Anyone else having issue with left hand use of the slide lock? I can engage the slide lock on the new 2.0 left handed, but it will not disengage, as there is no longer a spring assist in the 2.0 and the lever bar torques instead of remaining solid.
Is there an upgrade? I prefer the 1.0 version better as its operational with either slide lock lever, and it's resting position is down out of the way, under spring tension.

You should be able to release the slide with the control on the right side. I would contact S&W and ask them this question.

Now, prepare yourself for the slide lock elite to tell you how you're doing it wrong.

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I dunno, he didn't say HE was trying to release the slide with a part that is not named a "slide release" in the owner's manual, just that there doesn't seem to be spring pressure to release it and hold it down out of the way. So he may be safe from the slingshot vigilantes for the moment.

Its a lock not a release. The manuel says "lock" also. So you have to rack the slide.

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I pull back on the slide until it disengages the lock . I do not use the lock as a release on the 2.0 . I usually only do this before and after a field strip .

I understand it's a slide "lock" lever. But it seems odd, that it can be disengaged from the left side of the weapon, but not the right side. As a lefty, it is a significant change from the 1.0 version. I have a question placed to S&W. thanks for the input everyone.

Yeah, that lasted one post.

I completely agree with this assessment. I'm a lefty too. I have a couple of the original M&Ps and have no trouble using the slide engagement thingy (see what I did there) from the right side. I wish I had a 2.0 so I could analyze this further.

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I'm not a lefty but I noticed this right away. It seems to be a product of the me mechanism on the left side that is supposed to combat the slide auto forwarding. You can do it but it takes a ton of force to release. Unfortunately I don't believe this will be considered a defect and you'll likely have to deal with it. The only thing I can think of would be to disable that feature.

It's funny, as I was sitting there examining my first 2.0, I noticed this and remember thinking to myself 'lefty's aren't gonna like this. I was just waiting for someone to post about it.

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I can't find the video but that was one of the biggest complaints on the review. He pointed out that there's no notch in the slide on the RH side and it is different than the 1.0 in depth which means you need to apply more force to get the left side to release and they make the slide lock with thin metal to begin with.

I'm betting S&W will tell you it's not suppose to be used to release the slide but to lock it.

Essentially, it was not a helpful reply at all. They just offer to check and make sure my firearm is up to spec.
Laughable: it brand new in a box, never been fired.

On my 3 week old 2.0 it is weird that it doesn't auto load, i really always liked the "Auto-Load" feature on pistols and don't care for the Slide Lock/Release but it is somewhat awkward and takes a little thumb effort to get the lock to release and i am right handed!

I don't care what "WHO" says but that mechanism is both a slide lock and a slide release, since if you push on the lock it releases the slide!

That "auto load" feature was an error but people do like it. There's a video where a guy calls S&W CS and they tell the truth about it. I give that CS Rep. a big 👍

I don't see the "auto load" as a flaw or an error. It's just not a design feature. I like it and can get any full size or compact M&P to do it whenever I want. It's all about the angles.

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So you're saying you can make the new 2.0 do it? I call BS.

I've seen at least one video review where the guy was able to get the 2.0 to auto forward. He had to smack the full mag in really hard but it did it. It's just not nearly as easy as with the 1.0's.

Everybody...It's not rocket science, it's not some mystical force, it's not part of the design of the 1.0's, it's just a quirk of many semi-autos. My Beretta APX does it too. It's simply the vibration imparted on the frame and slide that kicks the stop loose when you slam a mag in. Depending on the shape of the stop lever nub, where it engages on the slide and a few other factors will determine how easy it happens. At the point of slide lock (without an empty mag follower pushing on it), there's nothing else holding positive tension on the lever except the recoil spring (except on the 2.0). And on the 1.0, the lever is spring loaded to want to return to a neutral position anyway so it's just physics really. I suppose the slide being melonited helps as well because it's more slick and provides less friction. I noticed that the auto forwarding got more frequent as my guns got used more because as the parts wear together and the black oxide finish over the melonite gets polished away in those areas there is less friction.

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I saw the same vid done by Mac and he couldn't figure out what the slide lock actually was for but finally he did and then he slapped the mag in a few times to test and he could make it "Auto Chamber" a round and he didn't seem to hit it very hard, made me wonder why thus add the Slide lock button in front of the Slide release!

So that is "Fact" and not BS!

