Reloads cause slide to go into battery

[Wellison]

Ever since I started shooting competition 6 years ago I've rarely had to sling-shot the slide into battery after a slide-lock reload. This has been true with both Glocks and my M&P. I've always thought this was a good thing since it's saved me the time of manually charging the first round. But recently I've read here in these forums about feed lip problems caused by slamming magazines into the weapon too sharply. Have I developed a bad habit or is this desirable?

-Will

[Jim Watson]

I don't seat the magazine in my "self closing" Plastic M&P any harder than I have done with other guns for years and years. Magazine lips are holding up well.

I had my first bad experience with the effect the other day. The slide went forward faster than the magazine could bring up a round and I had a "bolt over base" malfunction that cost me a lot of time to clear.

[Sarge]

And, if you read all the posts about slamcharging one of the biggest concerns is getting in the habit of doing it and then the gun fails to do it at the most critical time. This costs valuable time as well. My G34 does it but I try real hard to not get used to it.

Then again I also try even harder to not get to slide lock if I can help it.

[spanky]

Yep, it happens and, as far as I can tell nothing is wrong with it but don't get used to it. It's guaranteed that as soon as you get used to it, it will not happen to you.

I remember in a Todd Green class we did, he mentioned (but no names) not to get used to slamming the mags home hoping for the slide to drop because no matter how often it does it, it won't do it reliably. Apparently one of the students was seen, after seating his mag, slamming the bottom of the mag a few times to try to get the slide to go forward.

This isn't that big of a deal for righties since they can generally thumb the release or hit it with their off hand but us lefties are at a slight disadvantage. I was taught to reach under the gun with my weak hand middle finger and flick it down then roll into my grip. It's much faster than racking.

[Bongo Boy]

I don't think I'm wrong here: the mag lips don't touch anything regardless of how hard the mag is slammed into the gun. The only thing they could possibly contact would be the bottom of the chute on the way in, and that's not an issue related to how hard you jam 'em in.

The issue of getting accustomed to and expecting the slide release to release when you do this is a controversial topic I'll leave to experts. But slamming the mag into the gun can't possibly have any impact on the top of the mag once the mag is 'lined up on final', so to speak. My view, anyway.

On the issue of relying on this...I have found with my MP a surprising failure to unlock the slide under what seems to be the very identical conditions under which it unlocks 30-40 times without fail. Once in a while, I jam er home and, oooops, no slide unlock. To me this is a tough area for training...train for something not happening that almost always does, or train for something happening that almost never does.

Once again, as always, I can only relate this to my personal level of competitive performance--where if it goes either way it will have no impact whatsoever on my score. By the time that rig is in battery I'll bet dollars to donuts I've forgotten what the next target is or how many time I've fired at the previous one. An auto-unlock or manual slingshot won't make one hoot of difference for me.

Yup, it's real funny to think of someone slamming the mag to release the slide. But I can see myself doing it, because in effect you can train yourself to release the slide this way and soon your brain believes this is the way to release the slide. Better do it right the first time, I guess. The insidious part of it is, you're training yourself to do something but you really don't know it. Funny, until you waste time in this awful manner.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Bongo Boy

[Wellison]

This may be wasting time too but I always take my eyes off the target during a reload. I haven't mastered the blind reload (is there such a thing?) so I'm already looking at the gun and I always look at the slide to make sure it's down before continuing. I've practiced reloading by moving the gun as little as possible. I simply rotate it slightly to assist finding the mag well.

@ Bongo Boy I think the issue with the feed lips has nothing to do with impacting the mag well or slide. The poster describing his issue attributed it to the inertia of the rounds inside the magazine pressing against the feed lips. If the loaded magazine is slammed into the weapon that inertia is going to be higher and the resulting stress on the lips will be greater. He was saying this repetitive action was causing the premature failure of his magazines. I don't know. So far no one in this topic has indicated that they've experienced this as a potential downside of slam charging.

-Will

[GrumpyOne]

This may be wasting time too but I always take my eyes off the target during a reload. I haven't mastered the blind reload (is there such a thing?) so I'm already looking at the gun and I always look at the slide to make sure it's down before continuing. I've practiced reloading by moving the gun as little as possible. I simply rotate it slightly to assist finding the mag well.

@ Bongo Boy I think the issue with the feed lips has nothing to do with impacting the mag well or slide. The poster describing his issue attributed it to the inertia of the rounds inside the magazine pressing against the feed lips. If the loaded magazine is slammed into the weapon that inertia is going to be higher and the resulting stress on the lips will be greater. He was saying this repetitive action was causing the premature failure of his magazines. I don't know. So far no one in this topic has indicated that they've experienced this as a potential downside of slam charging.

-Will

Watch this clip of a Travis Tomasie mag change. In the beginning, while he is looking directly at the camers, you will see even he drops his eyes to see the mag into the gun.

[Wellison]

Watch this clip of a Travis Tomasie mag change. In the beginning, while he is looking directly at the camers, you will see even he drops his eyes to see the mag into the gun.

Me thinks he's done that before.

[CC712400]

I slam my magazines in on my my USP, and it's pretty reliable about releasing the slide. For the rare occasions that it doesn't, my left hand is already moving to position, and it's easy to hit the slide release lever with my left thumb. Then again, the slide release on a USP is about 5 times bigger than a Glock.

As far as damaging the magazines, I can't imagine that it would hurt it any more than dropping a half-loaded magazine, lips down, onto concrete.

[Supermoto]

I recently saw a shooter load a mag, hit the bottom of the mag to try to get the slide to drop, when it would not he continued to pound on the base of the mag. Wasted a lot of time trying to save time

[Canuck223]

The STI GP6 will almost always cause the slide to go into battery if you insert the magazine with the force most IPSC shooter use in a reload. Mine does it 100% of the time, as did it's predecesor, the GP K100. On this gun, it was a design feature, and the origional manufacturer will cut the slide detents deeper on request to delete this feature.

[blawson]

I slam the mags in hard everytime, but I do not expect the slide to slam home. I always try to come down with my left thumb and engage the slide lock down. That way there is no way that the slide can stay locked back. It takes some getting used to but once you do it works very well.

[Wellison]

I slam the mags in hard everytime, but I do not expect the slide to slam home. I always try to come down with my left thumb and engage the slide lock down. That way there is no way that the slide can stay locked back. It takes some getting used to but once you do it works very well.

I think I'll start practicing this. I need to get my grip higher anyway.

-Will