Noticing the Slide Lock Back

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glaukon

Inactive
Here is a question for you all; I hope it isn't too silly. I've been shooting for about a year now, mostly using a Glock 19. I've heard to concentrate on the front sight, so that's what I do. But once the mag is empty, I often don't even notice that the slide has locked back. It takes me a second or so to notice that I'm empty. Is that strange?
 
In my experience, that is completely normal. Over time, your reaction time from the point of slide lock and mentally noting such will reduce. As such, the time required to react from noting slide lock to actual reload will also reduce.

JMO & YMMV.
 
[Beavis & Butthead grunt] Uh, I've done that...

One advantage to having a single-stack (or revolver, I guess): It's easier to count rounds.
 
glaukon

My point of view is there are two gross catagories of pistol reloading events.

Reloading when you choose to

and

Reloading when you have to

Reloading when you choose to is a nice easy affair that is done during a lull in the action. It is frequently covered in this forum and at most training courses. On the other hand, forced to reload when you have to, as in your ammo supply is expended is in real life the most common event. Most of the time you will not detect the slide locked back, so their is no reason to dwell or practice "slide locked back awareness". My advise is to polish an emergency reload to counter the problem. As soon as you become aware that the trigger is no longer doing it's job, slam another mag in the gun and stay engaged with the target.

R1145 try hard not to fall into the trap of counting rounds, this is one of those things that works somewhat well at the range, but falls apart once stress enters the equation.

We have more than enough to think about in a gunfight, besides what condition of readiness our weapon is in, where it shoots to, or how it works.

Good Luck & Be Safe
 
I somewhat disagree about not keeping track of your rounds.

Especially, if you're packing a low capacity gun (like a 5 shot revolver), IMHO you should not only count your rounds BUT make your rounds count, too. The latter is true no matter what the capacity or gun.
 
R1145 try hard not to fall into the trap of counting rounds, this is one of those things that works somewhat well at the range, but falls apart once stress enters the equation.
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I couldn't agree more.

I somewhat disagree about not keeping track of your rounds.

Especially, if you're packing a low capacity gun (like a 5 shot revolver), IMHO you should not only count your rounds BUT make your rounds count, too. The latter is true no matter what the capacity or gun.
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I couldn't disagree more.

I don't do it a lot, but, it happens some of the time. If I'm concentrating on a course of fire or working on speed, etc, it happens.

Jim Cirillo's books talk about not being able to count rounds during an actual gunfight. I think it is quite common.

I don't consciously count rounds. But, I do evaluate where I'm at in the given situation and consider a tactical reload.
 
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With my 1911 the felt recoil is slightly different when it locks back. I do not count rounds and usually always know when I am dry. This is one of those easy to do hard to learn things. Pay attention to that gun.
 
^^^ I've noticed that as well with my XD...there is a substantial difference in the way the pistol comes back down from recoil when the slide locks back. I can't say whether it's because I don't feel the slide catching the next round on the way forward, or because the balance of the gun is different due to the locked-back slide, but it's a difference.

I can't count the number of times I've tried to fire a 7th round from my .357 Blackhawk though...
 
"...isn't too silly..." There's no such thing as silly or stupid questions. Mind you, I can't imagine not noticing the slide locking open. There's usually a noticeable sound and feel.
"...tried to fire a 7th round from my .357 Blackhawk..." It's like driving a standard transmission vs an automatic. You adjust. Mind you, I've seen my foot looking for a clutch pedal that isn't there too.
 
Not a silly question at all, happens to me every time I run a gun dry - which fortunately enough is quite rarely. For the purpose of optimal resolution, I've thought about this more as a malfunction of any similar kind where the slide is not all the way forward...
 
Indeed, I was charged by a pit bull, and shot until the threat was eliminated. Afterwards, I could not have told you how many rounds I fired (it was 3).

I guess round counting is like using your sights: You should always do it, unless you can't...
 
I read an article about a homeowner in MD that had his home broken into one evening. He met the intruder at the door and fired an 'unknown amount of rounds' into the guy. In reality he emptied the pistol to slide lock, about 7 IIRC.

My friend still can't grasp the whole semiauto thing at the range. She keeps pulling the trigger after slide lock. Even if I was blindfolded, I could tell the difference by how it feels on the last round as the slide doesn't move forward into battery again. Kinda feels like a revolver or bolt gun really.
 
I read an article about a homeowner in MD that had his home broken into one evening. He met the intruder at the door and fired an 'unknown amount of rounds' into the guy. In reality he emptied the pistol to slide lock, about 7 IIRC.

My friend still can't grasp the whole semiauto thing at the range. She keeps pulling the trigger after slide lock. Even if I was blindfolded, I could tell the difference by how it feels on the last round as the slide doesn't move forward into battery again. Kinda feels like a revolver or bolt gun really.
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I agree with you, i dont think in all the times I have shot a gun I have ever pulled thr trigger after the mag was empty...I notice my buddy doing it all the time, yet for me it has never happened, with Sigs, Glocks, S&W's, Rugers, etc....I guess Im just lucky, good at something without even trying:D
 
I'm not banking on my ability to count rounds in the middle of something ;) Too much adrenaline going on I think.

However on most of my guns (Browning HP being the exception), the lock-back is quite noticable during recoil. Feels like the gun is pointing up at 90 degrees. I mean it's not, but it feels differant without that slide slamming forward.
 
I agree with most post about noticing. Just about every time I have fired a pistol I have noticed the slide lock because it "feels" different. I can tell it doesn't go forward, especially on my 1911, it feels completly different. However, when younger firing my fathers 92FS I failed to notice about twice and tried to fire subsequent rounds. That is the only firearm it has ever happend to me with. Now, I know immediatley when I'm empty. Counting rounds in a firefight,IMO, is a bad idea because it takes focus off more important things in SD. (Hitting your target square in the chest)
 
It's quite common. I used to do it every now and then but now I notice the marginal difference in felt recoil and stop squeezing the trigger.
 
I definitely can tell when an AR-15 locks back, but I'm iffy for pistols.

Many times I will go to slide lock, reacquire the sights, then realize something about the rear of the pistol looks different. :D
 
I can tell it more by feel than sight, At least with my CZ75, the pistol reacts slightly different when the slide locks back. It's al bit harder for me to notice with my .22 autos, especially the Buckmark.
 
a lot of people have already mentioned how I notice: feel of the weapon.

It comes with lots of practice and handling of the weapon. One thing that helped me learn my weapon fast was to take a friend to the range, you should try this. You will not load your mags. Only your friend will load the mag and he/she will determine how many rounds go into the mag. If you have holes on the back or side of the mag, have your friend insert the mag into the weapon BUT NOT CHARGE IT.

Counting your rounds is a good thing to do, however you'll count rounds instead of feeling the weapon. The whole point of the exercise is to feel the weapon. If you don't know how many rounds are in the weapon you have no choice but to rely on feel.

Everyone's got their own teaching technique, that's mine. YMMV.

- Hiroshi
 
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