That Mac guy reloads in the strangest manner I've ever seen. He drops the mag and then puts his new one in and then uses his support hand thumb on the slide stop to release the slide and chamber the new round.

Just seems a bit too complex of a procedure and can't really see any value in it. At least using the slide stop to release with your strong hand thumb gives you some speed advantage...

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This is a commonly used option to release a locked slide. Nothing unusual about it at all. It just depends how you train.

Many guns require the right handed shooter to shift his shooting grip to reach the slide stop/release lever with his thumb. After manipulating the lever, the shooter needs to reacquire his shooting grip. This is slow and complex compared to keeping his shooting grip and using the left thumb to hit the lever on its way to reacquirng the firing grip.

The auto-forward option can be adjusted into almost every slide stop lever. Every pistol I've had since 1995 (about a dozen from 5 manufacturers) with a slide stop lever I have adjusted to have this as an option. It is my primary method of releasing the slide for a speed reload. It's just springs and friction. This is not just an S&W option. It does not prevent me from using any other method to release the slide. It's just an additional option which when adjustments are correct is very fast and reliable.

Conversely, through similar but opposite adjustments between the slide stop and the slide notch (increasing friction rather than decreasing it), and perhaps stronger recoil springs, I could prevent auto-forwarding on any of these same guns. This is not complex home gunsmithing.

If I were to buy a 2.0 S&W with the "enhanced" lever supposedly to prevent auto-forwarding, I would disable that function before even shooting the gun. And no, I don't care about a silly warranty issue on a $500 gun, but I could probably restore it to factory configuration without a problem if necessary.

Common? I guess I'll have to take your word for it. I've never seen it done that way with any of the gun videos or people that I've ever watched...and that's quite a bit. I'm not saying it's right or wrong... just kinda weird IMO.

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Here's just one video of the many that came up when I Googled "Slide Lock Speed Reload".

Navy SEAL Emergency Reload Techniques Compared ⋆ Dry Fire Training Cards Blog

Nope, I should have been more clear. I can make any of the original design do it. I have not tried it with the 2.0 yet.

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Correct. I didn't grab your whole post, but I would like to add something.

The auto forward is not due to some vibration, but it is physics. It depends on the angle of the force applied to the magazine a it's inserted. If that force is directly in line with the grip, the gun will not auto-forward. However, if that force is a little more toward the muzzle, it will auto-forward. Why? Because of the inertia of the slide.

As you insert the magazine, if the force is a little forward, this will cause the slide to move rearward (or frame forward for the particular among us). It doesn't need to move far. In fact, if the slide moves at all, even .002" is enough, pressure is removed from the slide stop and the spring will pull it down, thus releasing the slide. Other guns will do this, but it's more reliable on guns with a slide stop return spring. If the M&P 2.0 doesn't have the slide stop spring, and I'm being told it doesn't, then it's less likely to auto-forward.

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Hmm... I'll have to think about that one... and play around with it a bit because my mag loads are usually pretty centered in line with the frame when I'm just at the range behind the table punching paper and mine will auto forward with a moderate slap.

Vibration does seem a strange way to describe the action that sets off the reaction because it's more of a quick percussive attack. But in reality it is an accurate assessment. If viewed as a waveform and time streched, what seems to be a very fast percussive attack like a snare drum can be seen having quite a few sympathetic over tones that trail off. Any kind of hit that makes a sound causes vibrations to travel throughout the pieces that were hit. If you don't slap the mag in hard enough, it won't matter what angle you slam it in... without enough force to create adequate "vibration" the slide stop won't release.

Retort?

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Yeah... I don't know who wrote that blog entry but they are very obviously biased toward the support hand slide lock release technique to the point of almost belittling people who use the slingshot method, and downright saying that most people shouldn't sweep the lever with their strong hand thumb. I don't think there's a "wrong" way to do it out of these three methods I can see potential problems with all of them. It just depends on the shooter and their training and it's very subjective. I guess it just depends on what the main goal is in your technique. If it's ultimate speed, then one of the slide stop methods is probably best. If it's ultimate reliability and being able to take the same technique to any semi auto, then the over hand rack seems best to me. I don't agree with this blog writers inference that people who use the slingshot method are inexperienced or "base shooters" is the term he uses I think. A lot of trainers and professional shooters use the slingshot metbod as well as the strong hand thumb sweep.

