DON'T use the slide release?

[distortion9]

Been reading around and I keep seeing people post about possible ND's when using the slide release to chamber a round? Is this true? I've always done it this way and if it's not safe, why are they there? Also, why would manually pulling the slide back be any different? I thought you should let it slam closed instead of "riding" it home.

Have I just been lucky?

 

[JohnKSa]

Use it or don't use it. It's all the same. There is always a slight danger of a gun firing when a round is chambered, but that danger is very, VERY small in most guns. Keep the muzzle in a safe direction (as you should always do anyway) when chambering a round.

Letting the slide slam home is the proper technique.

 

[distortion9]

Thank you, sir.

 

[gudel]

Been reading around and I keep seeing people post about possible ND's

Looking at my HK/Glock/Beretta, I know this is just not possible. There's a firing pin block.

 

[pedaldude]

if the gun fires after slide release for some reason or another it is prolly better to use the lever that is there for the purpose, if you do the "slingshot" and the pistol fires while your hand is still there expect some hurtin'

there are many reasons why an autoloader will fire when the slide is released, stuck firing pin, hammer follow, and finger on trigger. the last is the most common and periodic safety checks after cleaning can help prevent the rest.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Dropping the slide on an EMPTY gun will do damage over time. A live round slows down the metal to metal contact when re-loading.

You can break the extractor/wear the sear and create a hammer-follow down problem. THEN your gun can go off when you rack the slide.

 

[1911 guy]

Both methods.

I've used both. Having shot exclusively 1911 pattern pistols since I was in my late teens, I use the slide stop. However, I've been to some classes recently that encourage using the "slingshot" method. The practical reason is that the controls on many newer pistols are so small that whacking a slide stop is not a sure fire way to go into battery. The little controls take more "oomph" due to lack of leverage to do quickly.

In short, do whatever suits you and your handgun. If your weapon is in proper working order, there is no danger in a slamfire when the slide goes home. Provided you do your part and keep your booger hook off the bang switch.

Thank you to which ever of our members here came up with that phrase.

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Uh...If the gun fires or the hammer follows on slide release...no matter which method you use...there's a problem with the gun that needs to be addressed before loading it again.

 

[progunner1957]

Dropping the slide on an EMPTY gun will do damage over time. A live round slows down the metal to metal contact when re-loading.

+1. Also, don't have the action locked open, drop a round into the chamber and then release the slide (by slingshot or by using the slide stop). This is very hard on the extractor and will break or bend it and/or deform the hook that pulls the empty case out of the chamber.

As far as loading from the magazine by releasing the slide stop, I have never had an accidental discharge by doing this. It won't happen, unless the gun is damaged in some way. Even series 70 1911s with no firing pin block won't AD this way.

 

[TarpleyG]

I've used both. Having shot exclusively 1911 pattern pistols since I was in my late teens, I use the slide stop. However, I've been to some classes recently that encourage using the "slingshot" method. The practical reason is that the controls on many newer pistols are so small that whacking a slide stop is not a sure fire way to go into battery. The little controls take more "oomph" due to lack of leverage to do quickly.

In short, do whatever suits you and your handgun. If your weapon is in proper working order, there is no danger in a slamfire when the slide goes home. Provided you do your part and keep your booger hook off the bang switch.

It's all about fine motor skills vs. gross motor skills. I can almost guarantee you it is easier under pressure to simply wrap your hand over the slide and jerk backward than it is to look for and find the slide stop and press it down. In the end, just make sure you are doing it the same way every time on every gun...that's what's important.

Greg

 

[Leanwolf]

I'd bet a bunch of money that about 99.9% of the "C.Ds" (Careless Discharge) that happen with a 1911 & clones, happens because the person holding it has his/her finger ON THE TRIGGER, when the slide slams forward on a cartridge.

I know of several that occurred precisely because of the shooter NOT practicing the rule ... Keep Your Finger Out Of The Trigger Guard Until You've Identified Your Target!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FWIW. L.W.

 

[VWTim]

I know someone first has who had a 1911 AD due to the slide release. Both cases were with an extended ejector and the magazine out of the gun with a chambered round. It was in the process of range clearing the weapon. The round was out of the extractor groove and without a magazine there allowed it to drop down a bit and touch off on the ejector.

Not something that's likely to happen in regular shooting, but another reason we always point our guns in safe directions. And for me why I don't want an extended ejector in mine.

