WindBreaker Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 My wife is having trouble with racking the slide of my 1911. She can't do it. Same thing with my XD. Is there a known gun with a really easy to rack slide? Maybe an exercise? Anything? Thanx for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambo Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 I'm not sure that this is really a best practice... But on the 1911 can she rack the slide if she cocks the hammer first? Might try some different arm angles/grips as well. I know when I first got a desert eagle I could only rack it if I got a really strong and firm grip. Improving hand, wrist, and forearm strength never hurts... There are many fancy thigs you can buy but I just use racquetballs (squeeze them) and wrist rollers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirveyr Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 How is she gripping the slide? Have her grip the slide over the top with her thumb facing her chest. While bracing the forearm of the hand that is over the top of the slide against her strong side ribs, ask her to think "push" the gun instead of "pull" the slide. I don't know if it is the best way to do it, but it seems to help some of the ladies that I've worked with. It is easy, and the human body is stronger, when we work work close to our bodies. I often see people holding the gun too far away from their bodies when trying to rack the slide. Also, have her begin racking the slide with the hammer back or the striker "fired". Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlmiller1 Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 There are things you can do that might help. Here is one: If you can get her to take the gun & point it roughly at 11o'clock, (if 12 o'clock is straight ahead). Pull the gun in near her body. While holding the gun with her right hand(assuming that is strong hand), grasp the slide with her left. Now pull with her left while pushing with her right. Lots of women try to rack the slide at arms length & some don't have the wrist strength, some don't have the grip strength to do this. Get the gun in close & be sure to push with the right & pull with the left. Be sure of course she keeps her finger off the trigger!!! If she can make it happen once, she can start building strength, & confidence to do it regularly & in a more conventional manner. If it is her wrist(my wife's problem) she can wrap her wrist with an ace bandage or wrist brace($10 local drugstore) to gain some support. You can also buy a slide racker. There is one made for a glock that just replaces the back plate on the slide & works great for all kind of things. Not sure about 1911s or XDs. A lighter recoil spring will help also along with grip tape on the slide. Just some ideas. MLM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.roberts Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 It's partly a positioning thing, being closer to your body will give you more leverage and being further away will give you less. Also, grip strength, in *both* hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpygravy Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Basically there are four ways to retract the slide of a semi-auto assuming the gun has serrations front and rear: the front serration pinch - from underneath the front serration pinch - from the top the rear serrations "slingshot" the rear serrations pinch and push - sometimes with hand over ejection port - be careful if clearing the gun A mimumum of finger/hand strength is required for all and assuming you don't want to monkey around with recoil/mainsprings at this point, it really comes down to picking a method and practice. If you're open to swapping springs, depending on caliber, running a light (as possible) recoil spring with and reasonable mainspring will help a a lot. Also, on the 1911, be sure that the firing pin stop is radiused (instead of square) on the bottom. I run a 12# recoil spring and 17# (minus a couple of coils) main spring on my limited gun. I run a 14# recoil and full 17# main on my single stack .45 and the difference between the two is immediately apparent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinBrian Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 My wife had trouble racking the slide on my SIG 226 40S&W, so I got her a 226 in 9mm and she has no problem with it since the 9mm has a lighter spring. She also has a hard time with the 1911 in .45 but she can get it locked back on the third try Now that I think about it, I hope she wasn't faking it just so I would buy her another pistol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g mac Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Putting a lighter recoil spring and main spring would help. Cocking the hammer prior to racking the slide would help also. You can have her push the pistol grip forward while pulling the slide back with a strong purchase of the slide might help. You can rack it for her, then let her shoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) It also helps to have a secure grip on the gun. I am not strong, and even with a light recoil spring in my Glocks, without forward serrations or grip tape I can't reliably speed rack the gun with the weak hand on the front of the slide. With something that prevents slipping, though, like forward serrations but especially a bit of skateboard tape on the slide, it becomes effortless. Of course, grip tape on the slide guarantees a tightly stuck gun in any closed holster. Edited September 7, 2012 by kevin c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSeevers Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Lighter springs Stock guns are way oversprung to make sure they feed and set off any ammo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griz Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 A tiny lady that I introduced to shooting recently found this site helpful: http://www.corneredcat.com/Rack_the_Slide/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAcanis Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 If you want to go the easy slide route, a buddy of mine just bought his son a Walther in .380 that the slide racks incredibly easy. I can't think of the model, but it looks an awful lot like Ruger's SR 22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBetts Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 This was the main deciding factor when my wife got her first gun (besides being "pretty"). She had to attempt racking the slide before we would purchase anything. She could rack the slide on my Glocks running a 13 lb. recoil spring but not the stock 17 lbs and .45 1911 was never going to happen. She ended up getting a 9mm Kimber Aegis because the recoil spring was light enough to rack easily (and it was "pretty"). I tried teaching her different methods of racking the slide but it was just better to buy something she felt comfortable handling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kneelingatlas Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 I see a revolver in your future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansPants Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 My SO had problems with this also. She found a couple of techniques in here that helped her. http://www.corneredcat.com/Rack_the_Slide/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Springs and exercises and technique are all great ideas. Depending on what your wife is going to do with the gun, a slide racker makes it a LOT easier to rack anything, and quickly (first attempt). You can't use one in USPSA SS, but it's okay in Limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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