To slide stop or not

[GJM]

End of the day, I was running some drills that involved a slide lock reload with a Glock 17. I most recently have been shooting a Sig, with a JV trimmed slide stop, and had the slide stop manipulation with my dominant right thumb squared away.

Perhaps 1 in 10 slide lock reloads, I managed to get the timing wrong and drop the slide on an empty chamber with the Glock.

My thinking is given the rather low probability of having to make a slide lock reload with a high cap pistol outside of drills or games, the highest reliability method of dealing with a for real slide lock reload might be use my support thumb, or slingshot (my choice)/ overhand the slide?

[TGS]

End of the day, I was running some drills that involved a slide lock reload with a Glock 17. I most recently have been shooting a Sig, with a JV trimmed slide stop, and had the slide stop manipulation with my dominant right thumb squared away.

Perhaps 1 in 10 slide lock reloads, I managed to get the timing wrong and drop the slide on an empty chamber with the Glock.

My thinking is given the rather low probability of having to make a slide lock reload with a high cap pistol outside of drills or games, the highest reliability method of dealing with a for real slide lock reload might be to slingshot (my choice) or overhand the slide?

What about just waiting until the mag is seated instead of trying to time it?

[joshs]

Is this a normal occurrence for you with a Glock, or is it new and due to shooting the Sig?

[GJM]

I have experimented with pre-loading the slide stop on the Glock and P30 and never found that satisfactory.

Using my dominant thumb, the problem would be if the insertion was bobbled, I could get the timing wrong. When shooting the Glock before, I had to train my dominant thumb to stay still until the mag was fully seated. I had that squared away.

This afternoon that training was obviously forgotten.

That got me thinking about whether an alternative solution, that would be a tad slower but less subject to timing, might be a strategy to consider.

[joshs]

If using the preload method, there isn't any timing. The force of mag insertion pushes the slide release up into your thumb.

[GJM]

Sorry, poor diction on my part.

1) Using pre-loading, I couldn't make that work to my satisfaction.



2) Different method, using the dominant thumb (not pre-loading), the timing could be messed up with a bobbled insertion.

[ToddG]

I agree completely about the danger of trying to time it with the shooting hand thumb.

Not sure what issue it is you're experiencing with pre-loading the lever. It's absolutely the fastest (and most reliable) way I know assuming you can properly reach the lever with your shooting hand thumb.

Barring that, using the support hand to drop the slide is still substantially faster than racking it manually and eliminates the many potential failure modes associated with racking the slide. Quite a few instructors teach it as their first choice, though in my experience they tend to be instructors who don't know the difference between timing it and pre-loading the lever.

[GJM]

Please describe how to properly do the "pre-load" method, as it has been some time since I tried it.

[LittleLebowski]

Please describe how to properly do the "pre-load" method, as it has been some time since I tried it.

For me, I just rest my strong side thumb on the slide stop with a slight amount of pressure and let the force of reloading a fresh mag push the frame and thus the slide stop against my strong side thumb hard enough to trigger the release of the slide as the mag actually seats.

[Dan_S]

For me, I just rest my strong side thumb on the slide stop with a slight amount of pressure and let the force of reloading a fresh mag push the frame and thus the slide stop against my strong side thumb hard enough to trigger the release of the slide as the mag actually seats.

Your brother taught me to do that. It works well.