 

[1911Tuner]

Release

Tarpley wrote:

>It's all about fine motor skills vs. gross motor skills. I can almost guarantee you it is easier under pressure to simply wrap your hand over the slide and jerk backward than it is to look for and find the slide stop...<
*****************

Better still is to extend the left thumb as the magazine goes home. Look where your thumb lands as your roll the gun back up into firing position.

 

[Legionnaire]

Hmmm. I was trained that what most call a "slide release" is really a "slide stop." One uses it primarily to hold the action open. As Dr. Rob said, one shouldn't drop the slide on an empty gun. All the trainers I've sat under taught me to slingshot the slide when chambering a round, and to ease it down when closing the action on an empty gun.

 

[the naked prophet]

Better still is to extend the left thumb as the magazine goes home. Look where your thumb lands as your roll the gun back up into firing position.

But you're still working with fine motor skills. The idea is that under stress, finding a small button and pulling it in the right direction would be more difficult. Imagine that your hands are asleep - or have been put to sleep with novacaine or whatever. You could still hamfist the slide and get your gun loaded. You can do it with big gloves, blood on your hands, damaged nerves, whatever.

In mechanical engineering, there is a term called "robustness." It doesn't mean something is particularly beefy or strong, it means that a large change in input variables will still result in an output that is within bounds. If you have a big fat steel bar, you can overload it, even when it was machined improperly and is 0.01" thinner than it was supposed to be, and it won't bend too much. In the same way, grasping the slide and releasing is more "robust" than the slide stop. An error of 1 cm in any direction of locating the slide stop will cause you to miss. Once you're on the button, an error of 30 degrees in the direction of force application will cause it to not function. Grasping the slide allows for up to 10 cm of error with immediate feedback as to whether you found it or not, and is much easier to align the correct direction to apply force.

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Quote:

>Hmmm. I was trained that what most call a "slide release" is really a "slide stop." One uses it primarily to hold the action open.<
************

It's checkered on top for a reason.

Naked Prophet...It was designed to use. It's plenty robust enough, and requires fewer moves/less time and thought than trying to reach over the top to release. Try it sometimes. A little practice gets it firmly ingrained into your muscle/nerve memory and autoresponse. You'll find that you do it every time you insert a mag without thinking about it.

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Wait for it...

 

[[email protected]]

If you're "looking" for your slide release, or any other control on your firearm for that matter, than you aren't proficient, and you need to train more. The "slingshot" method seemed to really get traction with the widespread popularity of the Glock, which has a pitiful little nub for a slide release. There obviously can't be any fault with Gaston's creation so the soultion is to change the way people use handguns.
Now that being said, I really don't see how an action using both hands, involving sympathetic coordinated motion of both arms, and movement of at least 8 inches of the off hand, is easier to perform under stress than moving one's thumb about an inch and then returning it to the firing position.

DanO

 

[Grunt]

Hmm, fine motor skills, eh? So tell me, if you can't hit the slide release, how do you first depress the magazine release button to begin the reloading process???

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Quote:

Now that being said, I really don't see how an action using both hands, involving sympathetic coordinated motion of both arms, and movement of at least 8 inches of the off hand, is easier to perform under stress than moving one's thumb about an inch and then returning it to the firing position.

DanO
*********

Bingo. Apparenly Eugene Stoner found merit in the system, since the same basic ergonomics are in evidence on the AR-15/M-16 rifles...and works very well as long as 20-round magazines are used.

One other point that nobody has mentioned. A locked-on-empty gun is a stoppage, no matter how you cut it. Stoppages will get a body killed in a real fight.

And with that...

*poof*

 

[distortion9]

Thank's for the answers guys.

 

[Candiru]

Is there any danger of wearing down either the slide or the stop through
using the slide release?

 

[JohnKSa]

I have heard of people wearing down a Glock slide by using the slide release but it's not at all common. If that happens, you can send the slide to Glock and they'll recut the notch. It will wear down quicker the second time though...

I slingshot the slide on my guns because I carry some that don't have slide releases.

 

[Chris Rhines]

That's the (only) advantage of the slingshot technique. It's pretty much platform-independent.

The big disadvantage of the slingshot method is that it invites malfunctions due to inadvertently riding the slide.

- Chris

 

[g56]

Even series 70 1911s with no firing pin block won't AD this way.

Wanna bet? I had it happen to me on a brand new 1911, the pistol was defective, it was sent back to the manufacturer and repaired.