SD9VE TAKE DOWN LEVER---MY NEW TRICK
 

The takedown lever on the SD9VE and 40VE bugs a lot of people because it seems too short to grasp----and has enabled the aftermarket to sell extended takedown levers at a near 100% profit. Like many I find it almost impossible to pull down both sides of the lever at the same time leading to all sorts of frustration and foul language.
Today for grins----I followed the takedown procedure but after pulling the slide back slightly I only pulled down one side of the lever---then----I let the slide move forward---then pulled down the opposite side of the lever---and VOILA---the slide came forward and allowed effortless removal
TRY IT---YOU"LL LIKE IT---never too old to learn!!!

I gave up
 

I went with the Galloway Precision takedown replacement. It made a new gun out of it!!!!! I enjoy it more now knowing I take it down simply!

This is wonderful, man. I have such a ridiculously hard time with the lever, this is what I was halfway achieving all the times I screwed it up in the first place. Nice.

I tend to use my left hand to work the take down lever. I rest the front of the frame on my index finger knuckle(where my hand meets my finger). I then use thumb and index in a cantilever motion to pull the TD lever downward letting the knuckle absorb the weight of the TD lever has on it.

I have the Galloway extended take down lever in mine, which does make it easier. I read of another solution, though, which is to use a soft cloth like a cleaning rag draped over your fingers and use that to snag the levers, rather than trying to use your fingernails.

The method he described makes it a breeze, I can feel easily the points where you know you've done enough one at a time and engage the slide. I sucked at the pinch and-pulling the micro-taketown levers, my fingertips hurt bad. I don't see how this method could hurt the frame at all, hopefully.

I used a dremel with sanding drum and ground finger grooves in the frame just like the originals.

It's a piss poor design lever on the ends to begin with, should have caps on the ends for your fingers.

The lever tends to move to one side when pulling down on it.

To the OP VERY NICE good catch.:D

3

I wonder if they make a reduced power takedown spring LOL.

3

I went with Galloway on both of mine and am glad I did and I don't care what they make on an idea to correct a poor excuse of a design. All S&W had to do was lengthen that radial finger area and it would have been fine. .200" wider as a "Glock" and it would have been fine. A shade lighter on spring load would have been nicer too. I got both of mine from Eric for the 40 and the 9 and it works awesome. Glad he came up with the idea, now am getting his polished SS guide rods and springs for both and replacing the original. But kudos to bengal07, will give it a try after my grand daughter goes to bed tonight.

Wherevdo mi find the Galloway take down extension levers for my SD 9VE

I just tried this with my SD9VE, but it doesn't work. If I pull the lever down on the right side, then let the slide move forward, the lever pops back up when I let go. If I pull the lever down on the left side, it stays down when I let the slide move forward, but pops up again (and locks the slide) when I push down on the other side.

BTCat - Thanks for the link. The Galloway extension lever is only $15. I'm ordering one as soon as I post this reply. :)

From a newbie
 

Is there anything wrong with pulling down on the levers then pulling the trigger to release the slide forward? That's how I get my slide to come off without killing my fingers, just not sure if there are ramifications to the trigger doing it that way. :o

Glad I'm not the only one who struggles with this, heh.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i have big hands and fingers, never had issues with taking down,

Do the Galloway takedowns need to be installed by a gunsmith?

Have this on my SD40 and it's a breeze to to take down now. It states it's for Glocks but works fine in S&W guns. Had a wicked time before this.
Simple install.
Amazon.com: Lone Wolf Extended Slide Lock Lever (Black): Sports & Outdoors@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41STZhE5iqL.@@AMEPARAM@@41STZhE5iqL

Thanks for that link. I wasn't digging the chrome...and personally, I don't have an issue with mine. But that's an excellent alternative!

After reading through this thread,I decided,for myself of course,that spending money on one of those little tiny pieces of metal is not going to happen.So I went out to the garage and found a piece of steel that was the same thickness and made one myself.All it took was a dremel with the cut off wheel and a small flat file.I held onto the piece with a small vice grip,I dont have a bench vice but think that it would work better.About 45 minutes later I came up with this.The factory piece is on the right.A bit crude looking,but it works perfectly.
http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/...s/CAM00087.jpg

how do i get a galloway extended take dowon lever

how do i purchase a galloway extended lever

The link is in post #11.

Amazon... eBay... Galloway...

Didn't want to mess with having pieces of my gun swapped out so I learned how to do this trick that the OP posted and it is NICE. The trick is to make sure to have the slide moved forth as far as it can go along the rack so that the side of the takedown switch you pushed down stays down. By the time you're pressing the slide against the "stop," you can reach down to the other side, push it down and the slide comes off just like the OP said. It's great!

