Is reloading from slide lock really slower than a speed reload?

[167]

The only thing I can think of that would change the amount time it takes to do a speed reload as opposed to a slide lock reload is if I already had my spare mag up at the gun before dropping the partial magazine.

In competition it doesn't make sense to do that. In a defensive context I guess it kinda sorta might make sense.

[LOKNLOD]

The time it takes for the old mag to drop free and the new mag coming up to meet the gun has always been enough time for me to identify and address an unexpected slide lock reload.

Don't you have to have already identified and addressed the unexpected slide lock reload in order to initiate the old mag dropping free and the new mag heading towards the gun?

[Steve S.]

Question on slide stop manipulation, now that I am shooting a Glock, as opposed to the M&P which only seemed to occasionally require use of the slide stop.

When trying to preload the slide stop, I induced a stoppage too much, if I had any hiccup in seating the magazine, to be comfortable with this method. Using the slide stop with my support thumb was reliable in terms of not inducing a stoppage, but slow.

Keeping my dominant thumb down off the slide stop until the magazine is seated, seems to avoid inducing stoppages, but be no detriment to speed, since my support thumb is still slower back to the frame than my dominant thumb -- this sound right?

I know exactly what you mean. I think it's a very bad idea to preload the slide stop. Its fast, but you will end up with a type 1 malf about 50% of the time in my experience. I would occasionally do this unintentionally under stress. Once was on an IDPA qualifier, and luckily the round stripped off.

Honestly, it was enough of a nuisance that i have since focused on using the weak thumb for emergency reloads. The time lost using weak thumb is pretty minimal in my experience, and much quicker and safer then the possibility of having the slide fail to strip off a round.

[ToddG]

Don't you have to have already identified and addressed the unexpected slide lock reload in order to initiate the old mag dropping free and the new mag heading towards the gun?

I was thinking from that point of view, as well, but I believe they mean "you decided to do a speed reload and half way through you realize the slide is locked back on an empty chamber."

I know exactly what you mean. I think it's a very bad idea to preload the slide stop. Its fast, but you will end up with a type 1 malf about 50% of the time in my experience.

I don't know what a "type 1" malfunction is, but that hasn't been my experience (nor the experience of multiple agencies which have adopted it) in all the years I've been doing it with the guns I've used: various SIGs, M&P, P30, HK45, and various Glocks.

[YVK]

When trying to preload the slide stop, I induced a stoppage too much, if I had any hiccup in seating the magazine, to be comfortable with this method. Using the slide stop with my support thumb was reliable in terms of not inducing a stoppage, but slow.

Keeping my dominant thumb down off the slide stop until the magazine is seated, seems to avoid inducing stoppages, but be no detriment to speed, since my support thumb is still slower back to the frame than my dominant thumb -- this sound right?

G., I am in a middle of the same issue with P30. The number of times I dropped the slide a fraction too soon is freaking annoying. I had to do remedial sessions on this, but it still happens when I push my times. As as separate tidbit, the number of these errors went up considerably in days before trs broke; that makes me think that spring failure is not an instantaneous but a gradual process.

I think the answer is to do it how Todd teaches - drive the slide stop into your thumb, if it works for you (I could never drop the slide that way on a Glock); keeping the strong thumb relaxed is yet another aspect that requires quite a bit of training for me.

[ToddG]

I don't keep the thumb relaxed, I keep it rigid. The trick is simply learning not to press down or otherwise increase the amount of pressure you're placing on the slide release lever. You fix your thumb in place and let the momentum of the gun do the rest.

[LOKNLOD]

I was thinking from that point of view, as well, but I believe they mean "you decided to do a speed reload and half way through you realize the slide is locked back on an empty chamber."

In that case, I'd agree with the "apples and oranges" comment you made earlier.


I think the various reload methods are going to vary in impact to time differently dependent on combination of individual + weapon.

The questions you have to ask yourself, and verify with experimentation, are along the lines of "is this manipulation on the critical path between the gun firing its last round, and firing the first round of the next magazine?" and "If so, does it lengthen or shorten the critical path versus other options?" (and perhaps finally, "does it have an otherwise tangible benefit that might override the increase in time?").

[David Armstrong]

If there is any diffference I doubt it is enough of a difference to matter in anything other than a rather rare competition arena. Just my $.02.

[YVK]

I don't keep the thumb relaxed, I keep it rigid.

True, I remember you saying that.

The trick is simply learning not to press down or otherwise increase the amount of pressure you're placing on the slide release lever. You fix your thumb in place and let the momentum of the gun do the rest.

I resent the word "simply"...Did 20 dry-fire reloads last night, 19 fine, one - dropped slide so cleanly, it didn't even touch the top round in a fully seated mag...

[ToddG]

So back off on the position of your thumb a bit and see if it will still drop 100% of the time without the 5% premature release. Simple!