A PSA FOR ALL SHOOTERS!

When in gun safety, you are taught the 4 rules of safe firearms handling.

1. Keep your trigger off the finger

2. Treat every firearm as if it is loaded.

3. Never point your firearm at something you don't intend to shoot.

4. Always know what is in front, and beyond your target.

But there is another crucial element that SHOULD be covered, and often is not and we wanted to elaborate on this. Bullet setback.

What is bullet setback? Well it's just what it sounds like, but for those who would like an explanation, bullet setback can occur from quick jarring movements or consistent pressure on a bullet, causing the bullet to sink deeper into a casing. It is an area that the majority of average run of the mill shooters will not even blink an eye at, and only really serious shooters, and mainly reloaders pay heed to.

WHY SHOULD YOU KNOW AND/OR CARE ABOUT THIS????

To put simply, if a bullet sets too far back into a case, it limits the volume of the casing and increases pressure when the primer ignites. Depending on several factors (caliber, casing, powder, etc), too far of bullet set back can spike pressures above recommended maximums, and be potentially catastrophic for the gun. All chambers are made to withstand a certain PSI, depending on caliber. Many gun manufacturers design their chambers to withstand over the max PSI ratings to help combat high pressure rounds. But just because they do this, does not mean its safe, or that you should be shooting higher than max pressure rounds. Higher than safe pressures in your gun cause quicker wear and tear overall. On top of that, Just because your chamber "withstands" one high pressure round, doesn't necessarily mean it will be lucky for the next one, or the next one after that....you get the gist.

For those of you who watch the channel Kentucky Ballistics on Youtube, he has a video where a .50 cal blows up in his face. He is seriously injured from the incident and frankly, lucky to be alive. This was not from bullet set back, but an example of what can happen in a catastrophic high pressure round.

If you are interested, you can watch it via a link here. No worries, it is not graphic but him explaining what happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ

THE EXAMPLE

Now, back to bullet set back...as mentioned prior, There are several factors to consider. One of which is caliber. For the simplicity of this article, we will use 9mm as an example. But note, that this can happen with any caliber.

In this set of pictures, we have a 9mm and the gun used is a colt 1911, competition series.

1. A fresh cartridge. Never been in a gun

2. Same bullet, racked 1 time

3. Same bullet racked 3 times

4. Same bullet racked 4 times

So as we can see from this example, the bullet sets back a small amount each time the round is racked from the magazine. Over the course of 4 racks, the bullet set back .0045 inches. That is miniscule, and in reality this will most likely not affect the cartridge or pressure.

Now for the typical shooter, setback is not something that will ever affect you. You go to the range, load up magazines, and shoot away. Then when your done, the bullets are gone and you have had your fun. But if you conceal carry, or utilize the same bullets frequently, then you should be aware of the possibility of set back.

If you make the personal choice to legally conceal carry, and you carry with a round in the chamber, you had to rack that bullet into place. A lot of people who do this, and when they are done with their day, they may take the bullet out of the chamber and place it in their magazine. Then the next day, they rack it again and that same bullet goes in the chamber. Rinse and repeat every day. It is instances such as these, where over many days, the bullet seats farther and farther back and the risk of high pressures becomes very real when you pull the trigger on that round.

In a 9mm, set back of .01 inches COULD increase pressure. Depending on the casing, powder, and temperature at which you are firing the gun, that .01 inch COULD bring your gun to unsafe pressures.

Now imagine this scenario: you have your conceal gun. You have racked the bullet 30 times by now, and think "Shoot, this round is looking rough. Time to switch it out". You go to the range to shoot the bullet because, why waste a perfectly good round right? The bullet has set back a staggering .1 inch. You aim and pull the trigger, and BOOM, the slide kicks back HARD and your extractor snaps off. Congrats, you just witnessed the fallout of a setback, high pressure round. That is not the only potential outcome either. If the PSI is drastically higher than what that chamber is rated for, well then you may just have a mini grenade in your hand when you pull that trigger.

I emphasize COULD in the above, because there are again, variables in that. It is not definite. Keep in mind the outcome of having a gun simply explode in your hand is extremely unlikely. Modern firearms have been around for a LONG time, and the instances where this happens is truly far and few between.

SOME PRECAUTIONARY STEPS

So how can a person who conceal carries and uses the same bullet over avoid setback or take steps to lessen that chance? One potential precautionary step is when racking the bullet from the magazine, don't let the slide slam forward hard. Take time to slowly guide the bullet into the chamber and then make sure the gun goes into full battery (AKA fully closed). This will eliminate any hard hits that could shove the bullet backwards.

Another nice rule of thumb, is if you are shooting at the range, once the bullet is in the chamber, fire it down range. Don't save it for later. By not saving ammunition and saving multiple rounds, potentially multiple times, you reduce the chance of setback because you eliminate a large variable that causes setback in the first place.

ONE FINAL NOTE

This article is not written to scare the blazes out of you, to think that every round is going to explode and cause serious harm. That is not the intent. But it is written with the idea that "Knowledge is power". We will always advocate for safe firearms practices, and setback is something that all shooters should be aware of. This is not entire story on bullet set back. Only a tidbit. We encourage all to do more research on this subject. At the end of the day, the more you know, the more proficient you will be.

Till next time.

Live free, train smart, and be Hard To Kill.