Always remember the rules of gun safety

[CountryBoy19]

Went out hunting this morning.

I use an AR-15 chambered in 458 socom. As a lot of you may be aware, an AR has a floating firing pin and has a slight risk of slam-fires. I have never had a slam-fire before, and never had a problem with my 458. But this morning when I dropped the bolt, I was met with a loud BOOM. Had the rifle not been pointed at the ground about 6 feet away there would've been a lot of destruction.

The primer on a the cartridge was barely even touched, you can just see a very faint mark from the firing pin "touching" it.

The ultimate cause, I've determined, was the fact that I single loaded a round by hand, then let the bolt slam home. When feeding from a mag, the act of stripping the round from the mag, and the friction from the next round pushing up against the bottom of the bolt slows the bolt enough that there is minimal risk of a slam-fire. My brain lapsed on that little known fact this morning, and I single-fed the first round, which leaves the bolt unimpeded to move forwards with the most energy it can, leaving the firing pin with more forward energy as well.

Anyways, just wanted to remind everyone to play it safe, and follow the rules.

 

[protongun]

thanks for the reminder, glad to hear that you were not injured

 

[Bigum1969]

Thank you for the reminder. Good work on making sure your rifle was pointed in a safe direction.

 

[SirRealism]

Thanks for sharing. I learn so much from INGO.

So, this makes me think about my handgun. If I want to carry one in the chamber and a completely full mag, is there a right and wrong way to load it? If you load a round by hand without a mag, and the release the slide, is there a higher chance of discharge?

 

[wtfd661]

Thanks for sharing. I learn so much from INGO.

So, this makes me think about my handgun. If I want to carry one in the chamber and a completely full mag, is there a right and wrong way to load it? If you load a round by hand without a mag, and the release the slide, is there a higher chance of discharge?

Load from your magazine, then take mag out and top off with 1 more round and put mag back into gun. It's the only way I do it.

 

[AJBB87]

Thanks for sharing. I learn so much from INGO.

So, this makes me think about my handgun. If I want to carry one in the chamber and a completely full mag, is there a right and wrong way to load it? If you load a round by hand without a mag, and the release the slide, is there a higher chance of discharge?

It sort of depends on your pistol as well. My Beretta 92 (and PX4 for that matter) has an internal firing pin block. If the trigger isn't pulled the pin does not move forward. Therefore when I load to capacity I load the chamber, close the slide, and insert a full mag.

To the OP, for good gun handling skills.

AJB

 

[pudly]

Load from your magazine, then take mag out and top off with 1 more round and put mag back into gun. It's the only way I do it.

I recommend this route as well. I'm sure AJBB87 is correct about his firearm, but the first method should work with any semi-auto.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Most handguns have a firing pin block, or at least the firing pin is not free floating (a spring that holds the pin back) so there is really very little risk with those firearms. With the AR-15, the firing pin doesn't have a spring to hold it back, so any time the bolt goes forward the firing pin will slam against the primer. Usually there isn't enough energy to set the primer off, but single loading like I did allows the bolt and firing pin to retain a lot more energy than loading from the mag. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that it would be enough energy to set a magnum primer off though. I guess I was wrong.

My first thought was, 'My dad and brothers are 4 hours away going into the field with the exact same gun as I am, and I sure hope they keep it pointed in a safe direction when loading as well' So I sent them text messages warning them, and I figured I'd just take it another step further to be sure that everybody heading out hunting remembers the rules when they're getting ready to go out. I know sometimes when you have deer on the brain, you don't always think about things like that.

 

[hotfarmboy1]

Load from your magazine, then take mag out and top off with 1 more round and put mag back into gun. It's the only way I do it.

Same here. Safest way IMO.

 

[tharlow514]

Load from your magazine, then take mag out and top off with 1 more round and put mag back into gun. It's the only way I do it.

I agree. And I do believe it helps prevent damage to your extractor. When you hand feed a round the extractor has to work around the case lip and could cause damage.

 

[kludge]

The rules are there for a reason! Thanks for the reminder!!! Glad no one was hurt!

 

[AJBB87]

I agree. And I do believe it helps prevent damage to your extractor. When you hand feed a round the extractor has to work around the case lip and could cause damage.

When, during the normal course of fire, the slide strips a round from the mag and pushes it into the chamber, how does the extractor get around the case lip then? I do not see a difference...

AJB

 

[tharlow514]

When, during the normal course of fire, the slide strips a round from the mag and pushes it into the chamber, how does the extractor get around the case lip then? I do not see a difference...

AJB

Principles of operation

"Always load using the magazine to feed rounds into the chamber. NEVER drop a round into the chamber with the slide locked back, then drop the slide onto the chambered round. The extractor is NOT meant to pop over the case rim. The round is meant to slide up UNDER the extractor hook during feeding from a magazine. This breech loading technique is exceedingly abusive to your extractor and will cause loss of extractor tension at the least, and in the worst case scenario will cause the extractor hook to break. If you are looking to load the gun to its maximum capacity, chamber a round from the magazine, remove the mag, load another round into it, and reseat the mag. Give the mag a tug on the baseplate to ensure that it is seated."

 

[AJBB87]

Now I see...literally...that you shouldn't drop the slide on a chambered round in a 1911 model because its possible to break the extractor. Hmmm. Interesting!

So then like many other things, it becomes gun specific. One of the reasons the Beretta 92 was designed with an open slide was so that you could fire the gun easily without a mag by directly loading into the chamber.

Either way, the important thing is to be safe...

*sorry for the threadjack*

AJB

 

[Indecision]

Load from your magazine, then take mag out and top off with 1 more round and put mag back into gun. It's the only way I do it.

this is the only way to do it.

 

[figley]

Teach me. Why would you hand-load a round in the chamber of an AR?

 

[AJBB87]

Teach me. Why would you hand-load a round in the chamber of an AR?

We got off track and were talking about semi-auto pistols. I don't think you would hand-load a round in the chamber of an AR.

AJB

 

[Indecision]

We got off track and were talking about semi-auto pistols. I don't think you would hand-load a round in the chamber of an AR.

AJB

Just because you can handload a round into the chamber doesn't mean you should. Semi-auto pistol or rifle, there's only one correct way to put a round in the chamber of a detachable magazine fed weapon, and it's already been stated.

 

[AJBB87]

Just because you can handload a round into the chamber doesn't mean you should. Semi-auto pistol or rifle, there's only one correct way to put a round in the chamber of a detachable magazine fed weapon, and it's already been stated.

The correct way... is to do it safely. You can't just make a broad, sweeping statement, about loading every single, mag fed gun in existence. If your weapon CAN'T handle it, and apparently, as you've proven, the 1911 CAN'T handle it, then you shouldn't do it.

One way is not more dangerous than the other, however, one way does not require as much time and fumbling with the gun as the other.

So... know your weapon and make an educated decision. Show me an example (1911's aside) where a brass case has managed to deform a steel extractor to the point where the extractor broke or started FTE'ing.

That's all from me on the subject.



AJB

 

[tharlow514]

Now I see...literally...that you shouldn't drop the slide on a chambered round in a 1911 model because its possible to break the extractor. Hmmm. Interesting!

So then like many other things, it becomes gun specific. One of the reasons the Beretta 92 was designed with an open slide was so that you could fire the gun easily without a mag by directly loading into the chamber.

Either way, the important thing is to be safe...

*sorry for the threadjack*

AJB

Yea, sorry I should have been more specific as to the type of firearm. I don't know if every firearm is that way but I thought as a general rule it is better if you feed the round through the mag- this being the natural way the gun feeds rounds. If it works without damaging the extractor or causing any other problems then I think it is personal preference.