Limited Gun Slidelock

[rtr]

My open gun slidelock does not function, as in when a mag empties the slide does not lock back. My new limited gun has a functioning slidelock, shooting it in practice it really annoys me, just curious what the general consensus is for functioning slidelocks in limited guns, good or bad?

[Loves2Shoot]

I'd vote no on a slide lock. I can't think of a possitive reason to have it function, because I've seen too many of them malfunction.

[kevin c]

Some of my guns do double duty in Limited/IDPA, so the slidelocks are functional on those guns.

The rest mostly work (functional in the gun, but varies w/ the magazine used. The Grams tuned mags for my Para all work reliably, and I leave them that way).

[Squishy]

Shooting USPSA only with a limited and/or open wide body gun I don't want the gun to lock back.

[ChuckS]

I have wondered about this for a long time. It was not real clear to me why not having the slide lock back would be a good thing. That is until I saw something at a match last weekend. A guy went to slide lock and then over-inserted a mag on the reload and had a nasty jamb with the first round poppng out and messing things up. Would not of happend with the slide forward!

[MikeFoley]

Speaking strictly for Limited and Open where full capacity is not usually an issue, my vote is for non-functioning. I used to think I wanted it to work, but then I realized that there was no reason for it. One should reload before the gun is empty in every instance where a reload is necessary. A functioning slide lock can be a liability if you accidentally engage it. Mine still works manually and holds the slide open, but requires a lot of force with the thumb to activate. To disable them on the outside, put a detent where the little spring guide impacts it. This can be done with a drill by hand. To disable it on the inside where some rounds or debris may impact it, remove a lot of the beefy part that would engage the magazine follower to make it more flat.

In Production, L10, or SS Division, I like it to work because sometimes you need that round before leaving a position and don't want the flat footed reload. My singlestack has a much more shallow dimple in it to avoid accidental engagement, but a magazine spring is enough to make it work.

Edited November 4, 2005 by fomeister

[JFD]

My L-10 and IDPA guns lock back, and I never really understood anyone who wanted a non-functional slide stop.

Then I started shooting Limited and had more than 1 mag lock the slide back with a round left in the mag. In this case I attacked my followers with a dremel to prevent that happening again. Slide stop is also dimpled, but functional with an unmodified follower.

Live and learn.

[Intel6]

I shoot limited and went through this when I got my Edge. I decided that I want my slide to lock back when the mag is empty. The way I looked at it was usually I would be reloading before the gun was out of ammo but there is that one time where you had your reload timed close to the end of your mag, then you had to take a few extra shots and you lost count and have no idea that your gun is empty. In this case the time it takes to acquire the next shot, drop the hammer on an empty chamber, relaod and rack the gun is more time that it would have been to see you slide lock back, reload and drop the slide.

I like that the slide locks back so I am not surprised that I need to reload and have to get my brain in gear to do a reload. I also am not a big fan of racking my Edge and possibly trashing my hand on the sights.

There have been a few instances that happened recently at club matches convinced me that I was right in keeping my slidelock. I understand the reasons for not having it and if they happen to me I guees I will have to re-evaluate.

Neal in AZ

[Loves2Shoot]

I like that the slide locks back so I am not surprised that I need to reload and have to get my brain in gear to do a reload.

Most people don't know that they are at slide lock, and I've seen tons of people try to pull the trigger with the slide locked open. Behind the sights it looks the same.

[Pierruiggi]

Based on my experience, I respectfully disagree with your post L2S.

I (and I'd think any shooter with some trigger time) can readily notice the difference in distance perception on a slide locked gun (I mean, that I notice the sights are closer to me); I also can notice that the sights don't come back on target the same way as when the gun cycles; and the recoil is very different and distinct when the gun goes to slidelock.

I've noticed all of this things under match stress (I shoot singlestack, so very often if I miss one or two shots on a given stage I'm doomed to have a slidelock somewhere in the target array).

