1911, myths, damageI’ve run into the claim from owners of high-end 1911s (Wilson Combat, Les Baer, etc) that allowing the slide to drop on an empty chamber by either racking it back and releasing it or using the slide stop to release it will damage the weapon somehow. They were never very specific about exactly what this would damage and how, but supposedly you have to ride the slide forward when the gun is empty to avoid this damage. I respected the owners’ wishes in each case as it was their gun, but I am still skeptical that a gun that can be safely fired can be damaged by releasing the slide to close on an empty chamber. Can anyone shed any light on this? Is it nonsense? Or does this actually cause damage to some part of the gun? If so, which part and how?
In addition to the Bryson’s answer about the lower lugs of a barrel and slide-stop pin taking more of a beating, I’ve also heard that on a finely-tuned trigger job the jarring can cause hammer will follow the slide and the sear nose will crash into the hammer hooks, ruining whatever fine tuning was done during the trigger job.
Ahh, here’s the source for that, 10-8 Performance:
Always ease the slide down on an empty chamber, never slam it shut from slide lock. A G.I. rack grade 1911 may do fine when you slam the slide on the empty chamber, but a gun with a tuned trigger and fitted barrel will do better without it. The jarring of the slide slamming down on an empty chamber can cause the hammer to follow and the sear nose to crash into the hammer hooks. Your trigger job will last longer if you ease the slide down. Further, the lower lugs on a match fit barrel take a lot of impact when they contact the slide stop, and without the buffering effect of the round feeding into the chamber, you increase wear on your barrel by slamming the slide on an empty chamber. It’s not the end of the world if the slide drops on an empty chamber, but it’s not a good habit to develop either. It is the sign of an amateur 1911 handler.
The total force of the slide — and its sudden stop — is absorbed by the slide-stop cross pin and the barrel’s lower lugs. During the normal cycle of operations, the loading stage’s the impact is shared by the feeding of a round and the barrel’s lower lugs and the slide-stop cross pin are spared some of the impact.
It’s basically a maintenance issue. The more you do it, the faster you’ll be replacing your slide-stop. The 1911 takes enough active maintenance as it is, no reason to throw off the MTBR (mean time between replacement) of a part because you like to play with your empty gun.
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