Slingshot or Slide Release?

[LAFLA]

Ok, here is one for the gunsmiths out there. I used to use the slide hold to release the slide on a round until my local gunsmith told me that this imparts an unnecessary wear on the indent where the slide hold engages. This, he said, is true of even the best made semis and will eventually wear down the opening until it is difficult to keep the slide hold engaged - thus when you slam home a magazine, the slide may release on it's own. I now use the overhand method on all my pistols including two Kahrs 9s with no problems (of course the Kahrs have over 1000 rounds each through them).

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[broknindarkagain]

I "slingshot" usually. It seems slightly smoother then using the slide release on my 5906

[QKShooter]

Well in a Colt 1911 you're only gaining a negligible .25" (possibly slightly less) of recoil spring compression by not using the slide stop/release.

In my opinion it's "either/or" for the Colt 1911 genre of handguns.

Whatever works best for the shooter. Do as you train I guess.

"This, he said, is true of even the best made semis and will eventually wear down the opening until it is difficult to keep the slide hold engaged"
Not so true these days with better steel and slide hardness. The old Colt slides would deform a bit at the slide stop/release notch.

[NY27]

Hand over the top. That is how I have been doing it for 12 years. Muscle memory is well established. As mentioned, gross motor skills are easier to perform in high stress situations.

[Superhouse 15]

I know I'm supposed to slingshot it, but old habits die hard and if I don't pay attention I hit the release like my lizard brain is programmed. Slingshot isn't in muscle memory yet. Worse yet, I'm lefty and release it with my trigger finger mostly.

[markp]

Slide release for me. I've never missed it and it works every time. It's faster and there is less of a chance to get my left hand in front of the barrel.

Trigger pull isn't a gross motor skill and we all practice that enough so we can do it under stress, I think the slide release is the same. Additionally it can be done one handed much easier than the sling shot. All this said I still do practice a little sling shot and other on handed techniques. EG. one handed malfunction drill using rear sight and belt to rack slide, or between knees etc.

[Redneck Repairs]

LAFLA i call bs , any wear on the slide stop , or on the notch in the slide is caused from the high impact of the slide stop actually stopping the slide as designed . there is virtually NO wear caused by thumbing the slide stop down . Oh and i use both methods with an effort to allways use the control rather than rack , the control only takes one hand to run the pistol , slingshoting for me normally requires two , or stuff i would rather not use to control my pistol .

[sojourner]

Slingshot. I do it by grabbing the aft part of the slide, aft of where the casing gets ejected, with my fingers/palm. Gross motor skills, works regardless of the handgun.

[QKShooter]

Oh yes and I should be corrected by sojourner. I was just thinking Slide Stop Notch and how I Have seen slightly peened notches on older softer slides but, that would not have resulted from the action of the slide stop being thumbed down.
Good catch sojourner.

[sheepdog]

Another lefty using the slide release here. Also, if you use a slingshot release on a Smith and Wesson with a slide mounted safety, it can make for a briefly puzzling (and fun to watch when a shooter does about 12 TRB drills trying to figure it out) malfunction. If I was using a Glock, I'd learn to slingshot-better with the small release and no slide mounted safety.

[Tangle]

That's a training issue, not a problem with the overhand technique per se. Never ever put your hand over the ejection port.

You're correct - it was a training issue. He did an over the top just like he was trained to. The problem was nobody told him about what would happen if the case stuck as it did. He simply did his muscle memory, trained drill and the sharp edge of the case opened a nasty slash on his hand.

If you place your hand over the slide to do a slide rack, your hand will, at minimum, cover part of the ejection port on many guns. I demonstrated this recently on my full size M&P. With my index finger right at the rear of the slide, just about all of the ejection port is covered by my hand. As further evidence, it is easy to catch a round being ejected from the gun using the overhand method because the round comes right out into your hand that is covering the port.

I have seen this more than once, on defense guns without lightened springs, and not just on race guns. Usually tends to happen most when the firearm is dirty or poorly lubed, but some firearms and some firearms designs simply don't like being sent forward with the slide release.

pax

I agree, but still it seems to be a really rare thing. Top competitors commonly use the slide lever to release the slide.

[limatunes]

I use the overhand "slingshot" type. It has ALWAYS been easier for me.

I would use it if I had to but I tend to keep my gun on target better if I use the slingshot method.

[Tangle]

Tangle,

That's so completely not true that I had to come back and respond... how you are performing what you are talking about I don't know, but the overhand method can always be done closer to the body than the slingshot, so it is better for confined spaces. Slingshotting requires the gun to be moved out from the body in order to get the hand behind it, overhand (or slide release for that matter) does not.

Similarly, the overhand method only covers the ejection port if you are doing it wrong. keep the hand behind the ejection port on the slide.

Rob,
It took a long time for me to give up my tried and true over the top method in favor of the slingshot. I've taken a lot of training at Gunsite, four handgun courses, one at Thunder Ranch and they teach the over the top.

Now that I've switched to the slingshot, which BTW, a year ago, I could tell you all the major disadvantages of the slingshot, I find it's far better than I thought.

I agree with you that the over the top is powerful, more powerful than the slingshot by a good bit, and it can be done closer to the body as well. But that's good and it's bad. If there's a need to be discrete, say seated in a car and things are looking bad, and due to our ingraining from training, we want to press check right now, but discretely. I can put my gun between my legs, point it at the floor, and slingshot press check using my trigger finger to feel the round. That becomes more difficult with the over the top.

As for covering the ejection port. How can you do it wrong? I do it as taught by Gunsite and Thunder Ranch. The only way I can prevent my hand from covering the ejection port with the over the top, is to grip the slide with my middle finger at the rear with my index finger completely behind the slide. I just did this recently on a full size M&P. This position however, degrades the power available to grip the gun because only three fingers can grip the slide, and the grip is compromised.

"Best" in the context of tactical pistol tehcnique is "most efficient, most of the time"... the search should be for consistency, which leads to greater efficiency.

-RJP

OOOO! I like that!

[Rob Pincus]

I'm glad you like the definition of best... ;).. I do too.


As for the slingshot, I can only relate what I teach to my students and why... the "why" in this case is because I have found (experience an student observation) the overhand to be the most consistent and reliable way to get a gun into battery for defensive shooters. Competition shooting is a whole different animal. Too often skills that work very well there (slide release techniques & swinging the gun from target to target for example) can't be counted on during defensive situations.

Understand that I don't wade into these forum discussions to change everyone's mind.... simply to share my opinion and quite often to explain why the opinion exists. I don't sit around making stuff up, nor do I generally just apply preferences of "what works for me"... the techniques that I teach and that my instructors teach are what we passionately believe to be the best options for defensive shooters based on empirical evidence and lots of trials and observations.

-RJP

[Tangle]

That's interesting because some other instructors with lot's of defensive training experience and real life experience, prefer the slingshot method. I was 'raised' on the overhand. Tried the slingshot and didn't like it.

Tried it again and started to see its advantages. It has nothing to do with passion or any other emotion, just what is advantageous. I promise you I can demonstrate the weaknesses of the overhand, just as I can demonstrate the weaknesses of the slingshot.

Nor do I only look at "what works for me". I've found what works for others with much more experience than I, works for me as well.

BTW, how about posting a pic of how a correct overhand grip doesn't block the ejection port and I'll post one tomorrow as well.