a wasted Gold Dot is better than a KABOOM'ed gun.