Well my two cents I'm order the part see what happens always change it back.my hands not like they used to be after two surgery's.. Smith could have made it a tad bigger

I put the Galloway extended take down plate in my SD40VE a couple months ago. All I can say is WOW! I don't know why I waited a couple years to do this. The only minor issue I have is that it scrapes some of the leather inside my holster. But I honestly don't care one bit. The ease of field stripping this pistol far outweighs that little issue. If you get one, you'll be a happy camper.

L8R,
Matt

Length
 

The only change to my SD9VE is to put in an NDZ bar. Incredible difference from stock when I had to use cloth on my fingers!

Now the surprising thing is that the NDZ bar is only .92 mm longer than stock! I don't have a holster but I would guess that the .92 mm wouldn't bother most holsters.

I use the recommended procedure for take down, but I use my finger nails on the groves in the take-down lever. Easy, and never fails!

mb

Wow
 

I don't think my fingernails would last long but if it works then why not?

After a couple of years with the NDZ bar I lean towards the notion that it's really a matter of technique. If you find the best way to move the slide back, and then quickly move the "lever/bar/barrel stop" down, and quickly release the slide, it's really a nominal process.

I think that in the early days I was not moving the slide far enough back, or was spending too much effort on moving it too far back, all the while holding the bar/lever/slide stop with my fingers. I could easily go back to the stock piece but like the stainless showing and the fact that the piece is machined instead of stamped.

My superb skill, training, and experience are such that it takes about 1-2 seconds for the whole process and my fingers don't complain at all. The fact is that my skill in taking my SD9VE down far exceeds my pistol shooting skill.

[I just had a look at my original measurements and see that the NDZ bar is .98 mm longer than stock. I may have reported different numbers in prior posts.]

I bought the extended one for the Glock that also fits the SD ve series

Are you able to measure the exact length of the stock bar and the new one?

I will mic mine later this morning. I will post the measurements of the stock take down lever and the Galloway one.

L8R,
Matt

Someone post pics of one and the factory to compare..

-My pics are uploading right now. Sorry, I couldn't mic the measurements. My mic is only a 1" mic and I thought these were slightly smaller. So next best thing was the good ol' 6" steel rule. The Galloway lever is 1/16" longer than stock.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99...psx2ejv4wx.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99...psyfqytirf.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99...psxfycxgyx.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99...psu6nutgaw.jpg

L8R,
Matt

Looks like your Galloway is pretty close to 1.58-1.59mm longer than the stock.

I re-measured my stock piece at 28.52mm using my great digital caliper given to me by an old friend some 6 years ago. [Same number I got 2 years ago, even after a recent battery replacement.]

I also re-measured the NDZ piece, in situ, and got 29.50 mm.

The final answer seems to be that the Galloway is ~1.58mm longer than stock and the NDZ is .98mm longer.

I did select the Stainless NDZ version because it gave a little bling, very little, to the frame. I like the NDZ because it is Laser cut and machined instead of stamped, and while long enough to do the job, is not long enough to bother a holster, if I ever get a holster.

(My measurements can be "jiggered" about .01mm depending on how I hold my tongue but they are pretty consistent within that range.)

A final observation. The Galloway "Extended Slide Lock Lever" has slanted ends while the stock piece and the NDZ piece have straight ends, meaning that the "ripples" are all in a row, at right angles to the long dimension of the piece.

I use the term "Extended Slide Lock Lever" (which is on the NDZ package) but we have seen, throughout these posts, the terms "Take down lever" and "Barrel stop", which is the term I like because that is it's primary function in my opinion.

I don't like the term "Lever" because it doesn't perform any leverage function. Whatever . . . I'm flexible, even after all these years. (I'm long retired after some 54+ years in scientific and technical businesses, but haven't been a pistol person for very long. I will happily defer to anyone on gun nomenclature.)

The Galloway lever does bite into the leather on my holster just a little. But it's only on one side as the other side is kydex and doesn't touch that area of the pistol. Doesn't affect the draw of the pistol either. Galloway or NDZ, either one is far better than the stock piece. But then again, if S&W left that part of the frame indented like the older Sigma, then there wouldn't be a market for the extended levers to begin with. On another note, now it's time to clean my grip frame to put on my Talon Grip wrap.

L8R,
Matt

Tacky!

mb

That they are! So far I'm liking the way they feel on the grip. Hopefully I'll be at the range in the next day or two to really test them out.

L8R,
Matt

Its been almost 3 years since I posted about how terrible I was at using the takedown levers and I have to say now after all this time I can barely remember how I could have had a problem with them, I barely even think about it anymore.