General firearms care question

[herbie]

People in the military have a huge habit of letting the bolt slide forward when their is no round chambered. Ive always been under the impression that this was very detrimental to the action, but others do not agree. Thoughts?

 

[our gang]

Re: General firearms care question

Why would it hurt the action? Leaving all the springs under compression is not a good idea. IME no gun is ever left with the action open unless safety concerns dictate it.

 

[Lindy]

Re: General firearms care question

What you may be thinking of is letting the bolt slam forward on a manually chambered round.

Especially on pistols, that's a poor idea and can damage the extractor, which is designed to have a cartridge slide up from the magazine underneath the extractor hook, rather than having to cam outwards over the rim of a cartridge dropped manually into the chamber.

If there is no round in the chamber, though, either on a rifle or a pistol, it does not hurt anything.