I've seen a video of Michael Voigt shooting a stage with an open gun, going to slidelock, change mags with an air of resignation (while looking at the RO, not even at the magwell) and carefully aiming and firing the last shot to complete the stage.

Have you seen this video?

Anyone know where I can upload it? It's a 5.01 mb file.

Edited November 4, 2005 by Pierruiggi

[Loves2Shoot]

Sorry Pierruiggi, I should have stated most inexperienced shooters can't tell the difference, and I've known many and experienced shooter do the same (with a dot mounted to the frame the sight doesn't move at all) and it happens so fast many know it doesn't look right and it doesn't click right away.

If you shoot 10 rounds often that makes a big difference, limited shooters should run out of rounds much less often.

[JFD]

To me it seems the vast majority of shooters around here have no idea they are at slide lock. My wife is one of them, but she just started shooting a few months ago.

To me it's a no brainer as I can feel that the slide didn't move forward. Of course I'm approaching 40 years of shooting 1911s.

[Sean Gaines]

"To me it's a no brainer as I can feel that the slide didn't move forward. Of course I'm approaching 40 years of shooting 1911s"

I agree with JFD

people pin the slide lock or modify the followers on the mags so they dont lock back. personally I like the gun to tell me when I am out of bullets. If you dont plan the stage properly (Which would be a big mistake)and or take extra shots you could run dry without knowing, and then you pull the trigger and ... nothing. then you have to put a new mag in and rack the slide. to me that takes more time than feeling the slide lock back, mag change and hit the slide release and then fire. to me getting the information from the gun first, before pulling the trigger and not having a round could cost you valuable time. But if you are awsome at planning your reloads and dont miss that often, then you might like it pinned. Just my .02 cents.

Edited November 5, 2005 by PAPER KILLER

[Kingman]

I hate having slide locks work. Mine all work if manually engaged.

I have been shooting 1911's since I was 10 and can't tell if my open gun locks back. When I first set up my new shorty I did not go to the extent to deactivate it. Well shooting a stage I had a popper not fall and it was a good run. So I engaged it several more times (5 or 6) then engaged the poppers behind it. Ended up going to slide lock on the last one and never knew. I came out of position and went to change mags as usual positioned on next target and nothing. Hmm, pulled racker slide did not fall. I had to manually disengage it, on an STI frame I don't find that easy. Its quite easy though to hit the racker and go. Regardless stupid mistakes, but the slide locking back cost me more time.

[Harmon]

shooting limited you want to reload before you need to...if you run the gun empty youve already cost your self serious time...

stage planning!

if engaging steel you should not miss the steel...if you do...time to go to plan number 2 which is: "what do it do if i cant hit the steel? RELOAD!"

i would go for deactivated slide lock..seen lots of slide-locking back due to the bullets hitting the slide stop.

that will throw a well planned stage in the crapper quick.

[JFD]

I've been considering grinding on my slide stop as cheap insurance against the bullet contact harmongreer mentioned. Might just do it tonight. Not like I can screw it up - Don't want it to work anyway unless I manually engage it.

[boo radley]

shooting limited you want to reload before you need to...if you run the gun empty youve already cost your self serious time...

stage planning!

I shot my first match today, as "Limited", with my G35. I'd been shooting L10, but both Limited and Production have far more shooters in my area.

I had been really looking forward to reloading -- ah ha! -- at my discretion, in a relaxed manner, but discovered only the math has changed, and instead of trying to squeeze out 10 before reloading, I'm now sweating out 19.

I also totally lost count on two stages, and was thinking, "please, please, please don't run dry!." Went 1 for 2, and since I'm used to seeing and reacting to slide-lock, maybe I'll keep mine working for a bit, until I get better at stage mgmt.

Then...is it as simple as just removing the part from a Glock?

[Chuck D]

None of my 1911's will go to slide lock. Every one of them has the slide lock lever modified so it won't lock back.

Almost nothing sucks more than having the gun go to slide lock with ammo in the mag.

