Slingshot that slide.

I have seen Bersas with that problem, but it's a Bersas problem not a slide stop problem. I use the slide stop to release the slide or bolt on all my firearms without issue but I don't own a Bersas.

Whether to use the slide release or to sling shot can be like discussing what lube to use.

With that said, I have seen enough pros and cons to either method. I have no problem using the slide release on a pistol with a steel slide. Now my GSG 1911-22 conversion I most definitely sling shot since the slide is Zamack.

Bravo--For some reason I'm thinking GSG added a steel pin at the rear of the slide stop opening [maybe just the later production models] to prevent excessive wear. Am I wrong?

1) Slingshot to load and chamber a round is fine.

2) Slingshot to just close a locked-open slide when there's no loaded magazine inserted is not.

Guns are designed to normally operate in the former condition. In the latter, you should manually release and follow the slide with your grasp so it doesn't slam forward without a loaded round to pick off the top of the magazine (and take some of the force).

I have been thumbing the slide stop down on a 3 different Springfield Mil-specs since 1988. Probably over 75K rounds on each and the slide stops are original with no wear. This is with at least 12 years of USPSA competition. None of those guns will slingshot and did not when new. The whole thing about wearing the slide stop comes from Glocks and Glock copies where the stop is a stamped piece of sheet metal - a really poor design that will not hold up. The 1911 slide stop was intended to be used to release the slide - that's why it has checkering/serrations on the top. That's also why it is made from heat treated chrome moly steel and not "monkey metal". I am not sure who invented "slingshotting" the slide but it might be the dumbest thing I have ever heard in the gun world. Yeah, I know about the "fine motor skill" argument and it's also one of the dumbest things I've heard.

Personally I don't think it matters. I use the lever mostly but also slingshot those guns that I have to, of course. Certain gun designs may dictate which method works best.

Normally I don't slingshot unless the release doesn't want to let it go. This is mostly on newer guns that haven't been "broken in". My shield 9 can be very stubborn, and it should be well broke in. In any case, if it doesn't drop immediately from pressing the lever, I instantly slingshot. Don't know about Bersas, never had one.

The best reason, IMHO, for slingshoting the slide is for consistency of action, a shooter does that to chamber the first round, so they do the same motion to release the slide from the slide stop. Doing the same motion for both conditions is seen by some to make for better training for a high pressure situations. A fair number of USPSA shooter disable the auto lock-back feature of their competition handguns so that all slide manipulation is the same, always from a close slide. If the gun does not go bang they do the same thing empty magazine or not. There is also a good arguments for inserting a magazine against a closed slide especially if you are doing it fast and forcibly such as competition or a high stress situation.

The above said if your handgun will not tolerate using the slide stop as intended you might think about getting new, better, hardware. I use the slide stop on my handguns and have never had issues.

I don't have a definitive opinion on this. There are pistols where the hold open lever is admittedly only a slide stop while there are other pistols where it is also a slide release. There are pistols with an internal hold open which therefore they must necessarily be slingshotted. There are pistols where the manufacturer specifically recommends using the hold open as a slide release to chamber the first cartridge from the magazine. Personally, since I am not a competitive shooter, when I can, I try to save some wear on my pistols so I usually adopt the slingshot method (also because I often only fire five shots at a time which would mean multiplying by three the wear of hold open and slide in a 15 rounds pistol...). However I occasionally use the hold open as a slide release.
With my latest purchase, the Grand Power Q100, I only use the slide release or I simply slam the magazine in because that pistol is designed also to normally chamber the first round that way. In the Grand Power, slide and hold open lever are also made of hard as hell steel.

I'll add, for example, that probably in a Beretta 70 Series is a much better idea to slingshot the slide...

Drail said:

I have been thumbing the slide stop down on a 3 different Springfield Mil-specs since 1988. Probably over 75K rounds on each and the slide stops are original with no wear. This is with at least 12 years of USPSA competition. None of those guns will slingshot and did not when new. The whole thing about wearing the slide stop comes from Glocks and Glock copies where the stop is a stamped piece of sheet metal - a really poor design that will not hold up. The 1911 slide stop was intended to be used to release the slide - that's why it has checkering/serrations on the top. That's also why it is made from heat treated chrome moly steel and not "monkey metal". I am not sure who invented "slingshotting" the slide but it might be the dumbest thing I have ever heard in the gun world. Yeah, I know about the "fine motor skill" argument and it's also one of the dumbest things I've heard.

Click to expand...

365,000 rounds seems to contradict your statement.
https://www.personaldefenseworld.com/2017/09/glock-17-pistol-torture-test/

slingshot with the fingers or overhand grip between the fingers and palm?


Also, I would think that unless the technique is likely to cause a malfunction and not just some hypothetical wear, that the dependability of the technique would be more important than trying to preserve a wear item while you're under stress and extreme duress. If you don't try to preserve your recoil spring or worry about dropping your baseplates on the pavement, then you shouldn't worry about a little friction on a replaceable part.

Drail said:

The whole thing about wearing the slide stop comes from Glocks and Glock copies where the stop is a stamped piece of sheet metal - a really poor design that will not hold up.

Click to expand...

Be curious to know where you got this bit of info from. Or is it just 1911 generated Glock hate?

