slide racking and aging

FunLarry22 said:
Thank you for all the above comments. I have a similar problem to the OP but find a lot of the suggested remedies ineffective because I also have weak fingers due to arthritis. I am looking for a small semi-auto in either .380 or 9mm that has an easy slide to rack. So far I like the SIGSauer P938. Does anyone have experience with this gun or suggestions for another firearm with an easy return spring? Thank you!
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I enjoyed my 938 when it was around. I don’t recall it being easier to rack than other 9mms, but it’s been awhile and that wasn’t something I was paying attention to.

I will say that the Springfield XDE has a very easy to rack slide. Unfornately it also has an obnoxiously long DA pull. It’s not too heavy of a pull, but it travels further than I expected.
 
I have 8 semi auto handguns.

I have arthritis in my hands and my left hand (I am left handed) little finger and the finger next to it are somewhat crippled from debridement surgeries in 2003 due to infections.

Racking slides is not super easy, but the only slide that is difficult is a Shield 40 that I purchased a couple of months ago. At times I find it impossible to rack the slide back enough to engage the slide stop. I have had it racked back almost continually now for two or more weeks to try to weaken the springs. Yesterday (the weather is getting cold enough for me to have gloves on) I racked the slide several times with gloves on. The thickness of the cotton gloves seemed to give me better leverage to rack the slide and I could do it easily.

I guess the arthritis keeps me from being able to firmly grip the slide tightly and the gloves helped reverse that.

I also used to have a Sig P938 that I did not have a problem racking the slide.

The rest of my semis are larger guns than the Shield and I have no problem racking their slides.

Getting old (I am 69) is better than not getting old, but it does have its disadvantages.
 
Every time I see the title of this page upon first reading it I get the idea that racking the slide ages the gun.

I figure it out after a brief period of wonderment.

Life can be really amusing to feeble minded people such as myself. Have you ever wondered how traffic lights change? My dad said that the elves do it. I think that he was fibbing.
 
Life can be really amusing to feeble minded people such as myself. Have you ever wondered how traffic lights change? My dad said that the elves do it. I think that he was fibbing.
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Lets go way off topic :) Price bananas in a store once and then consider how far they are transported and how short of a shelf life they have.

On topic: I was thinking about this. I was likely shooting pistols since before I could - the rule had always been if I could operate a firearm safely I could shoot it but I had to be able to fully operate it. Now its been a long while but I put my hand on one last evening thinking about this. When I rack the slide my hand is WAY back and over the slide - the area between my thumb and first finger is basically against the rear sight. I push with my dominate hand. I've always been under the assumption that was how everyone did it. Maybe its not?
 
* * * Have you ever wondered how traffic lights change? My dad said that the elves do it. I think that he was fibbing.
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Nah, ... I have it on good authority that municipalities hire and train midgets for that duty. :eek:

They hoist 'em up into those lights to work 12-hour shifts, at which point the new midget arrives for duty in a city truck with a hydraulic ladder in back (called the Midget-Mobile). This occurs at 1- or 2a.m., when tax-paying folk are asleep - the reason almost nobody ever sees a shift-change occur.

When, occasionally, a particular traffic light ceases to function, it typically results not from a power outage, but because the midget inside fell asleep at the switch.

Once notified of the problem, the midget controllers at the City Street Division simply activate an alarm inside the light to wake the frickin' midget up, at which point proper functioning is restored to said light. :)
 
a few suggestions from a disabled person

1. cock the hammer first
2. insert empty magazine
3. do the "sideways thing" mentioned above
4. switch to loaded magazine
5. use slide stop/release or repeat "sideways maneuver"

good luck.
 
charliek said:
I'm 81 and arthritic and am having increasing problems racking the slide on 1911s, There must be better ways to do it than gripping the rear. Any suggestions?
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Is it possible to replace the recoil spring with a weaker one and set the gun up to run only light weight loads like for target practice only?

The drawback would be to remember to not fire high pressure loads especially +P
 
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