safe slide load setup for home

[johnwilliamson062]

I don't think this is common with any modern designs. By modern I mean the last 50 years. There are older firearms, especially rifles that have issues. For instance, one should not load a round into a Garands chamber. The firing pin floats and stripping the bullet out of the clip slows the bolt down. If you load one directly in the chamber and drop the bolt full speed it will hit had and the firing pin will continue into the primer with enough force to possibly fire a round. It doesn't happen every time and I've dropped the bolt on a manually loaded round without it going off, but there are pretty reliably reported cases. Whenever there is an unexpected discharge there is a tendency to make excuses, so I take all such reports with a grain of salt. Any design with a floating firing pin has this issue to some extent. I don't think there are any modern semi-auto designs with floating firing pins.

There are other ways it can happen, but almost all the reports I have read relate to that issue.

[Mike_Fontenot]

One other thing you can do when chambering the first round at home (where in many locales, an unintentional discharge must NOT happen), is to use a magazine that has a smooth (no "bump") follower, and move the slide forward slowly. If your gun feeds smoothly under those circumstances, that makes it pretty safe with any gun. But in case of a slip, you should still move your hand down below the grip lever, just to guard against an inertial trigger-pull.

[NavyVet1959]

I had an AR-15 that I was building in .300 AAC that did a slam fire on my one night in my "reloading shack" as I was testing some rounds that I had just loaded for it to ensure they would feed. I believe I was using Federal pistol primers since it was a low power loading and I was loading the round directly instead of through a magazine. Ended up blasting a hole in the carpet and taking a small chunk out of the concrete. Couldn't find the 230 gr bullet though. It apparently basically vaporized and spread itself under the carpet pad.

[rodfac]

If your guns fire when you release the slide, there is something wrong with the gun or with your gun handling practices.

Plus one in spades! Rod

[JRandom]

On the topic of how much sand is needed:

http://www.theboxotruth.com/the-box-...sands-o-truth/

(they shoot a variety of calibers into sand; none got more than several inches in)

[Jim Watson]

I believe I was using Federal pistol primers since it was a low power loading and I was loading the round directly instead of through a magazine.

Navy, I count three errors here.
1. Using pistol primers, softer than rifle primers, way softer than mil spec.
2. Using FEDERAL pistol primers, the most sensitive of the type.
3. Slamming the bolt on a loose round.

The AR has an unrestrained firing pin, you can see a slight mark on the primer when unloading the rifle.

[NavyVet1959]

Navy, I count three errors here.
1. Using pistol primers, softer than rifle primers, way softer than mil spec.
2. Using FEDERAL pistol primers, the most sensitive of the type.
3. Slamming the bolt on a loose round.

The AR has an unrestrained firing pin, you can see a slight mark on the primer when unloading the rifle.

Yeah, 20/20 hindsight... I had never had a slam fire before with any firearm that I had owned and had dropped the slide on a bullet in the chamber *many* times over the years with no ill effect. In fact, I had done this numerous times that evening with the AR that I had built while trying to get my new reloads to chamber correctly. Let's just say that it was a "very awakening" experience, especially since my foot was very close to the muzzle. First thing I did was verify that there were no extra holes in my body and upon finding out that was the case, I relaxed and tried to determine where the bullet disappeared to. Never did find it.