Slide Release

L

Lee6113

New member
Hi all, is it better to train to release the slide with your supporting hand manually when doing an emergency reload, or use the slide release? I tend to like the slide release much better then manually racking the slide with my hand. I own an XD mod 2 in 9mm and the other guns I'm looking at getting all have a easy to use slide release.
I was just wondering if there was any real benefit to using your support hand every time versus the slide release button.

Thanks!

Lee
 
Some guns like the Kahr feed better off the release.

Actually, in opposition to popular training discussion, I find the slid release to be more consistent. It is really hard to ride the slide home or similar using the release.
 
Having used the slide release (slide lock lever, on a Glock!) for some 35 years, against the advice of Glock doctrine!

It is quicker, especially if your pistol (in the case of a Glock19) has an extended factory one.

Grabbing a slide, with sweaty hands, or not, can cause malfunctions.
Depressing a lever, simple.
 
Personally I never use the slide release as it requires a fine motor skill and using the weak hand requires a gross motor skill. Fine motor skills degrade more under stress.
 
Personally I never use the slide release as it requires a fine motor skill and using the weak hand requires a gross motor skill. Fine motor skills degrade more under stress.
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Very true, but...

If you have been using the slide release method for many years, stay with it. Don't change now. Muscle memory dictates that you continue. Suddenly switching can cause confusion if/when that time of stress happens.

I have been using slide release for 30 years, I'm not going to change now, even though the instructor of my CCL class wanted me to.
 
Using the slide release is usually faster.
But running the slide to the rear with the support hand can be necessary when dealing with a malfunction.
It's probably better being comfortable with both methods.
 
Use the method that YOU like the best. Most of my 9mm's will release the slide when I insert a fresh mag in quickly with some force. I practice this quite a bit while shooting. On the one gun that won't do this, I prefer the slide release. I do also practice using the power stroke/sling shot methods as well with all of them. I think doing so helps me with the TRB drills.

Some like the PS and SS method because it's more consistent when going from one model to another. I've never had any issue manipulating the controls of a particular gun when when switching between models.
 
Mike38 said:
Personally I never use the slide release as it requires a fine motor skill and using the weak hand requires a gross motor skill. Fine motor skills degrade more under stress.
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That's another of the many myths of the shooting community. The truth is that using the slingshot method or just about any other gun-related skill under stress-- including pressing the trigger -- also involves the same "fine motor skills."

One of the gun mags also did a doctor-supervised test of the various slide release methods some years ago. Shooters were given an adrenaline injection (to simulate the ramping up of the fight/flight response), and there really wasn't much difference.

Some years back the U.S. Army changed their handgun training to incorporate use of the slide release. I was told by an instructor who works with Special Ops troops at Ft.Bragg, this was done because troops were having so many problems in Iraq and Afghanistan with guns not cleanly going into battery after a reload using the slingshot or other similar techniques. (Part of the problem may have been the environment -- cold, dirty, etc, causing many to use gloves.)

Releasing the slide cleanly/evenly is critical, and also an apparent fine motor skill, and doing it under combat conditions often resulted in more than one or two wasted rounds and delays in getting the gun back into service.

Knowing how to "slingshot" or how to use a hand-over technique, useful in clearing a feed issue, is still important. Tap, Rack, Bang is something everyone shooting a semi-auto should be familiar with.
 
Practice both, then go to an action shooting event like IDPA or USPSA and see which one works better for you. You will be under some stress because that blasted timer has a way of getting into your adrenal pump and giving it a little squeeze. I have found there is no one method that works for every gun/shooter/situation. That is why I practice both methods.
 
Good to be fluent in both. I only have pistols on which I can reach the slide release with my thumb without rotating the grip in my hand; therefore, I train using the slide release, which is faster. Having said that, I also spend time in training to clear Type 1, 2 & 3 malfunctions with one hand and both hands.

Food for thought #1 – What gun? If you can reach the slide release on your XD as easily as I can reach my releases on my XDm’s and other pistols, then use the slide release. With training, your thumb will be in position to drop the slide as soon as the magazine is seated. In fact, if you train enough, you can learn the proper amount of pressure to place on the release which will cause the slide to drop when you slam the mag in place. However, if you are shooting, let’s say a 1911, where you cannot easily reach the slide release, it might be better to train in racking the slide using the overhand method. I could see there might be problems in the “fine motor” skill in getting your support hand in the act of dropping the slide (something which should be a problem if you train enough).

