Firing 9mm with thumb over slide plate cover

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DrewBegley

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I've heard you can fire a 9mm striker-fired pistol (Glock, M&P) while pressing your thumb onto the slide plate cover (rear of slide) and keep the firearm from cycling. As in with suppressed fire to fire an even more suppressed shot. Where with an AR/M16/M4 type firearm you can use an adjustable gas block to keep the firearm from cycling, turning it into a single shot weapon. My question: Can this be done (the thumb behind the slide) and with a suppressor attached, how much more efficient would the suppression be? I was also told it can be done with a .40/.45 with BOTH thumbs over the slide end plate.
 
The real question is, how much do you like your thumbs being sliced up?

With thumbs off the grip you would have less control over the gun too. In short, I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Not anything I would want to try.

Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk 2
 
Seems to go against every grain of common sense. Using your thumbs to keep a machine thats powered by immense pressure from doing what its designed to do? Sounds like a great way for broken or dislocated thumbs.
 
MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY... but is it impossible to stop the action from cycling with pure 'thumb power'? And just to be clear, I'd never handle a firearm in a way that I could possibly imagine it taking my thumb off. It's one of the things that makes me human next to having common sense and I'd like to keep my sense and my thumbs.
 
I know of a class that does this as part of "contact distance" shooting drills. The idea is the thumb on the back of the gun keeps it from going out of battery if the muzzle contacts the target.

I haven't attended the class, but I've read several AAR's. The students say it worked, the guns cycled, and no one hurt their thumb. This is a technique for a specialized purpose, not for general use, and evidently it does work.
 
DrewBegley said:
MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY... but is it impossible to stop the action from cycling with pure 'thumb power'?
Click to expand...
I don't know if its impossible. I'd have to personally see someone do it successfully before I tried it, and even then I wouldn't be comfortable with it.

Write the folks who operate Mythbusters. I hear they're always looking for new things to try.
 
I don't know about Glocks. But I have done this with my Ruger 10/22. I held my thumb against the charging handle to keep it from cycling.
With subsonic ammo, it was easy. But with high velocity ammo it hurt my thumb. I was able to barely keep the breech shut.

I would NOT want to try this with a center fire pistol.
 
I personally wouldn't try it without leather gloves, but it isn't supposed to be a big deal to do....
 
I'm reminded of those frequently uttered pre-accidental injury or death words...

"Here, hold my beer and watch this."
 
I witnessed the results of a guy doing something along these lines at the local gun range. He was using a rental Glock and came out of the range with the gun in battery and blood all over everything. While I didn't see what he did, from the looks of his thumb it got in the way of the slide.
 
I have done this with an unsupressed Glock22. I also did not believe it could be done when our firearms instructor said that it could be done. He did it first himself and of course I had to say "let me try that". It didnt even hurt and the slide did not cycle. Remember its only a 16 to 18 pound recoil spring and plastic keeping the slide from comming off the gun.
 
That's a technique taught at a Pat Rodgers class. It does work and it is possible. I watched it demonstrated first hand from a student that took his course.
 
Don't most suppressors have an option to allow the slide to cycle or not anyway? I remember someone telling me something about that years ago.
 
I witnessed the results of a guy doing something along these lines at the local gun range. He was using a rental Glock and came out of the range with the gun in battery and blood all over everything. While I didn't see what he did, from the looks of his thumb it got in the way of the slide.
Click to expand...

What you witnessed was somebody who put his weakside thumb behind the slide, like some revolver-shooters do, when shooting a semi-auto. Has nothing to do with the question asked in this thread.

Also, I can't think of any suppressors that have a "cycle" or "not cycle" switch. :eek:
 
Don't most suppressors have an option to allow the slide to cycle or not anyway? I remember someone telling me something about that years ago.
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A VERY few guns have been fitted with bolt locks that would keep them closed to eliminate the cycling noise and the noise from gas escaping at the breech.

No silencer has a way of locking the slide shut, itself.
 
So... when it's done successfully, do you have squib round in the barrel?

All of the pressure of that round has to be handled some how, some way. Seems like it would have to be HARD on the barrel or chamber, at least, if the primer is ignited.
 
So... when it's done successfully, do you have squib round in the barrel?
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What? No...the cartridge still fires as normal. Just talking about stopping the slide from cycling and ejecting the case afterward.
 
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