May 14, 2019, 10:31 PM | #1 |
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Ride the slide?
What does it mean when one is shooting a semi-auto handgun and they ride the slide?
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May 14, 2019, 10:45 PM | #2 |
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That's when you pull the locked-back slide to chamber a round and your hand stays on the slide as it goes forward. It often reduces the forward force of the slide as compared to releasing it and allowing the full spring tension to work. The result is sometimes a failure to go fully into battery (failure to close completely) which in turn results in a non-functioning gun when the trigger is pulled.
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May 15, 2019, 05:18 AM | #3 |
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Also applies to racking a closed slide and not releasing it to slam forward under it's recoil spring energy. When the slide is at it's rearmost position one should just let it go to load a round properly.
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May 15, 2019, 08:37 AM | #4 |
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"Riding the slide" usually means holding on to the slide so you control the speed it closes.
Done by fictional characters to make loading their gun "quieter". Done by some real people who think the fictional characters are right. The drawback to this is that fictional character's guns jam ONLY when its in the script. As mentioned, riding the slide (closing it slowly) when chambering a round can result in the slide not being fully shut, when you think it is. Can, not will 100% of the time. But even once in a while it a bad thing, because if the slide isn't fully shut, when you THINK it is, that could mean no bang when you want bang! There is a time when riding the slide is the right thing to do. That is when the gun is EMPTY!!!! That is because when the gun is empty, it hurts nothing, and might actually have some benefit. No standard service grade semi auto will be harmed by slamming shut empty. Some OTHER designs might be, and a highly tuned match gun MIGHT be. For those guns, riding the slide EMPTY is not a bad thing. Riding the slide while loading ALWAYS is.
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May 15, 2019, 10:04 AM | #5 |
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In a controlled setting, like loading at home before you leave the house, there may be some value in riding the slide to decrease the risk of bullet setback. If you do so, though, you need to be mindful of the fact that you are kind of forcing the pistol to do something abnormal, and check that it is fully in battery. In that kind of setting, you have time to check and correct it; in all other settings, it is a no go.
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May 15, 2019, 04:23 PM | #6 |
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Thanks 44AMP. I don't read fiction (enough of my non-fiction has probably of lot of fiction in it already) and didn't have a clue where that came from.
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May 15, 2019, 05:07 PM | #7 |
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Thanks to all.
Thanks to all. Still learning, learning, learning.
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May 16, 2019, 02:56 PM | #8 | |
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May 16, 2019, 05:08 PM | #9 |
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People bring up bullet setback all the time. I do understand the concern. That said, I've rechambered the same round from slide lock multiple times. I've never seen significant setback, or even visually discernible setback. I usually put a round in the range box once it's been chambered a number of times because the case rim starts to get chewed up. That always happens, for me anyway, long before setback.
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May 16, 2019, 05:13 PM | #10 |
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Bottom line
Don't ride the slide |
May 16, 2019, 05:30 PM | #11 | |
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What does it mean? Usually, that the operator doesn't know what they're doing. |
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May 17, 2019, 03:54 PM | #12 | |
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May 17, 2019, 03:56 PM | #13 |
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Then there is "thumb drag" which is when the shooter in the midst of pure panic (or lack of training) allows their thumb to press on the side of their semi-auto pistol's slide.
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May 17, 2019, 07:44 PM | #14 | ||
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May 18, 2019, 03:34 PM | #15 |
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Aw, c'mon, man. Surely you have at least seen photos of pistol ammo with set back. It seems to me that it is most common in .40, which I don't shoot, or make.
I don't worry about setback - haven't seen it in the ammo I make or use - but I don't consider it impossible. Practice ammo isn't re-chambered, of course. Defensive ammo might see two or three chamberings, so I treat it a little easy so that I can continue to say the first sentence of the paragraph. I understand what you say about the ammo being chambered by the firing cycle. That is one last chambering for that round. Am I being over-cautious by more softly chambering my defensive ammo before it is fired? Probably. I'm OK with it if I am. I'm kind of fond of the idea of it working well if I need it. I know you're mostly just razzing me. We're good. |
May 18, 2019, 04:37 PM | #16 | ||||
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Chambering good quality self-defense ammo 4-5 times or less, shouldn't be an issue either, but it never hurts to do some checking on your own to see how your particular gun/ammo combination behaves. Anyway, all that to say that concerns about setback should be addressed by using different ammunition, or by limiting the number of times a given round is chambered, not by coming up with non-standard operating procedures for the pistol.
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May 18, 2019, 05:06 PM | #17 | |
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