Just drop a round in the chamber, and release the slide to load P938?
I've never done this with Colt 1911's.
Is this okay?

I'm not an armorer, but it's my understanding that dropping the slide on a chambered round could possibly damage the extractor claw, and is therefore not recommended.

The P938, like most autoloading pistols, has an extractor that’s designed so the rim of the cartridge case slips up and behind the extractor hook as the round is fed by the magazine for chambering. Because that’s how such extractors are designed to function, it’s generally recommended that they not be subjected to the stresses of snapping over the rim of a round that’s already in the chamber.

The latter is no doubt a common practice, though, and if it were likely to cause the extractor to fail, we’d no doubt hear about it all the time. The owner’s manual for the P938 describes the proper method of chambering a round from the magazine, but doesn’t (as far as I found) specifically warn against closing the slide on an already chambered round. That still doesn’t make is a good practice, however.

Another thing I find interesting about the question is that many—perhaps most—rifle extractors must ride over the case rim when the bolt is closed, and no one ever becomes exercised over that common fact. The design of some pistol extractors, such as the P320’s, are similar to those of common rifle extractors, and I would expect them to be less susceptible to damage from the practice.

It is convenient to hand load a round in the chamber, rather than stripping it from the mag. Here's how to do that with no hassle and no potential for damage (no matter how unlikely).

Safety on, drop the round in the chamber and slowly allow the slide to move forward until the extractor stops against the cartridge case with the slide not fully in battery. Now take a suitable object (thumb nail, ball pen plastic cap, popsicle stick etc.) and press inward on the rear end of the extractor. The slide will go fully into battery as the forward end of the extractor gently goes over the case end to engage the extractor groove.

quote:

Originally posted by bumper:
Here's how to do that with no hassle and no potential for damage (no matter how unlikely).

That’s an interesting idea, although it seems like more trouble than simply chambering from the magazine unless one isn’t in a hurry. And of course it won’t work with all extractors such as the leaf spring type usually used in older Classic line SIG pistols, and which are probably most likely to be damaged by snapping over the cartridge case rims.

And what reason is there to not chamber the round from the magazine? The most obvious answer is that repeatedly chambering the same round can damage hollow point bullets or cause bullet setback. I have managed to avoid both problems by simply controlling the speed of the slide movement during the process to reduce the impact forces.

But that technique is something to keep in mind for the guns that have the type of extractor that makes it possible. Maybe I’ll try it with my P365.

thanks for insightful answers.
Much appreciated.
Don

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
The P938, like most autoloading pistols, has an extractor that’s designed so the rim of the cartridge case slips up and behind the extractor hook as the round is fed by the magazine for chambering. Because that’s how such extractors are designed to function, it’s generally recommended that they not be subjected to the stresses of snapping over the rim of a round that’s already in the chamber.

While this is true of the 1911, and other pistols with internal extractors, that has been carried over to modern extractors more out of tradition than anything else

quote:

The latter is no doubt a common practice, though, and if it were likely to cause the extractor to fail, we’d no doubt hear about it all the time. The owner’s manual for the P938 describes the proper method of chambering a round from the magazine, but doesn’t (as far as I found) specifically warn against closing the slide on an already chambered round. That still doesn’t make is a good practice, however.

The reason you don't hear about it much is that most pistols with external extractors are powdered by a separate coil spring which allows it to snap around the rim without the same stress that is applied by the 1911 extractor

quote:

Another thing I find interesting about the question is that many—perhaps most—rifle extractors must ride over the case rim when the bolt is closed, and no one ever becomes exercised over that common fact. The design of some pistol extractors, such as the P320’s, are similar to those of common rifle extractors, and I would expect them to be less susceptible to damage from the practice.

Most modern rifles have spring loaded extractors like that used to power external extractors in pistols. What you don't want to do is try this with a rifle equipped with a Mauser-type Controlled Feed extractor...which is indeed designed to strip cartridges from the magazine.