Single action 45 with easy slide pull

[wamj2008]

Hi everyone,

I guess the title kinda sums it up. I am looking for a gun for my wife. I like to leave the gun unchambered. I'm looking for a full size-ish 45 where she can easily rack the slide. Light on the wallet is good too. It's probably all in the recoil spring, isn't it?

 

[Pilot]

I have not found one easier than a 1911 with the standard power recoil spring.

 

[Bula]

I have to agree, a govt model 1911 with stock 16lb standard recoil spring is about as light as you're going to find. On the other hand, that may be a very poor first choice for a novice shooter. My vote, if the gun is for her, let her pick it out-and shoot it prior. There's a lot more to it than just making the gun ready to shoot.

 

[wamj2008]

She shoots my 4.25" LWT Commander very well. I'm thinking I'll probably go with a full-size RIA or something. Pride of ownership takes a back seat to practicality in this case.

 

[rcmodel]

Buy her a S&W 625 revolver in .45 ACP.

No Slide to Rack, no Levers to Switch.
Just Drop a Moon-Clip in the Son of a Bitc-----

Ahhh, never mind.



rc

 

[JDGray]

NM....

 

[Jim Watson]

A 1911 with the original 14 lb recoil spring (q.v. 1911Tuner) AND THE HAMMER COCKED!

I don't know why you want to operate in Condition 3 (also known as "half loaded") but since you do, a cocked hammer can't hurt anything, can it? And getting the 23 lb mainspring out of the way will make racking the slide much easier.

 

[bigfatdave]

http://corneredcat.com/Rack_the_Slide/

fix the slide puller, then shop for guns

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

A 1911 is about as easy as you're going to find. In fact, there aren't a whole lot of choices in a single-action .45, except for the Sig P220 SAO and possibly others. It has a tall, flat-sided slide with fairly deep grasping grooves. Be sure it doesn't have some "extra power" recoil spring. Cocking the hammer first does make it a little easier.

 

[wbwanzer]

I'm thinking like rcmodel, above. She needs a revolver.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Someone who has difficulty racking a slide isn't likely to do much better with a 10-12 lb. trigger.

 

[Pilot]

Cock the hammer first. A Colt Government Model 1911 with a standard recoil spring should not be a problem.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Keep it in condition one.

 

[mljdeckard]

Posts 8 and 13 have it.

If she is strong enough to bone a chicken, she can rack a slide. It's a matter of learning how to do it correctly.

 

[abq87120]

Over hand rack.

 

[Claude Clay]

cock the hammer 1st

with a firm grip on the lower--push while tightly grasping the slide with the other hand and pulling at the same time.

thus you have eliminated the effort needed to cock the hammer and split the force needed to move the slide.

so simple a 6 year old can do it
-another reason to lock guns away from even little one's

 

[LawofThirds]

Honestly, the easiest one that I've found so far has been a CZ-97, I think the factory standard spring is 12 or 13lbs. Of course, your wife has to be able to palm a basketball to use it comfortably.....

 

[Fluxeii]

My GF originally had trouble racking the slide. After adjusting her technique I also suggested that she should try and rack the slide right off the gun. Pulling the slide seems harder than really yanking the slide. Get violent on the slide, it takes much worse when it's operating without you.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Certainly, one should not be afraid to "manhandle" a slide. It moves far faster when actually shooting than you can work it with your hands.

 

[JTQ]

The Lone Haranguer wrote,
Someone who has difficulty racking a slide isn't likely to do much better with a 10-12 lb. trigger.

I agree with this. You may only need to rack the slide once to load it and you could even get somebody to do it for you. Subsequent reloads would be from side lock. Then you'd be left with a short, light, 5 lb(ish) trigger pull on a 1911.

With a revolver you'd need to pull 10-12 pounds for every shot with just one finger. That seems much more difficult for those with hand strength issues.

 

[BCRider]

About that recoil spring. Because the recoil spring strength is a function of the design of the gun and the recoil impulse of the round being fired you're going to find that all guns of the same design will use the same strength recoil spring. So all 1911's will have the same difficulty in racking the slide. And each of the other major single stack gun designs will have their own recoil spring forces.

The advice to fix the shooter is the way to go. The method shown for the overhand grip on the Cornered Cat link up above works extremely well. It also helps if the slide serrations are good and grippy and not one of the "boutique" style artsy patterns. Some work and others are more about looks than grip. Hey, even adding some grip tape panels to the sides of the slide just a little in front of the serrations isn't a bad option if it helps out. But mostly it's about using that nice four finger and butt of the palm so she's using all her fingers in a very strong manner that will do the trick.

Best of all with some practice it becomes very automatic to use this method. The gun is normally pivoted to put the base of the grips inward to seat the mag. With the gun in that position it's a natural thing to move the left hand on up and grab the slide with the overhand grip. The gun doesn't need to move at all. So not only is it more effective but it's faster than shifting it around to use some other method.

So yeah, fix the shooter first and get her using this stronger 4 finger over hand method and then go gun shopping.

Oh, one other thing. I don't do it all the time but when I've smeared a very light coat of Mobil 1 grease onto the hammer cocking heel and track of the slide I did find that it really slickens up the racking. It aids in getting the hammer cocked with less effort during the slide racking. Might be a nice little something extra. But first fix her grip for racking the slide.