Originally Posted by Gekko

Something I didn't see mentioned is the difference in the hardness between the metals of the slide stop lever and the slide.

The slide is much harder than the lever. Every time you use the lever to close the slide you are wearing away material. Eventually the tab on the lever will not fit the notch in the slide properly and will not hold the slide open.

The "eventually" will probably be a long time but, I don't want a failure if I'm defending myself.