Food for thought #2 – How much training? If you are shooting a few hundred rounds per year, coupled with no dry fire practice, then it could be best to stick with “gross motor” slide manipulation with the support hand; however, if you are averaging 50 to 100+ rounds per week, along with dry fire work, then by all means train to use the faster slide release method, with alternate methods added (such
 
My ladyfriend's Sig P250 has the slide stop notch cut at a slight reverse angle, making the use of the slide release with one's thumb (especially her skinny thumb) difficult. To use the slide release, the slide has to move very slightly to the rear against the pressure of the recoil spring. The slingshot or 'overhand' method is the only way for her. Are any of y'all's Sigs like that too? I guess I could file it off square but I thought it's best to leave it alone, at least for now.
 
I like using the slide release. I don't have very many guns yet, so even though this method works for me with the XD, I wanted to make sure I wouldn't have future difficulties with new guns I may buy (as stated above, 1911 may be difficult to slide release for reloads.)
 
Re: using the slide release.

Some guns make it difficult. Others gun makers tell you to USE that method: check the Kahr users manual.

I've only had one type of gun that really made made it easy to use my strong hand thumb to release the slide -- A glock with an extended slide release. I've also had a customer CZ-pattern gun with extended controls that works pretty well. Several others guns close the slide if I slam the mag home forcefully enough. (One pro shooter I know tweaks his game guns so THAT the slide slams shut every time he slames in a mag.)

If you feel you must must use the slide stop and find it difficult, use your weak hand... as you push the mag into the grip, move the weak hand on up, and use several fingers of that hand like a claw to find and engage the slide stop. With a little practice, it'll almost as quick as any method and, important to competitive shooters, you can keep your gun up at eye height more easily, and your eye on the next target.

Note: the hand-over technique, where your hand reaches across the top of the rear of the slide or the rear sight also works better than the slingshot. When doing it, these shooters forcefully push the slide back and let the hand continue to the rear. (Do it too forcefully, and you can hit yourself in the face.) :)

You see the top competitive shooters doing it three ways: 1) slide release, 2) weak hand, and 3) hand-over. The only competitors who still use some form of the slingshot technique typically aren't among the top shooters.

You can even use the hand-over method when doing the TAP-RACK-BANG procedure.
 
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Others gun makers tell you to USE that method: check the Kahr users manual.
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In shooting IDPA matches, I always use the slide release EXCEPT when shooting the Kahr. The slide release on my Kahr is hard to press, so I rack hand over.
 
I find the hand-over racking of the slide to be a consistent method for releasing the slight back to battery and sending a round home. Probably the most important thing about this technique is that it reliably works across platforms. Manufacturers can vary the ergos of their slide stop all they want: grabbing the slide over hand and ripping it off the frame releases it.

That said, I can and will run the slide-stop on a handgun that I am training with, but usually at the end of a course of fire, after ripping the mag and showing clear. Which is to say, when the fight is no longer on.

Knowing both is good. Using the slide stop takes training and familiarity with that firearm. Over-hand racking doesn't. The slide stop is often faster by a bit. Over-hand works when you are tired, it is dark, and your adrenaline is pumping, and your mechanix gloves are making it hard to feel the slidestop...
 
noonesshowmonkey said:
I find the hand-over racking of the slide to be a consistent method for releasing the slight back to battery and sending a round home. Probably the most important thing about this technique is that it reliably works across platforms.
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Some of the folks using decocker-equipped Beretta 92 models and the military M9 say the handover technique can lead to a decocked weapon. I wonder whether that MIGHT also happen with some of the other guns with a similar control design, like some of the 3rd Gen S&W's?

Re: using the slide release. I had a SIG P226 X-Five Competition (in .40) that required the thumb-strength of King Kong if you wanted to use the slide release alone.

I talked with SIG, and they sent a much lighter recoil spring which helped some -- but not enough. I eventually traded it with a fellow in our area who does his own gunsmithing -- he good at it, too -- and he sorted it out and used it in USPSA for a while. When I had it I HAD to press the release AND push back the slide to get the slide to go forward!
 
glock slide lock

I tried to use both methods to chamber rounds,but the problem is that the slide
release/lock on my gen 4 glock 30 is impossible to use without holding the gun
sideways and pressing the lever HARD, with both thumbs.this pretty much limits me to hand-racking the slide.
 
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