Easy slide release?

[frazmul]

Most semi autos' slides are operated by a thumb and not 2 hands for many tac reasons; even my PM9. Since this is a new Shield, I've been operating the slide to loosen the spring tension + shot 200 rds, but still cannot release it with right thumb. Already using the grip machine, but anyone else having the same problem and/or solutions.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Anybody teaching real world tactics doesn't teach using the slide stop lever to release the slide. It's not designed to release the slide, it's designed to lock it back. Release it by folding your nonshooting hand over the top of the slide, gripping it firmly, and pulling it sharply rearward while forcing your shooting hand, holding the firearm firmly, sharply forward.

 

[CATI1835]

I find the slide on my Shield extremely heavy. About 700 rounds and it has not eased any. As arthritis begins to take a toll on my hands I have begun to shoot it less and replace it in my EDC rotation.
BTW, the slide hold open lever is not the proper way to release the slide. A "slingshot" release is the "proper" way.

 

[rroberts]

Just got a .45 shield and mine will not release with the slide release either. I am not sure that will ever ease up.

 

[CB3]

Try the forum "search" function.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-...ng-shield-9mm-again.html?highlight=Slide+stop

 

[ken158]

Yep, that is a slide lock... not a slide release.

 

[gonerydin]

Most semi autos' slides are operated by a thumb and not 2 hands for many tac reasons; even my PM9. Since this is a new Shield, I've been operating the slide to loosen the spring tension + shot 200 rds, but still cannot release it with right thumb. Already using the grip machine, but anyone else having the same problem and/or solutions.

It will get better in time. Mine has. Regardless what the keyboard commandos say, you need the ability to release the slide with one hand in the event of injury. And it doesn't hurt a thing.


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[Wee Hooker]

Stiff slides are common with many small, mid-large caliber semi's. It's pure physics. Since they don't have much mass in the slide to absorb recoil energy, the spring must be heavier to compensate (or the gun will batter itself to an early death.) For those with hand strength issues, the answer is usually a bigger pistol or moving to a revolver.

 

[Smoke]

Regardless what the keyboard commandos say, you need the ability to release the slide with one hand in the event of injury.

Displays a lack of training. Most of the "Keyboard Commandos" have been trained how to reload the weapon using one hand without using the slide LOCK.

 

[CB3]

The slide stop must be able to release the slide. It can easily be adjusted to do so in any manner mechanically possible. With 800 or even 1000 grit wet dry sandpaper, simply polish the back of the stop and the interfacing slide notch until it performs the way you want. This adjustment is time consuming for the factory assembler to do. It is almost always done by a custom pistol smith.

Then you can release the slide by any of the following methods for a right handed shooter:

1. The tactically recommended overhand slide sling although it is slower than other methods and requires two hands, which may not always be available. Takes maximum amount of time to reacquire a two handed firing grip.
2. The rear of slide thumb/forefinger pinch method--similar liabilities to #1.
3. Release the stop with your right thumb. Requires only one hand. Very advantageous when needed. Quicker than the two handed. Usually requires an adjustment to your one handed firing grip.
4. Release the stop with the left thumb on its way to acquiring a two-handed firing grip. Very fast, often used by competitors. Requires two hands.
5. Auto-forward. Slamming a loaded mag into the grip hard enough to release the stop. Very fast for a one or two handed grip. Minimal wasted motion. When the stop is properly adjusted, this is very reliable. It is my primary method, backed up by #3. Both these methods can be done one handed.

 

[ggibson511960]

Serrations??

All the breathless advocates for one method or the other of releasing a slide, or for adamantly defining a slide stop/release ignore how most pistol manufacturers configure the thumb lever. The serrations are generally on the top, or biased to the top, so the thumb can push down and release the slide. One can certainly push up on the lever to stop the slide, but the lever is configured to be most effective at releasing the slide. Polishing the parts is a good idea, and so is working on the engagement angle of the slide stop and the slide notch if you desire an easy let off. It is no different than a hammer and sear where engagement angle and spring pressure determine trigger pull weight. Unfortunately, the full compressed pressure of the slide return spring works on this one engagement point when the slide is held retracted. Someone will likely market a bigger slide stop lever for M&P's just as has been done for other semi-auto pistols. I have one on a Browning Hi Power that could pass for a small kick starter for a motorcycle.

