Glock slidelock reload?

[Tattoo]

One other reason for teaching the slingshot reload, in a law enforcement training context, was that it worked with any automatic pistol. For agencies that issued a variety of makes and models of pistols, it does help simplify training.

That is a very big reason why it is taught and it can be very handy. I use the slingshot for every gun I shoot.

HK, 1911, Glock it works for all of them. I know its a little slower, but its so ingrained in my head that it just

comes to me if my head goes blank. I also like that my shooting hand grip never changes, as opposed to say shooting a 1911, where my hand is not big enough to reach the slide release w/o moving the gun around in my shooting hand.

Hey , I see slingshot is up to second place in the poll. Go slingshot! Go slingshot!

T

Edited July 4, 2008 by Tattoo

[Micah]

I voted for the standard slide stop method for two reasons:

A) The extended slide stop causes more bs then what it is worth. IMHO it is the worst OEM part for a Glock

3) (Pertaining to USPSA, not IDPA) I NEVER go to slide lock unless there is a HUGE advantage of shooting 11, which really only occurs .5% of the time, and in that .5% of the time there are at least two steps that I need to traverse before the next array giving me plenty of time to reload and hit the slide stop

[jobob]

I just can't warm up to the slingshot, even for law enforcement, and even for those agencies that issue a number of different guns. It may simplify training, for the trainer, but it doesn't help the officer. I've never had a problem with hitting the little standard Glock release, nor have I had a problem chambering a round by dropping the slide with this method. Evern with match guns with tight chambers and light recoil springs. I insert the mag and with one move return my left hand to the grip, while dropping the slide with my left thumb on the way. If the slide dropped when I inserted the mag, like a couple of my guns do, so much the better. I just re-aquire my firing grip.

If you want to use the slingshot, great, that just gives me a quarter to half second advantage on you in a match. And I sure have no problem with officers who train using the slingshot. But I DO have a problem with trainers who say the slingshot is mandatory, like my instructors at FLETC. Actually, the advantages of one over the other are really rather insignificant and not worth getting bothered about, unless someone is trying to force me to use his favorite. Then, we might have 'words'.

[conrad]

I voted for the standard slide stop method for two reasons:

A) The extended slide stop causes more bs then what it is worth. IMHO it is the worst OEM part for a Glock

3) (Pertaining to USPSA, not IDPA) I NEVER go to slide lock unless there is a HUGE advantage of shooting 11, which really only occurs .5% of the time, and in that .5% of the time there are at least two steps that I need to traverse before the next array giving me plenty of time to reload and hit the slide stop

exellant point. Most stages are designed to be shot in groups and they rarely ever go to 11. I think at my next match I will disign one just for you

[Tattoo]

I voted for the standard slide stop method for two reasons:

A) The extended slide stop causes more bs then what it is worth. IMHO it is the worst OEM part for a Glock

3) (Pertaining to USPSA, not IDPA) I NEVER go to slide lock unless there is a HUGE advantage of shooting 11, which really only occurs .5% of the time, and in that .5% of the time there are at least two steps that I need to traverse before the next array giving me plenty of time to reload and hit the slide stop

exellant point. Most stages are designed to be shot in groups and they rarely ever go to 11. I think at my next match I will disign one just for you

This is basically an IDPA thing. If you do it right and plan your reloads on the move you probably will never

do a slidelock reload in USPSA matches. I think that part of my thinking with this stems from guys "gaming"

IDPA and dumping a round just to get to slidelock so that they can drop a mag on the ground as oppsed to

doing a tac reload or reload w/ ret. I have been advocating to call this on guys in our club, but it is kind of hard

to really prove it at times. Anyway , not to drift off topic.

Anyway, great to hear everyones thoughts and opinions.

T

[Duane Thomas]

The slingshot, so the theory goes, is a gross motor skill, thus you will remember to do it when the bullets fly.

I have heard this before, in classes and elsewhere. I've just never understood how moving my left thumb down was a "fine motor skill".

