Quote:
Originally Posted by Bullet Bob
it's generally not considered a good idea to let the slide go forward by itself without a round in the magazine.
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I’ve heard something similar, but never this.
Having a round in the chamber and slamming the slide on it will force the extractor to snap over the rim of the cartridge. That can eventually (maybe after a few hundred times) cause a problem with an extractor. In normal function, the rim slides up from the magazine and slips inside the extractor which moves outward only slightly, if at all.
But letting steel hardened to handle over 40,000 psi pressure close under spring pressure without loading a cartridge from the magazine into the chamber? Not a problem I’ve ever heard of.