[Zak Smith]

In my SV, the slide lock works properly and I fit 20 in 140mm mags (19 on reloads). Given that it works properly, I see no reason to disable it. This also maintains gun-handling continuity with non raceguns. FWIW, I can easily perceive that the slide has locked back, just like I can tell when my AR15 hasn't cycled closed.

[George]

I had no problems with working slide locks on competition guns until one started working on every round in the middle of a stage. Now mine is disabled.

Rationale: The only thing it ever did for me was bad, end of story!

[Liota]

Guys,

Generally, my gun doesn't get to slide lock. I either use my pre-programmed reloads, the preferred method, or make the determination by the feel of the recoil. Now, the big question, do I realize why the recoil was different in time to fix it? Not always.

Liota

[Paule]

To me, it depends on the gun. S_I limited guns are easy to over insert a mag when the slide is locked. If you do, you can seat it past the mag catch (lots of time elapses as you try to figure out why your gun is in full lock-down mode). Also, another fun side effect is snapping off your extended ejector on the back of the mag tube. Having had those both occur, as well as having the slidelock engage on a bullet in the mag, cured me. Slide lock on S_I widebody guns are ground down for manual activation only. Now single stacks are another matter. All of mine work on those.

[Pierruiggi]

Once again, my opinion.

Singlestack 1911s avoid mag overinsertion by having some part of the mag base (usually the front) hit the magwell. For example, in the original 1911 mags, the part that accomplishes this function is the little "tongue" that protrudes from the front of the base of the mag.

If I had one, I'd modify my doublestack mag bases to do the same thing on the mag funnel. Depending on what base you use, this is something that shouldn't take more than some pieces of plastic, some loctite/superglue, some sandpaper (to file the plastic you attach) and some trial and error.

I shot a match this past sunday and, in the same (32 round) stage I ran into both instances with a borrowed custom STI. The way I had planned the stage, I had to shoot 16 shots from an 18 round mag, the last of those 16 shots was a 20yd plate. Well, I missed it 2 times and, in the heat of the timer running, it didn't cross my mind that if I missed it I would run out of ammo; since this gun didn't go into slidelock with that mag follower, it took a "click" dryfired into an empty chamber to realize I had to change mags. I changed the mag racked the slide and continued shooting. Consider this, I had missed 2 shots, so I really took my sweet time to take what I thought was going to be my 3rd shot. Wanna know how much that fiasco cost me? Well, I didn't want to look at the timer, but trust me, it costed me a lot.

Still on the same stage, 16 shots to complete, and I made a reload where I shouldn't have, minus 1 shot to hit the plate..... well, I had to fire 16 shots from a mag that had 17 shots. Of course, I'm telling you this now, since my reload wasn't planned to be there, I didn't knew how much ammo I had in my gun (again) and I sure wasn't gonna do math while shooting the stage... So, I make up 2 D hits on two different targets and that leaves me with 0 rounds in the gun... and 1 shot to finish the stage... BUT... With this mag, the gun went into slidelock, so, time to realize + insert new mag and drop the slide + shoot an A 1.7 seconds by timer... A definite waste of time and a botched stage, but I can tell you that 1.7 seconds slide lock reload was WAAAAAAY better than that "dryfired shot" + reload.

Moral of the story: As long as I suck I want guns that go to slide lock!!!

No really... I still think (and I realize the majority of top competitors think otherwise) having a gun go to slidelock when empty is a good idea.

Edited November 18, 2005 by Pierruiggi

[Intel6]

Pierruiggi,

That was a perfect explanation of what I was trying to get across in post # 8.

Neal in AZ

[eerw]

RTR..

put me in the minority..but I like my guns to slide lock when empty..

definitely have a gun lock open in the middle of a mag is a bad thing and will cost you time..but I think its worth the effort to tune everything to have the slidelock work correctly..

its a definite thing to have in L10 and production as sometimes you got to shoot the gun empty for the best combination on the stage..but even in Limited there is time in stage strategies and magazine management that you will shoot to slidelock...