It's interesting...and thanks to you I can see some merit in it now. I'll have to give it some training time to see If It can work for me.

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Not really a retort, I actually agree with what you're saying. Further, vibration isn't wrong per se, to me it doesn't describe what's going on.

It's also true that due to manufacturing variance, some pistols will do it easier than others. I have 5 M&Ps. All of them will do it, the one I use the most, .45ACP, does it the easiest. I haven't even tried it on the Shield because it's just too small.

Also, let me amend my previous comment by using this picture:


When I say straight up, I'm thinking along the lines of the red arrow.

When I say angled, the green arrow.

Because the grip is angled in relation to the slide, i.e. not perpendicular, force in that direction, or even more toward the muzzle, can cause the slide to move backward ever so slightly. That's enough to release tension on the slide stop and allow the slide to close.

You can try it without slamming a mag in. With an empty gun, lock the slide open. Then push on the front of the slide, but don't try to move it, just add pressure. You will see that with almost no movement, the slide stop will snap down. This works on the M&P, H&K USP and Glock.

If the gun doesn't have a spring with downward pressure on the slide stop, the momentum of the slide stop would would also move the slide stop down, but it's not reliable. My 1911s don't do this at all.

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An overhand release is a good method but not foolproof. And it is the slowest method because of the distances and movements involved.

The reduced distance/movements of slide lever manipulation are faster.

Auto-forwarding is consistently the fastest and simplest when the stop/slide engagement surface is properly adjusted. This is not an accidental or unanticipated slide release but an intentional manipulation.

Yes, one method is faster than another. But how much faster? At the top of a national competition it will make a difference. For normal people, even in local competitions, I don't think it will make that much difference.

When it comes to defensive shooting it's a moot point. If the defender has shot to slide stop, he's either faced with overwhelming odds or something has gone wrong. At that moment there is a human factor to deal with; fear. That fear will cause just about anyone to lose what little control they had. At that point, use the method that works best for you.

I generally lean toward the over hand. Why? Because it works with every gun and is using larger motions.

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I totally get what your saying and I did play around with the angles you were talking about and do see what your getting at. I was able to get my gun to auto forward easier and more consistently if I apply more force concentrated toward the heel of the grip. (I think that's what you were getting at) The point I'm trying to make clear is that you can't just slowly push a magazine in there and then twist it or push it in any direction and make the slide stop. You need that percussive energy to make the frame or slide distort enough to kick the slide stop out of the notch. Right? If you can make your slide stop simply by pushing a magazine in slowly with a certain angle then that would be something I'd definitely like to see. But I suspect you need a decent slap which depending on the angle will determine how easily the slide drops.

If I am understanding you correctly, you are equating the technique simply to force in a certain direction that causes the slide to move back and drop the slide stop. If this the case then you shouldn't need energy behind it. My thinking is that you do need energy (combination of velocity and mass) to create enough distortion in the frame. This frame distortion is simply a vibration

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Yes, of course you need some force. This is all about getting the slide to move back, or the frame to move forward depending on your point of reference, just a little. If you gently insert the mag, that won't happen.

However, it doesn't need to be slammed in there either. A simple, nice and smooth, but firm, insertion is all it should take. If it takes more than that, don't rely on it.

No distortion of the frame is necessary.

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Sorry for the thread drift guys.

All good points, well stated.

With good training, under fear conditions I expect to default to my primary method for reloading from slide lock. I only use one method as primary.

The overhand method is my backup, both because it is reliable and because it is necessary to know and use competently for clearing stoppages.

With the stop/slide surfaces adjusted, the angle of mag insertion makes no difference. It is the jarring motion of the mag base plate against the bottom of the grip that causes the slide to jump just enough to reduce friction for the slide stop lever return spring to push the lever down. I do not have to slam the mag home--just a typical forceful insertion to be sure the mag release catches the mag.

Ok, I'm trying to make the point that we're both talking about the same thing. The terminology may be different but the physics are the same. The distortion or vibrarion I refer to in this context IS the movement you refer to...and it takes a sufficient amount of energy or force to make this movement/vibration/distortion possible. To put it simply, a vibration is just a movement.

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Thank you Cb3, you really do have a gift for reason and consise wording. I've noticed this now on a few threads we happened to end up discussing together.

So what is your preferred method of reloading from slide lock? If over handing is your back up, which of the slide stop methods is your primary?

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