Using slide release over manually retracting the slide.

[SIGLBER]

I have not read all the threads in this dialogue. ut as far as a reload goes on a gun with lesser payload such as a single stack auto or a revolver the best answer has been out there for a long time. A proven in combat answer that dates back to our Old Western times. And proven again by the likes Jim Cirillo in the 20th Century. Your best reload is a second (or even third gun if you function in a high risk environment) gun. The "New York Reload".
When you look at the actual historical record, pictures of the time, and so on you will see most of the real gunfighters like Wild Bill always carried at least two pistols. Not like in the Westerns of our youth did they come out blazing. But they had at least one back up and sometimes more. In fact during the Civil War some riders were recorded to carry 4-5 pistols on their person and/or horse.
Simple fact is under the stress of a gunfight everything quickly goes to crap. We know fine motor skills usually go out the window. Although some of this can be mitigated by training. It's not wise to fight against the natural reactions of the body. Adrenal dump causes us to get shakey, have tunnel vision, and all that type of thing. Rather than trying to mess around with trying to clear or reload a jammed or empty weapon producing another has always been the answer. And the one that makes sense.
Their is no "time out" when things go bad. Even in our days of single shot weapons a big bowie knife or "Arkansas Toothpick" (or tomahawk) was the usual answer when lead and powder were gone and their was no time to reload. "Those that do not learn from th mistakes of the past are bound to repeat them". Of course we should learn to clear our guns fast and reload. Just like we should practice shooting from all manner of position. Not just "Weaver " or "Isoceles" stances. Most of us don't get the luxury of choosing how and where to fight.
And yes I have a friend who wass quite good with a 1911 go back up North to visit his mother. He was a Champion level shooter with a 1911 as a matter of fact. Long story short. A gang had taken over his old neighborhood. Seeing him they figured cop and a gunfight with three gangbangers took place. He did everything perfect. Got behind his car. Engaged the assailants. Killed one, crippled another, and the third one ran off. He was running off reflex from good training. Had two back up mags.
When the third ran off and the fighting ceased his 1911 was locked back with the third magazine in it. The other two at his feet empty. Great skills and tactics saved him. But he realized something. All three gangbangers had hi cap 9mm's. The guy that ran off had a Ruger hi cap nine and still had bullets. he aid had the guy not ran off he could of simply come up and executed him with the 9mm since he still had bullets. My friend carries a 9mm no with lots of bulets and still two back up mags. And something else.
Chances of this nightmare happening? Slim. But more and more attacks are multiple opponents. And we train for the worst situations. Not the best. Lessons?
1.) Handguns even the "mighty .45" are not good at dropping someone. It took several hits to put the two down he did drop and one survived.
2.) Lots of bullets on board is never a bad thing. Someone once said in a hi cap gun you carry your reload on board. You can never be too well armed in a fight. Or have too many rounds. 3.) even if you have a great reload if you run out of bullets and the other guy doesn't. even if he has a "lesser caliber" (which I disagree with) he/she can and probably will execute you.
If you think reloads are easy under stress because of training they are. But take an airsoft or simuntions gun. Try to reload while you are being hit by pellet that sting like hell and watch your skills degrade rapidly. Food for thought.

 

[JRH6856]

And it is bad to drop the slide on a 1911 with no round in the chamber. It can break the extractor. Just not a good idea on this particular weapon.

Uh, no. What can damage the extractor is dropping the slide on a chambered round, which forces the extractor to snap over the case rim.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Skill training, practice....

I think the last post makes some good points.
I'd be fully ready to reload or re-charge my pistol or revolver in any break in the action(if required) or immediately after a lethal force/critical incident. Having a 7/8 shot carry pistol run dry then still have violent subjects all around you isn't a good tactic, .

I read a few years ago, tier one/spec ops units prefer shorter/fewer magazines for CQB or tactics in confined spaces because they can train to replace-reload quickly. The compact mags don't clang around or jam as much either.
If a threat or target pops up while doing a reload, the operator can transition to a sidearm or if needed a back up sidearm/second gun.

The recent tragic shooting in NV where a armed citizen(CCW) was shot in the back by a woman during a spree shooting is a good example of always reloading/checking your defense sidearm even if you think the main threat is down(not a threat to you any longer).
Scan for threats all around you & prepare to engage anyone else who might spring up.
Even if I only fire 1/2 rounds, Id still reload my defense pistol.
In the stress, chaos & frantic nature of a critical incident, I doubt anyone could say exactly how many rounds they fired or where the bullets went.
Training & practice help. Being prepared to handle a high stress event is far better than going out w/o a plan or thinking you can handle these situations.

