Using slide release lever

[Gryff]

The "feel" is actually coming through the hand that is still on the pistol. When it fails to strip a round from the mag the slide slams home very smoothly. When it works, there is a little "bump" feeling in the pistol. If you are in tune with your pistol, you will know it has a round in the chamber without having to do a press check or a visual.

I guarantee that 99.995% of shooters would NOT be able to feel this during any kind of moderate- to high-stress situation. I know I wouldn't feel it reliably, and I have tens of thousands of rounds downrange in competition and practice.

[neouser]

I'm not sure we give modern firearm makers enough credit for their designs, durability and materials used to make pistols. If slamming a slide forward is going to cause the gun to stop working over time, then God forbid it get dirt, mud, water and fowling in it. Because we may as well call it a day and just through the gun at the target. To the hammer example, the hammers are designed to take stress and forces like that and so is a gun. It's a controlled explosion inside a metal barrel...if a gun can't handle the slide coming forward with or without a round in the chamber, is that really something you would want to pick up and compete/defend yourself with?

I'm sorry for my sarcasm, but that's the impression I get from the "anti slide release" side of the argument. That the gun will break, fall apart and won't be usable after 100, 1000 or 100000 slide releases.

Now I will stop here and say that we all have our own preferences on how to "handle" a gun. I think this is one of those, it's one persons preference vs best practice.

Fine and dandy, provided you do it with your own gun.

As for your example, it's irrelevant. The STEEL barrel is in lockup when the weapon is fired and the force of the expanding gasses is trapped within the STEEL chamber. Once the round has left the barrel and pressure subsides, lockup is released and the slide travels back and ejects the round. You would be surprised how little actual force is being exerted on the rest of the weapon itself during operation. Now, once the slide has fully traveled rearward and begins traveling forward, it strips a round out of the magazine. The resistance of that round being stripped out of the magazine SLOWS down the slide travel and decreases the impact of the slide breech face on the barrel breech, as well as the barrel lugs on the cross pin or cross bar retaining the upper to the frame.

Does all this matter? Well, yes it does if you shoot a Sig Sauer P-series, any sort of lightweight 1911, Beretta or Taurus 92 series, etc... Why? Because all of them use an aluminum frame. (EDIT: The relationship here is regarding lugs and frame lockup.) Take that hammer example and instead of banging two hammers together, start banging one hammer on a piece of aluminum. That's pretty much what you're going to do to these pistols when you let that slide slam forward without stripping a round from the magazine or easing it forward. Modern weapons are engineered to be shot, not for someone to sit at home and play with. If nothing else, constantly playing with the gun will require more a more frequent spring change schedule...

[Nippy]

This is hypothetical: So lets just say you were in a LA gun fight like back in the day and you just kept throwing your mags away(leaving them on the ground) and you move from cover to cover, then you run out of mags but you have a box of bullets in a cop car. What do you do now?

You're screwed when you get to the car with your retained mags because the guy dropping them took the box.

[Old4eyes]

If you are in a shop looking at a pistol and you want to rack the gun and release the slide ask the shop to borrow a snap cap.

I ask if I can dry fire before doing so. If I want to pull the trigger on a .22, I'll ask for a snap cap.

Until I own the gun, I run by their rules and try to work within them.

[Tjfearl]

If you are in a shop looking at a pistol and you want to rack the gun and release the slide ask the shop to borrow a snap cap.

I ask if I can dry fire before doing so. If I want to pull the trigger on a .22, I'll ask for a snap cap.

Until I own the gun, I run by their rules and try to work within them.

^ This is very reasonable. I have looked at weapons at the Marine Corps Exchange and they are very quick to say "No, dry fires" and they don't offer snap caps. Why would I buy an overpriced pistol from the Px without even being able to feel the trigger pull? This isn't the case with all Px gun counters though. I have bought guns in Ft Rucker Alabama and their staff was very knowledable. Not all gun stores tell you or have their dry fire policy posted, and I don't care to ask. Its better to ask for forgiveness than permission right?

[L84CABO]

Gun Etiqette 101

Regardless of what might and might not damage the gun, on any firearm that is not YOURS...

Always ask permission before dry firing.

Never drop the slide on an empty chamber without asking the owner first! Ease the slide forward.

Always hand the gun back with the action OPEN! Doesn't matter who owns it.

[tuna quesadilla]

What slide release lever?

I don't know of any pistols that come with a slide release lever, and I've been shooting handguns for years.

Somebody help me out here.

[skyscraper]

Wow. Didn't think it was possible some shooting "for years" wouldn't know that the slide stop is also a slide release

[tuna quesadilla]

Wow. Didn't think it was possible some shooting "for years" wouldn't know that the slide stop is also a slide release

......"Woosh"

That's the sound of my post going right over your head.

[skyscraper]

......"Woosh"

That's the sound of my post going right over your head.

Sure thats what you meant

[tuna quesadilla]

Sure thats what you meant

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Nice of you to get the last word in like that, too -- you're gonna make a great cop.

I still don't know of any handguns that have a slide release lever. My Glock 19 sure doesn't.

[Gryff]

I still don't know of any handguns that have a slide release lever. My Glock 19 sure doesn't.

Brownells sells them:

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=23432/Product/EXTENDED-SLIDE-RELEASE-LEVER-FOR-GLOCK

Kahr Arms makes them:

http://www.kahr.com/search/027M4S-Slide-Release-Lever.aspx

And as I posted earlier, if it was only a slide stop lever, it would have serrations on the bottom. But since every single manufacturer out there puts serrations or a shelf on the top of the lever, it is acknowledgement that they intend it to be used to release the slide.

People can play word games, but it doesn't stop the part from being designed to release the slide.

Its better to ask for forgiveness than permission right?

Not if you have any integrity. You're a guest inside someone else's establishment. Respect their wishes or shop somewhere else.

[tuna quesadilla]

Brownells sells them:

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=23432/Product/EXTENDED-SLIDE-RELEASE-LEVER-FOR-GLOCK

Kahr Arms makes them:

http://www.kahr.com/search/027M4S-Slide-Release-Lever.aspx

And as I posted earlier, if it was only a slide stop lever, it would have serrations on the bottom. But since every single manufacturer out there puts serrations or a shelf on the top of the lever, it is acknowledgement that they intend it to be used to release the slide.

People can play word games, but it doesn't stop the part from being designed to release the slide.

Huh. Whoever does the marketing for Kahr and Brownells must have their terminology mixed-up.

[USM0083]

The Smith and Wesson M&P manual calls it a slide stop, and even instructs to pull the slide back to chamber a round.

[KandyRedCoi]

This is why most of the gun manuals indicated this part as slide stop not slide release.


Sent from my iPhone

^THIS