What's the general consensus around bullet setback?

[John Travis]

With the Hellcat I'm able to drop a round in the tube, ease the slide forward and with slight thumb pressure the slide goes into battery.

That's the way the 1911 was originally designed to work, and if all is to spec, it'll do it.

John Browning was thorough. He'd have never put up a pistol for men to carry into a killing field that didn't allow for emergency single loading in the event of a lost or damaged magazine.

 

[CITYPUNS]

Paul Harrell actually has an excellent presentation on this topic on YouTube - a good rule of thumb is especially if you’re familiar with what your ammo looks like, if you can see a difference in the round without comparing it to anything (ex. Un chamber the round “oh damn that’s short”) it’s time to change that round out. If the round has a cannelure the case mouth setting on the top or bottom side may not be an issue but if you notice the cannelure is well above or below the case mouth I wouldn’t shoot it. With most factory loads with the exception of something with an animal on the box you’re probably ok with a little setback but if you aren’t sure another member mentioned something along the lines of “the accident isn’t worth .70 cents” and that’s always a good safety plan
- ballistics quality technician

 

[barf]

Paul Harrell actually has an excellent presentation on this topic on YouTube - a good rule of thumb is especially if you’re familiar with what your ammo looks like, if you can see a difference in the round without comparing it to anything (ex. Un chamber the round “oh damn that’s short”) it’s time to change that round out. If the round has a cannelure the case mouth setting on the top or bottom side may not be an issue but if you notice the cannelure is well above or below the case mouth I wouldn’t shoot it. With most factory loads with the exception of something with an animal on the box you’re probably ok with a little setback but if you aren’t sure another member mentioned something along the lines of “the accident isn’t worth .70 cents” and that’s always a good safety plan
- ballistics quality technician

Yeah this one was (obviously) noticeable without comparison. No way I was shooting that little bastard.

 

[wemoodydc]

Would this speed things up?
View attachment 422612

My initial reaction was, how perfect. But then I realized this gauge is for case length. Setback is referring to overall cartridge length, case plus bullet. Plus, different bullet types have different OAL, so you would have to make a gauge for your exact carry bullets to be able to use it as a guide for setback.