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Practical or Administrative?

June 18th, 2009

Slide-Lock: Practical, or a Purely Administrative Function? by Richard Mann:

While instructing shooters, I’ve witnessed slides on many different pistols inadvertently lock to the rear or fail to lock back when they were supposed to. These inconsistencies seem to crop up when least expected and especially during dynamic and stressful situations. They can become a tactical obstacle if they occur during a fight.

Go read the whole thing.

Thoughts?

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2 Responses to “Practical or Administrative?”

  1. Nadnerbus Says:
    June 19th, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    Sounds like a question of style, really. He had an issue with his stance that engaged the slide lock when he didn’t want to, so he modified his whole shooting habits and his pistol to work around that. All his other reasons are really relative.

    I have never had trouble recognizing when the slide is locked back after the last round. The gun has a whole different feel when the slide fails to slam back forward, and it advertises its on an empty magazine just fine. As far as releasing the slide after a fresh mag, I have gotten into the habit of giving the slide a whack with the heal of my palm to make sure it is in battery. Usually not necessary, but its the same type of thing as whacking your magazine before insertion. It all depends on how you train and practice.

    I am not fond of the AK’s lack of a bolt catch for that reason. Unless you are keeping count in your head, you always have to pull the trigger on an empty chamber before you can be sure its time to reload. If you are aiming at a bad guy with that last trigger pull, you just might be screwed.

    There is something to be said for keeping things as simple as possible. And a pistol without a slide catch is easy enough to get used to and operate safely. I just don’t think it adds too much complexity to become useless. I’ll keep mine, thanks

  2. Bram Says:
    June 19th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    With the M16 it sounded and felt different enough to me that I always knew when I pulled the trigger on the last shot without even looking at the ejection port.

    Even with my civilian HK which does not have a bolt lock, I usually can tell. I think it is the sound or feel of a round not being stripped.

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