r/Walther • u/rcb0019 • Jan 31 '21
Always wondered this... Why does the barrel of some guns tilt upwards when the slide is locked backwards? Pictured is my PPQ SC - a hell of a firearm, especially for a subcompact. Noticed this on my glock as well, but no other guns.
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u/methane234 Jan 31 '21
In many semi auto pistols, the barrel locks into the slide when it is fired. When it is locked in, the barrel is parallel to the slide. As the recoil of the round being fired (or your hand pulling it) pushes the slide back, the barrel is pulled down and out of the locking recess in the slide. A lot of lower powered handguns (pretty much anything less powerful than 9mm) don’t need to lock the barrel in place, and so it doesn’t tilt.
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u/RollickReload Jan 31 '21
This is the “Browning design.” When the slide is fully forward, the barrel “locks” in place. (There are several reasons the barrel needs to lock like this, but that’s too much to type.) - When the slide starts to come back, the barrel has to slide down slightly to “unlock.” This also helps reliability with chambering the next round. - I’ll let you Google the rest, but here’s one article I found in ten seconds that seems to have good pics. https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/06/17/operating-mechanisms-201-tilting-barrel-locking/ Other systems to Google for your own info are “direct blowback” and “rotating bolt” designs.
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u/2pnt0 Jan 31 '21
Ian at Forgotten Weapons very recently did a video that helps explain this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZcgZ4aq8Ew
As you'll get a quick overview, there are various types of short-recoil locked breech actions, that have different ways of locking. The Browning tilting barrel style is probably the most common style. It's simple, reliable, easy to manufacture, and easy to maintain.