Unloading for dry fire practice.

[sol1777]

I try to dry fire whenever I can. My pistol is loaded if I'm not dry firing. So my normal practice is to unload, replace with snap cap and practice with magazines that I keep for reloading practice. The round I remove from the chamber I set aside as I've read and have been told that rechambering a round could compress the bullet to the powder and cause pressure issues. So now I have quite a few rounds set aside from this process. How do you guys deal with this? Shoot them anyways? Not sorry about it? Load them and go? What say you? Thanks for the help,
SOL1777

[malstew123]

My philosophy: Take a look at the amount of bullet setback. If its measurable, dont shoot the round. If it isnt measuarable, then dont worry about it. I am sure that someone will have some data about the amount of bullet setback before a round is unsafe, but I try and cycle through the top round of the mag every couple of times I reload the pistol to ensure one round isnt getting repeatedly reloaded.

[LMT Shooter]

I'll be watching this to see what answers pop up, because I've heard the same stuff, I don't remember when or from whom, and have always wondered about this.

I have adopted a practice of simply eyeballing the round I unload from the chamber, if it looks like the bullet has set back, I don't put it back in the gun for duty/HD, but I've shot all of said rounds with zero issues. I also cycle the rounds around in the mag like malstew123 said, to minimize the potential for problems.

There must be too many variables for a hard & fast rule other that don't ever shoot a round with the bullet set back.

[sol1777]

I've also shot all the rounds that I've done this with with no issues. Guess I wanted yo see if I was worrying about something not worth worrying about. Cycling them through the mag is a good idea.

[Airhasz]

I compare to a new round and shoot them. Never found a problem yet.

[markm]

I compare to a new round and shoot them. Never found a problem yet.

Exactly. When I re-chamber a defensive round, I ride the slide and let it feed gently. I simply hold the chamber round up to a new round to see that I'm not getting setback. In my experience, it's the 1911 that smashes bullets back into the case badly. Most modern pistols aren't too bad.

[BillBond]

I have two guns. One to dry fire and one that is always loaded.

[Mr blasty]

It helps if you don't rechamber a round from the mag. It increases set back if the round repeatedly slams into the feed ramp. Much better to chamber load the round. Using this method, sometimes I find that the rim will get beat up before bullet setback becomes a concern. Markm pretty much nailed it.

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[sol1777]

Ok. Sounds like I do what the rest of the members do. I chamber feed the round and compare. Its a 40SW and I've had no issues to date, just verifying with your help that I was practicing a safe method. Thanks again

[T2C]

I always chamber a round from the magazine. On some pistols you can chip, bend or break an extractor by placing a round in the chamber and releasing the slide. I've replaced extractors on service pistols carried by people who have done this.

Compare chambered rounds to new rounds. If an old round appears to have a shorter C.O.L. than a new round set it aside. A dial caliper comes in handy for checking C.O.L. and if you get into reloading it is a must. Too much bullet setback on cartridges that have been chambered numerous times can cause pressure issues. If you have a bullet puller, you can disassemble the cartridge. If not, give the cartridge to someone who reloads.