 

[HisSoldier]

Why abuse the machinery just because we can? It may stand it repeatedly...until one day, it doesn't.

Hmm, you just answered a question growing in my mind for a long time.

I own a CNC shop, when I follow my workers after they have run machines I find knobs halfway unscrewed, clamps so tight that they are bowed, socket screws so tight they "snap!" when I finally apply enough force to get them to unscrew and broken parts.

There are differences between people and how they express their respect for machinery, or show their disrespect.

An example is Chinese tools, occasionally I buy Harbor freight tools, and I bought a HF drill press for deburring work. About the same time as I bought my first HF drill press, the one I sold later for more than I paid for it, the local sawmill bought one also, almost the identical model. While I was improving the function of my drill press the millwrights were destroying their drill press to the extent that it was almost unusable! That took less than six months.

The point is that some people are very hard on machinery, they don't generally mean to be, but I've formed an opinion that it gets down to respect.
Those who revere the geniuses who gave us the machines that grace our lives, that save countless hours of hard labor and increase our production immensely, they are much more thoughtful of the mechanisms that make up the whole of the machines, they may even, in the back of their minds, imagine the geniuses when they first tightened a screw on their inventions, or racked the slide.

They also respect the men and women who make the machines, and the capitalists who gather wealth together to increase it's force for humanity by building factories. In short, I think those who don't appreciate mechanisms are the ones who by their misuse destroy them. They don't appreciate modern tools and deserve to live in caves!

 

[stchman]

Just watched a video of Jerry Miculek using the slide stop / slide release to chamber a round.

I guess Jerry know nothing about firearms, what a n00b.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnMeTlXsXC8

 

[Walt Sherrill]

An example is Chinese tools, occasionally I buy Harbor freight tools, and I bought a HF drill press for deburring work. About the same time as I bought my first HF drill press, the one I sold later for more than I paid for it, the local sawmill bought one also, almost the identical model. While I was improving the function of my drill press the millwrights were destroying their drill press to the extent that it was almost unusable! That took less than six months.

The point is that some people are very hard on machinery, they don't generally mean to be, but I've formed an opinion that it gets down to respect.

Kinda like cars: some people baby their cars or fine tune their performance. Others just view them as a way to get from point A to point B, safely -- and are willing to pay the costs of having to replace them more frequently than others would like.

You're clearly one of the folks who try to fine-tune them.

 

[Nom de Forum]

Just watched a video of Jerry Miculek using the slide stop / slide release to chamber a round.

I guess Jerry know nothing about firearms, what a n00b.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnMeTlXsXC8

Yeah what does he know, he's a revolver guy!

 

[twofifty]

Slide release lever or slide stop lever - think of the lever as a door knob.
A door knob is manipulated to open and close a door.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

I think I posted something like this earlier:

The device has two functions with most guns. With almost every gun, the "STOP" part of it functions as a slide STOP, keeping the slide from traveling off the slide as it slams shut.

With many -- arguably MOST -- guns, there's a lever attached that part that lets you release the slide, too. Some have extensions putting the lever in a position that is easily accessed by the shooting hand, with an extra large tab to make it easy to depress the lever. If that part's only function was to stop the slide, there'd be no need for the lever or the extra large tab near the strong-hand thumb. There'd arguably be no need for an ambidextrous slide relese, either.

Not every semi-auto has that lever, but most of them do; not every gun locks open when the mag is empty -- but most of them do.

Calling that dual-purpose item a STOP or a RELEASE suggests that the person using that term of choice is taking a short-cut -- or --looking at only ONE of the TWO functions possible (with most guns.)

 

[Hurryin' Hoosier]

When not dropping a round into the chamber, I don't generally use the slide release. It has nothing to do with hurting the gun. Whenever I clear one of my guns, I ride the slide back under visual and tactile supervision, just to be sure.

Whenever I load a gun, I generally prefer to pull the slide back. I have heard the notion that using a slide release can be difficult under duress. I guess I believe it.

So I just don't use a slide release, in general. I use the slide lock, though.

On target, Gloob! Exactly what I was going to say.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Whenever I load a gun, I generally prefer to pull the slide back. I have heard the notion that using a slide release can be difficult under duress. I guess I believe it.

Either method is arguably a fine motor skill. To do it right you must release (as a slingshotted or "hand-over" release) cleanly, or things don't go well.. As I noted earlier the U.S. military has been training folks to use the slide release for some time, now -- because of a lot of problems in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan with slides not going cleanly into battery.

Doing anything under duress is harder!! Heck. Pulling the trigger is also a fine motor skills, if you want to hit what you're aiming at.