Which stage is the fifth in the cycle?

• A. Feeding
• B. Chambering
• C. Unlocking
• D. Ejecting

Answer: (C)

In the cycle of a self-loading firearm, the action passes through a fixed sequence as a round is prepared and the next one readies. The order goes feeding, chambering, locking, firing, unlocking, ejecting, and then resetting for the next shot. The fifth stage is unlocking, because it occurs after firing and before ejecting. Unlocking allows the slide to move rearward so the spent case can be extracted and ejected, which then sets up the next cycle. The other stages happen earlier or later in the sequence: feeding and chambering occur at the start, locking happens before firing, and ejecting comes after unlocking.