 

[Arik]

All the breathless advocates for one method or the other of releasing a slide, or for adamantly defining a slide stop/release ignore how most pistol manufacturers configure the thumb lever. The serrations are generally on the top, or biased to the top, so the thumb can push down and release the slide. One can certainly push up on the lever to stop the slide, but the lever is configured to be most effective at releasing the slide. Polishing the parts is a good idea, and so is working on the engagement angle of the slide stop and the slide notch if you desire an easy let off. It is no different than a hammer and sear where engagement angle and spring pressure determine trigger pull weight. Unfortunately, the full compressed pressure of the slide return spring works on this one engagement point when the slide is held retracted. Someone will likely market a bigger slide stop lever for M&P's just as has been done for other semi-auto pistols. I have one on a Browning Hi Power that could pass for a small kick starter for a motorcycle.

Glocks slide serrations are on top yet they state....and teach that it's a slide lock, not a release.

Shooting Illustrated | It's A Slide Stop, Not A Slide Release



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[CB3]

"It's a slide lock, not a release."
Semantics. This is nomenclature--a way to consistently identify a part with a simple, consistent name.

HOWEVER, if you describe this part as designed for most pistols, it also FUNCTIONS as a release. Thus the external tab, almost always grooved, to push DOWN and release the slide WITHOUT pulling it back. If the slide stop was not intended to be able to release the slide, that external tab would not be there--as is the case on a few pistols.

Just because your stop is too tight to operate as a release does not mean others shouldn't be allowed to adjust it if necessary to release as well as stop.

Really. This is hard to understand only for the most closed of minds.

 

[Smoke]

Words mean things. When handgun manufacturers were naming gun parts they had the option of using the term slide lock or slide release, I think it's significant that they almost monolithically chose the name that part a slide lock. I don't happen to have an M&P manual with me but the next chance I get I'm going to look at mine and see how it says to release the slide.

For me personally in accordance with my training I don't ever use the slide lock to release the slide. You do what you want you live with the consequences

 

[Muss Muggins]

5. Auto-forward. Slamming a loaded mag into the grip hard enough to release the stop. Very fast for a one or two handed grip. Minimal wasted motion. When the stop is properly adjusted, this is very reliable. It is my primary method, backed up by #3. Both these methods can be done one handed.

I have seen on more than one occasion a misapplied attempt at auto-forwarding (which is an intentional attempt to create a malfunction that the pistol is not designed for) which caused the slide going forward before the magazine was fully seated. The end result was a seated magazine, a released slide, and an empty chamber.

But that's none of my business. You roll your way, I'll roll mine . . .

 

[zymurgeist]

You want to be careful making the slide lock easier to release. You may end up with a slide lock that won't hold at all. Those serrations and that tab don't necessarily indicate it's a slide release. They may be there to make it easier to apply the lock. I wouldn't read too much into them being there.

 

[Muss Muggins]

You want to be careful making the slide lock easier to release. You may end up with a slide lock that won't hold at all. Those serrations and that tab don't necessarily indicate it's a slide release. They may be there to make it easier to apply the lock. I wouldn't read too much into them being there.

Before the FBI adopted Glock as their issue firearm (the first time), they forced Glock to design a slide stop lever with an extended shelf so that their agents could use the lever to release the slide, because, well, they're the FBI. Glock resisted for a while, as their position is that the lever should not be used to release the slide, hence its original design. Glock eventually relented (who wouldn't, given the size of the purchase), and those slide stop levers have been available to the public for a while now.

 

[martybee]

"It's a slide lock, not a release."
Really. This is hard to understand only for the most closed of minds.

I thinks; you answered your own question.
It is a slide lock! Not designed as a Release!

 

[ChiefStealth]

I use the "slide lock" as both a slide lock, and a slide release. Y'all do what you think is best.

 

[gonerydin]

Words mean things. When handgun manufacturers were naming gun parts they had the option of using the term slide lock or slide release, I think it's significant that they almost monolithically chose the name that part a slide lock. I don't happen to have an M&P manual with me but the next chance I get I'm going to look at mine and see how it says to release the slide.

For me personally in accordance with my training I don't ever use the slide lock to release the slide. You do what you want you live with the consequences

The M&P manual calls it a "slide stop" FWIW. There is nothing in the manual that disallows using it to release the slide and nothing that condones either.


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