[Harmon]

The slingshot, so the theory goes, is a gross motor skill, thus you will remember to do it when the bullets fly.

I have heard this before, in classes and elsewhere. I've just never understood how moving my left thumb down was a "fine motor skill".

Me either

[Flexmoney]

I don't know about that fine vs. gross motor skill stuff either. I can manipulate the trigger...hit the little mag release button...insert another mag into the hole...but, I can't thumb the slide release ???

On the flip side, I have inserted mags into my slide-locked Glocks and had the slide go shut on it's own. That happens often enough and usually is just great. EXCEPT for the two or three times I've had it happen and the slide went closed BEFORE it had a chance to strip a round from the incoming mag.

[Joe D]

I "adjust" my slide stops to release when the mag is seated.

[Tattoo]

I "adjust" my slide stops to release when the mag is seated.

Just curious Joe, But how do you do that?

t

[Joe D]

I put a slight bevel on the slide stop where it contacts the slide notch.

[Duane Thomas]

EXCEPT for the two or three times I've had it happen and the slide went closed BEFORE it had a chance to strip a round from the incoming mag.

The only time my Glock 34 has ever had a failure to feed (if you can call it that) was once during a match when I stuffed in a fresh mag and the slide went forward into a double feed. Oy. Just one time, it's never happened again, but it does make me more appreciative of guns that only drop their slides when I tell them to.

On the other hand, we did have the one instance during a stage when I did a slidelock reload, the slide went forward on its own, and afterward a former Area One USPSA champion, who'd been watching me shoot the stage, said to me, "Duane, you sure you didn't load more than 11 rounds into the gun, because it looked to me like you fired more than 11 shots without reloading." (Admittedly I'd done the reload while contorted around a barricade at an IDPA match, so I might not have been as visible as I would have been normally.) "No," I told him, "I did a reload between the 11th and 12th shots." He just kind of blinked at me for a few seonds. "Well," he said, "you must have done it really fast, because I couldn't even see it happen." I grinned and said, "Well, that is the goal, right? To reload the gun so fast the human eye can't follow? Damn, I'm good!"

[Suburban Commando]

Wow! All those posts about dropping slides with the slide stop, and no one claimed that doing so wears out the notch in the slide yet?

My hands must be shaped weird, I can drop the slide pretty easily with either the standard or Glock OEM extended slide stop. I've done it in matches without really giving it any thought. Oh, I do have to use the extended one on the G21 though, because the slide hangs over the standard one too far.

My Kahr jams the top round into the bottom of the feedramp half the time when I try to do a slingshot reload. The slide stop is relatively big, and kinda hard to miss. Between my Glocks and the Kahr, I really don't carry anything else, so I do all my slide-lock reloads by thumbing the slide stop. I can't say that I've ever had a round fail to chamber because there wasn't enough recoil spring pressure.

Just to do something different, I picked up a 1911, and put some rounds though that. My (right) thumb doesn't come anywhere close to a standard length 1911 slide stop. I had to either do the slingshot thing, or use my left thumb on the lever.

[jobob]

I don't know about that fine vs. gross motor skill stuff either. I can manipulate the trigger...hit the little mag release button...insert another mag into the hole...but, I can't thumb the slide release ???

Exactly! I brought that up to my instructors, and they just had a deer in the headlights look. Hitting the slide stop button with the left thumb while acquiring a grip is as natural and easy as can be. I do it without thinking.

[Tattoo]

I don't know about that fine vs. gross motor skill stuff either. I can manipulate the trigger...hit the little mag release button...insert another mag into the hole...but, I can't thumb the slide release ???

Exactly! I brought that up to my instructors, and they just had a deer in the headlights look. Hitting the slide stop button with the left thumb while acquiring a grip is as natural and easy as can be. I do it without thinking.

I was told something along the lines of... if your hands are wet, sweaty or bloody that its easier to grasp the entire

slide w/ your hand that to try and move the slide stop w/ one finger/thumb. Could be.... if its a very bad day.

T

Edited July 9, 2008 by Tattoo