Do you use the 1911 slide stop as a slide release?

[The Real Hawkeye]

Good points, rbernie.

 

[Boats]

I hate slingshotting and if I want to do it again I'll get another SIG so I can have no choice in the matter.

 

[Chuck R.]

I use the slide stop/release 100% of the time too. For me it’s just faster. After a slide lock reload, I hit the stop with my support hand (left) thumb while re-gripping. This lets me retain my same grip with my right hand.

I suppose in a couple of thousand reloads there might be some additional wear, but by then my boy or some pawn shop guy will be worrying about it.

Chuck

 

[1911Tuner]

Hawkeye's Burp

Hawkeye...If the pistol has an internal extractor, try removing it and cleaning the channel thoroughly. A gunked-up channel and extractor can cause a failure to go to battery by making it hard for the extractor to cam open for the feeding round.

If it's an external design, use carb cleaner to flush it out around the recess in the slide...air dry and lightly oil it.

If the gun is "right", it should feed and go to full battery with a 10-pound recoil spring.

 

[gc70]

My pistols have slide stops; it's just the way I learned to do things. Maybe I'll learn some new tricks some day and have guns with slide releases.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

I hate slingshotting and if I want to do it again I'll get another SIG so I can have no choice in the matter.

I used to own a few Sigs too, a very long time ago, but I cannot recall them not having slide stop/releases. Is that in fact the case?

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

If the gun is "right", it should feed and go to full battery with a 10-pound recoil spring.

Yeah, I guess you have a point there. Lot's of people use light recoil springs for light target loads and the there's still enough power to go into battery from engaging the slide release. As for the extractor channel, I take it out and clean it every other range session, so that's not the problem. I will have to look further into this question, because now I am getting concerned that there's something wrong more than my recoil spring being worn out. What else, besides the extractor channel being dirty, can cause this to happen?

 

[BsChoy]

In policing they teach grabbing the rear of the slide with wuth off hand pulling back and pushing forward with the shooting hand to get a slingshot effect and extra energy to make sure the gun goes into battery. It easy once you get it down...and is done as you bring the gun back up to target from the reload.

 

[AndABeer]

Any other way than what?

Than the title of the thread.

 

[Boats]

I used to own a few Sigs too, a very long time ago, but I cannot recall them not having slide stop/releases. Is that in fact the case?

The SIG P226 I used to own has a slide release aft of the decocker, almost as far back on the frame as possible. It seems present only for the limited purpose of administrative handling. I have yet to see the right handed shooter with the opposing digit either triple jointed enough or just flat out short enough to reliably RTB such a pistol using the thumb. Southpaws like me can't even bother with their trigger fingers.

I am forced to conclude, and I think from the Discovery Channel footage of SEALS using them on the firing line, that SIG gives you little humanly choice but to slingshot the slide to RTB.

 

[kel]

Interesting that you mentiont the Sig

I have a 226 and I almost exclusively operate the slide stop (slide release?) with my thumb. In fact it is annoying because I confuse the operation of the 1911 (riding the safety) while shooting the Sig causing the slide to not lock back on an empty mag. I find it very natural and easy to do it that way and it is much faster IMO.

 

[Boats]

Congrats! You are a first in my book. Do you have to shift your grip at all to hit that rather weird slide stop location?

 

[gc70]

As noted above, my pistols all have slide stops, except possibly my 3 Sigs. My 1911-trained thumb also rides the button on the Sigs, usually preventing slide lock. In the rare cases when the slide actually locks back, the button is ideally located for use as a slide release.

 

[Boats]

Well, this last post really contains what I was getting at when I said "reliably use it." I have seen many righty SIG shooters, including ones who borrowed mine in the good old days, ride that lever into not locking the slide back. It just seems that the vast, vast majority of SIG shooters eventually slingshot the slide everytime, which is how I wound up mentioning it in the first place. That, and the fact that I have never seen a lefty sucessfully use it at all.

 

[Husker1911]

I'd sold a 9MM compact pistol (forget the brand) (as I think it was possibly a .40SW) to a deputy sheriff as a backup/off duty. He soon came back in complaining that he couldn't release the slide with the slide release (sic). I pointed out to him that the recoil spring was necessarily very strong, and that it was making it extremely difficult to operate the slide stop as a release. I demonstrated to him the "slingshot" method (well named!), and it was like talking to a wall. I showed him that there were NO 9MM pistols in a hideaway size that he'd be able to utilize the slide stop as a release. He was not happy with me.

There's a reason it's known as a "slide stop". :banghead:

 

[1911Tuner]

3-in-1

Quote:

>There's a reason it's known as a "slide stop".<
*****************

It's three parts in one.

When it locks the slide on empty...it's a slidelock.
When it halts the slide's forward momentum going to battery...it's a slidestop.
When you thumb it down to let the slide ride forward on a reload...it's a slide release.

Was Browning sharp, or what?

 

[Boats]

He was sharp enough to make it large enough and forward enough to be useable and checkered enough to indicate the callouses of either the thumb or the trigger finger were invited to sweep it.

 

[kel]

I think I would always use my thumb on the Sig, I find that I do not need to adjust my grip as my thumb tends to ride high (either by habit or nature). Right now I am trying to find a way to reconcile the urge to get as high a grip as possible with the positioning of my thumb. It keeps on creeping up onto the slide stop no matter how hard I try and when I move my thumb intentionally it makes my grip feels unnatural. Dang habits!

 

[Wes Janson]

I was taught to use the slingshot method, with the stated reason being that it can be used with virtually any autopistol (except maybe the LM4) in any situation. It's my impression that using the slingshot gives the slide a wee bit more energy returning to battery, which might just make a difference in chambering reliably. As for accidentally "riding" the slide, I've never found it to be a problem in a full-size 1911. I've noticed it's slightly more difficult to do it properly with an Officers-size pistol, as you've got a shorter distance beyond the slidestop in which to draw back the slide.

 

[DrAmazon]

I use the slide release 100% of the time on my 1911. But then, as a bullseye shooter, I'm using only one hand once I get the magazine in.

I have seen people with poor muzzle discipline "cross" the entire line to the left of them by turning the gun slightly to the left as they grab the back end of the slide. Very disconcerting.