I bought this weapon a couple of months ago...haven't had the opportunity to fire yet. I have trouble with the slide release, it's too narrow for my feeble thumb. Any suggestions about a higher profile release mechanism?

S&W would not reply to a request for info about this problem.
Any suggestions and/or criticisms welcome. This is my first 40 cal. weapon.

It's not necessarily a 'problem', as you put it. Technically, it's a 'Slide Stop' lever (lots of arguments/debates over this), and primarily used to lock the slide in the rear position. When the slide is locked to the rear, just use your off-hand to release the slide by pulling it 'smartly' to the rear and letting go forward. No biggie.

P.S. Your new handgun/pistol/sidearm is only a WEAPON if you use it as such.

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SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

After I posted the above info...I saw a few other existing posts which basically pointed out the facts in yours. This has saved me much heartburn!!

Thanks for your service!

You are welcome, Sir. Glad you got the info you needed.

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SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

I don't train to use it as a release, but if you are, are you doing it with an empty mag in? If so, it's going to be much tougher.

I thought I had the same problem years ago with my first Glock. I didn't really understand that it wasn't meant to easily release the slide over an empty magazine.
So I bought their extended slide release lever and when I went to shoot it the first time, experienced frequent lock backs due to hitting the larger release by accident. Turns out the guys that designed the thing knew something I didn't.
Imagine that.