Ive got a bunch of Glocks, and a couple with high round counts (one over 150K) and the slide stops still work just fine, and show no signs of failure any time soon. And even if it did go, a replacement slide stop is only about $12, which is about half of what a "cheap", generic 1911 slide stop goes for.

Up until I got into SIG's and Glocks, I was pretty much in the slingshot camp. Most of that was because the slide stops on my 1911's were just to hard to reach and more of a struggle to use. That, and thats what was considered the proper way to do it at the time.

After a discussion on this elsewhere in the past, and more from a training standpoint than a function standpoint, I started working on using the slide stop to release the slide, and do find it is noticeably quicker and easier to do, and just as secure/positive, as long as the gun will reasonably allow it. I still slingshot my 1911's though.

I always thought slingshot was for those without the thumb strength or dexterity to use the slide stop. It works, but I use the slide stop (or slide release when it's being used for that) almost all the time.
IIRC, slingshot was originally promoted by the Israeli military who when formed after WWII, found themselves with a hodgepodge of handguns from around the world. Teaching their handgun users to slingshot made sense, as not all pistols have external slide releases. Trying to remember which is which in the heat of the moment could get one killed. I have no such problems. I tend to buy pistols with slide releases in the spot I am familiar with, though as for safeties, I will admit to trying to swipe the 'ghost' safety off on Glocks now and then. Better than the other way around. (Not swiping the safety off on a 1911.)

Some I slingshot some I don’t. Reason is some slide releases are just too darn hard on the left thumb, like most Glocks, On those the slide gets pulled and released, others like my Gold Cup are smooth and easy those the release is used.

drobs said:

365,000 rounds seems to contradict your statement.
https://www.personaldefenseworld.com/2017/09/glock-17-pistol-torture-test/

Click to expand...

don't miss the related article about the glock 19 by massad ayoob.

murf

i slingshot my bottom feeders because that is the way i was taught as a kid. i don't have a problem using the slide stop/release to chamber and know how, but seldom do. i also don't worry about breaking, or wearing out, the part since it is cheap and easy to replace at least on my glock 19 and, obviously, my 1911.

murf

I don’t have the dexterity on some designs such as the 1911. However, Beretta 92s are very easy.

That said, I practice and exclusively employ the slingshot method. One motion to rule them all. Is using the stop/release faster? Yes it is.....undeniably even....by above average competition shooters. I am neither above average nor a competitor so I will use what has proven to be more reliable and faster for me. The fact that I have practiced it and become proficient in one way or the other is the real difference maker.

I think one method or the other goes in and out of fashion through the years as well. One shooting academy may teach one way, the other, or both.

If you want to survive, use what works best for you. If you want to win comps, use what works fastest for you.

For the love of Pete there is no better or worse right or wrong answer here.

Purely my thought here, but if the manufacturer didn’t want it used as a slide release then they wouldn’t have put a big lever or button on it to let it be used as such. If they did then they are dumb. There’s the argument of “but how do you close the slide on an empty gun”. Most slide stops work off of contact with the mag follower, so drop the mag, ease the slide back and then let it close gently. It’s not rocket surgery. And if they didn’t want it used but did want to put the button or lever then they could have made it lock by having contact points between slide and slide stop, but again they don’t so I have to assume that they intended for the slide stop to be used as a slide release because they built it to where it can be used as a release.

murf said:

don't miss the related article about the glock 19 by massad ayoob.

murf

Click to expand...

I read it. It seems to me the really distinctive thing about the Glock compared to more traditional handguns mentioned in the article is that it's lightweight -- lighter than aluminum or steel framed guns. There's really no appreciable flaws with the glock that its detractors would like to find -- certainly no problem with the slide release, no problem with the price, nothing with reliability, but the only thing that Ayoob credits it for that is unique is that it's lightweight and compact. Of course this is not unique compared to glockalikes and other polymer pistols. It's just what made glocks so popular compared to its predecessors. It seems like an awful lot of people made their choice based mostly on what's not just a little bit heavier even though that extra weight is mostly beneficial.

Sticking with the OP, how does slinging the slide work? I mean mechanically. Doesn't the slide just pick up enough inertia for the stop notch to ride over the top of the slide stop without it catching? Isn't it still scraping? On a 1911 it scrapes the top rather than the back of the stop and it won't scrape inside the notch but it might scrape the corner. It seems to me that lock back would still put a lot of wear on the stop and notch even if you always sling it. But if its properly hardened, it shouldn't make a difference.

labnoti said:

It seems like an awful lot of people made their choice based mostly on what's not just a little bit heavier even though that extra weight is mostly beneficial.

Click to expand...

actually, i think the most important benefit to all (not just glock) polymer pistols is the fact that the plastic frame moves the center of mass farther out and up from the pivot point (the wrist) compared to the steel frame bottom feeders. pushing the center of mass up and out reduces muzzle flip (and transfers the resultant recoil reduction to the rearward component). the weight saving thing is the obvious benefit over blue steel and walnut pistols and the reduced muzzle flip is not so obvious.

murf

labnoti said:

But if its properly hardened, it shouldn't make a difference

Click to expand...

agreed, and there is a spring to keep it out of the way of the slide when not being used to keep the slide back. a non- issue imo.

murf