How do you get the slide on a 1911 to lock back w/o a magazine?

S

Shmackey

New member
Last night, I locked up my new Kimber with one of those through-the-magwell-and-port cable locks. I didn't think twice about how I did it.

This morning, I field-stripped the gun (properly, I believe), lubed and reassembled, and then tried to lock it up to put it away. Thing is, the slide doesn't stay back w/o a magazine in the well--as you would expect, of course. So how the heck did I do this last night?
 
In order for the slide to lock back when simply racking it back, an empty magazine needs to be fully seated in the firearm.

Do this. Check your Kimber to make certain it is unloaded. Look through the barrel and make sure there is not a round in the chamber FROM THE BREECH END. Now check it again to make sure it is empty.

Get an EMPTY magazine and hold it facing the way it would be oriented when loaded into your firearm in the shooting position. Look at the leading left edge of the follower (the "thingy" that follows the rounds as they cycle through the mag). There is a small notched area that sits lower than the rest of the follower at the front left side. When a magazine is emptied (through firing or otherwise), the spring pressure on the follower causes the follower to push against the slide lock lever (magazine release, whatever you want to call it). Of course this happens "inside" the gun where you can't see it happening. The slide lock then locks into a notch in the slide of your Kimber (visible if you look at the left side of the slide of your gun). Seat the magazine in your Kimber. Rack the slide back and verify that it is empty (always check twice at least). The slide should lock back with the magazine seated. Now look through the ejection port at the left side of the slide. You should be able to see how this works.

In firing, it is obvious that this function locks back the slide when the magazine gets to empty.

As others have mentioned, if no magazine is present, you have to be the "spring" that pushes up on the slide lock to engage it. Just use your thumb to push it up as you rack the slide all the way to the back.

Most semi autos function pretty much the same way. There are a lot of good descriptive web sites that show pictures of the description I gave above. Try searching for those and they'll help you understand the concept.

Shake
 
I would guess that the night before, you had an empty mag in place to lock the slide back, ejected the mag, and threaded the lock through.

As others have said, just push up on the slide release into the slide stop notch when it is above the release.
 
Sorry about that, CSAY. Our post counter was broken over the past weekend and Rich now has it in the shop for repair. We should have it back on-line in a few days.
 
I predict at least one negligent discharge before December gets here!

PLEASE - if there is one handgun that should know EVERYTHING about before you load it up, it is a 1911!

Either find someone to show you how the gun works or take it ot your local gun shop and have them give you a class!

canis
 
No reason to poke fun. So Shmackey's new to autos and maybe handguns in general. I remember I was new once too (hell, I still am in some respects). There is a rather steep learning curve.

Shake
 
Welcome to the Gentle world of handgunning...Don't sweat it...There will be plenty to wring your hands over later...The locks that come with the handguns are holding the bicycle kick stand up, and locking the toy chest and...oh yeah...I have one that I use for a hammer on some small items...
really.gif
...Welcome to Handgunning!!
 
Shmackey,

I would like to add, don't forget to take most of these wiscraks and comment with a grain of salt.
It is obvious that you must be unexperienced with the 1911 design. The only dumb question is the one left unasked. All of these experts had to learn somehow at one time or another.

I would reccomend you take the time to carefully study your owners manual. Then be careful !! I am no expert and beleive me they make mistakes too! I don't like the trigger lock, but you may want to use it until you get REAL familiar with your pistol.

Good Day!
 
Actually...

Gee, tough crowd. We can be pretty vicious at BladeForums, but it's usually between veterans. FNGs tend to get the benefit of the doubt.

Thanks to those who offered help. To the others: do you really think I field-stripped and reassembled the pistol without reading the manual? I read the whole manual--and everything else I could get my hands on--before I touched the gun.

Here's the scoop: the slide stop on my Kimber sometimes pops up to the locked-open position by itself (as it apparently did the first time) and sometimes requires you to manually do it. This explains the confusion. The manual, of course, does not mention this.

If any of you have questions about knives, robust Web design, or tournament-level pool, please feel free to ask me--I promise to be nice.
 
Just to clear something up, I wasn't insinuating that the original question was dumb or that it was undeserving a response but, how many times can one be refered to the owner's manual?
 
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