I believe Racking the Slide 101 was meant to be a thread about teaching effective methods to those who were challenged with racking.

Challenges come from unfamiliarity (lack of training), not knowing which technique works best for an individual and a specific pistol, lack of strength or dexterity, and method and timing of release of the slide to avoid slide riding.

Really, not so simple. There is more than one answer that can work depending on the need.

An instructor or friend helps the shooter discover what works for her. Thus the instructor should be able to offer numerous methods and let the shooter decide what works best.

Locking the slide back using the slide stop takes as much muscling as a pull back and release method, but initially it avoids any opportunity to ride the slide forward, even slightly. Thus it eliminates the second biggest problem with racking, the first being inability to fully retract a slide. However, it adds complexity by requiring the additional step of manually engaging the slide stop. There are always trade-offs.

Now comes the argument as to whether to retract the slide further to release the slide stop, but that can reintroduce slide riding.

Dropping the slide stop with finger pressure eliminates slide riding, but many pistols today come with non-adjusted factory slide stops that can’t be easily swept off. Once the stop is adjusted to work as designed, this method is easy and reliable. It’s not a method that would work with any gun, since so many people don’t understand adjusting slide stops and some are just too stiff for new or weak shooters to operate.

I coached an elderly man (80) who had been sold a Springfield XD .40 as a home defense gun. He could not rack the slide and had never loaded or fired the gun.

I sold it for him. I bought him a used .38 revolver and added a laser sighting grip for him for the same money. That’s what worked.

Racking the Slide 102.