I have read, and frequently heard complaints about some people having difficulty with releasing the slide after it is locked back. Is there any OEM or after market extended slide locks for the Shield like the Vickers extended slide lock for the Glocks?

It is not a slide release, only a slide lock back. Pull back slightly on the slide and release it. I have seen on other blogs that forcing the slide lock down to release the slide will wear the metal to a point where it won't hold the slide back at all.

Just picked up the wife's new Shield 40 tonight. I read your post, decided to check it out. Here's what I found.

With an empty magazine, the slide release will not work with one thumb unless you pull back on the slide. In fact, it's nearly impossible to drop the slide unless you pull back on it first.

With a loaded magazine, the slide release works easily with just one thumb.

Hope that helps you.

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-Roger

You are right that it is much easier to work the slide release with a loaded magazine. The problem, as I understand it, is that it has been difficult to lock back the slide for some people, when trying to load the gun.

It's a slide lock....not a release.

The slide lock lever sticks into the magazine well. When the magazine is empty the corner of the follower pushes up on the lever. That is how the last round hold open works. When you try to push the lever while there is an empty magazine in the gun you are fighting both the magazine spring and the friction between the lever and slide.

My Shield's slide stop is still stiff after a couple of thousand rounds, but I prefer the slingshot to release method so it doesn't bother me.

I am not aware of any commercial extended slide stops.

I have a Shield 9mm. As others have noted, it's a slide lock. While it can be used as a slide release, I was trained and much prefer to use the "slingshot" method of pulling back the slide and letting it move forward under full spring tension. Not sure why it would be necessary to lock the slide back to load the gun.

The procedure I use is to load the magazine, insert in mag well, rack slide to chamber a round, drop magazine and top off to full capacity.

I'm not sure about Shields, but it is not recommended to single load a cartridge into the chamber of some semi autos and then close the slide because to do so forces the extractor over the cartridge rim and can stress the extractor possibly causing eventual breakage.