1911 Slide Stop Handling

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rswartsell

rswartsell

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Can anyone tell me what the proper method for putting a 1911 into battery is for the moment after inserting a fresh magazine? Release slide stop and allow slide to cycle forward unassisted? Or is that somehow damaging to the gun and I have been remiss all these years? I also do this to close the slide when the gun is empty and was recently criticized for it.

Am I in need of correction?:confused:
 
Release slide stop and allow slide to cycle forward unassisted?
Click to expand...
This is ok as long as you are loading a round in the chamber.
I also do this to close the slide when the gun is empty and was recently criticized for it.
Click to expand...
You really shouldn't do this tho I have heard that as long as you hold the trigger it does no harm. Not something I do on a regular basis.
I do prefer to pull the slide back from the back and let go to load it and gently lower the slide when empty.
Hope this helps.
 
Or is that somehow damaging to the gun and I have been remiss all these years?
Click to expand...
That is exactly how the slide closes every shot, only from a little bit further back then off the slide stop.
It doesn't hurt a thing.

Slamming the slide shut empty is probably not good for the gun, although I can't prove it.
The slide velocity will be higher without it pushing the round out of the mag during normal operation.

It does bang the hammer & sear on guns with very light match triggers.

It won't hurt a gun with a normal 4 -5 pound GI type trigger pull.

rc
 
IMHO
In a Tactical sense I would say No.
For normal non emergency Loading its fine.

I have 2 reasons for this, Fine Motor skills are out during a High stress Situation, the Second is depending on the pistol the grip is moved to reach the Lever witch takes up time and can effect your accuracy.
 
Releasing the slide via the slide stop when a loaded magazine is inserted is perfectly fine. The forward movement is cushioned somewhat by feeding the next round into the chamber.

Dropping the slide EMPTY changes the dynamics, allowing metal to slam hard against other metal and accelerates wear on the hammer hooks/sear relationship.

Dropping the slide on an empty 1911 may cause someone to yank the gun out of your hand and put a banana in it's place......
 
There are several methods on how to drop the slide following a reload:

1) One way is to use the off hand to reach over the top, palm down, pulling the slide to the rear and letting go. This works fine, altho it takes some time to reestablish the two handed firing grip. There are advantages for this method, but speed isn't one of them.

2) Another way is similar, but instead of palm down, the rear of the slide is pinched between thumb and forefinger. It's not as sure as the first method and is still slow.

3) Another method is to use the gun hand thumb to release the slide stop. For most people, this requires a grip shift to reach the slide stop. This is considerably slower than Method #1.

4) The best method I have found is upon seating the fresh magazine, use the left thumb to activate the slide stop. As the slide is going forward, y9u've reestablished a two handed hold. When done right, there is a sensation of, "I wish the slide would hurry and lock up so I can shoot!"

Some may say that this last method requires fine motor skills, but didn't you just execute some "fine motor skills" hitting the mag release and getting the new mag out of the pouch? Now, a mere second or two later, you're suddenly incapable of such fine motor skills?

I do and teach both methods #1 and #4, with emphasis on #4
 
OK got it, how did you know I had a high cap 9mm banana? I assume from your post that its OK to slam the slide on an empty banana, or am I risking peel damage?
 
If you take the NRA Basic Handgun Safety Course they only way they teach you is to insert the loaded magazine into a slide-locked gun, and release the slide stop with the right thumb if you shoot right handed; or the trigger finger if you shoot lefty, and allow the slide to cycle forward ("come into battery") freely; the round will not load in the chamber of the pistol reliably if you guide the slide forward with your "free" hand. BTW, "crashing" the slide on an empty chamber will shorten the longevity of your own pistol, or otherwise p!ss off the owner of the pistol at the range or the gunstore.

The other alternative is to learn and practice speed reloading and this is a good demonstration video featuring a member of the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU);

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-speed-reload-your-handgun-257222/"]
 
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Oh, geez - not THIS again.....

Way back in the day when the DCM was selling government surplus 1911s for 16 bucks a pop, Bullseye and other target guns were most frequently built up out of... used gov't surplus guns. Or Colt guns, which probably had leftover WWII internals for a good many years after the war. To get that light crisp "glass rod" let-off, the stock sear and hammer were carefully filed and stoned - BREAKING THROUGH THE HARDNED OUTER LAYER. So you had exposed soft steel riding on exposed soft steel. Under those circumstances, dropping the slide release without chambering a round would not take many repititions before destrroying the trigger job, especially with the old, heavy steel triggers, hence the "hold the trigger rearward" advice.

Today we have all kinds of bullet-proof tool steel aftermarket parts, and even the stock parts are better, (and the triggers weigh less), so unless you have someone's 1960 hardball gun, dropping the slide is not likely to hurt anything. Its POSSIBLE, but not PROBABLE. After all, fireing a round is a pretty violent affair as well.
 
Like posted before, releasing the slide with the slide stop is said to be safe as long as you are loading a round into the chamber. If you are doing this on an empty chamber, it is said to damage the sear's engagement surfaces.
In current combat pistol training (as current as I know of) they are teaching shooters not to drop the slide using the slide stop/release. The reason behind this is due to the effects of high stress situations in relation to your bodies fine motor skill. Stress and adrenaline wreak havoc on your fine motor skills, and thumbing a slide stop is a fine motor skill. Instead , they teach of releasing the slide using your support hand to grasp the slide and release it from that fashion. They do not teach the "pinch" , they teach an overhand method where the rear of the slide if grasped between the four fingers (index,middle,ring, and pinky) and the palm of the hand. This motion is considered a gross motor skill.
 
And also because this grip is nearly identical to that used for clearing a malfunction (tap, rack, bang?) so it is one less grip to learn, or get confused during a high stress situation...

At least, that's what I was told.
 
I've always believed the best way is to reach over the slide with the palm and pull the slide back all the way and release, or pinch between the thumb and index finger of the off had and pull all the way to the rear and release, whichever is most comfortable for you, both using sort of a slingshot motion. This has the primary advantage of giving another half inch or so of recoil spring "oomph" better ensuring the round goes into battery and this also extends the life of the slide stop. I recently attended a course at Tac-Pro Shooting Center in Mingus, Texas, and the instructors there teach this method as well. "Slide-stop, not slide-release!"
 
Can anyone tell me what the proper method for putting a 1911 into battery is for the moment after inserting a fresh magazine? Release slide stop and allow slide to cycle forward unassisted?
Click to expand...
That is one way. I find it somewhat difficult to reach with my shooting hand thumb, but it is perfectly placed for tripping with my support hand thumb. In fact, the popular "thumbs-forward" grip lends itself to this.

The other way is to hand rack the slide itself. Pull it forcefully back to the rear - which will override the slide stop - and let it fly forward under the spring pressure. Either or both methods have their place, depending on the situation.
 
The only thing I use the slide stop for is... stopping the slide to hold it open.


To release the slide I use the slingshot method. Thats the way I was trained, and it stuck.
 
I disagree with Clint that time doesn't matter. I agree that you should never go so fast as to fumble what you're doing, but there's no reason to take more time than is necessary, either.

.
 
It seems as if I have actually created a profitable conversation. For me anyway, I'm predominately a revolver guy. I've had just enough 1911 time to develop some maybe bad habits. Thanks all for input, I'm going to try to put some of these suggestions into play especially 2 thumbs forward and no slide stop release on an empty gun. No matter whether it will really damage the gun or not there isn't really any need or good reason to tempt fate and try it.
 
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