Could this eventually wear down the slide lock?

[FireBirdDS]

When performing an empty mag reload with the slide locked back, the conventional wisdom seems to be to pull back on the slide to send it back to battery. The other way obviously is to press down on the slide lock lever. My question is, would this action done repeatedly eventually wear down the slide lock or will it not hurt it?

 

[Mosinguy]

Yes it'll wear it out. But it'll take a looooong time to do so. We're talking many thousands of times. I know match grade guns and 1911s don't like that method, but once again it would take a ton of disengaging the slide stop on an empty chamber to do real harm.

 

[chezuki]

once again it would take a ton of disengaging the slide stop on an empty chamber to do real harm.

When performing an empty mag reload with the slide locked back, the conventional wisdom seems to be to pull back on the slide to send it back to battery. The other way obviously is to press down on the slide lock lever. My question is, would this action done repeatedly eventually wear down the slide lock or will it not hurt it?

It depends on the intended use. Glocks for example, use a "slide stop" lever that is not intended to be a "slide release".

I prefer the "rack the slide" technique as it maintains commonality through all manipulations of the gun whether loading, reloading, unloading, or clearing malfunctions. Limiting wear in the slide stop is just an added bonus, though they're cheap and eay to replace if ever needed.

 

[AJBB87]

The slide stop gets hammered all day long when an empty mag makes it catch a recoiling slide.

Using it as a slide release shouldn't hurt a thing.

 

[kalboy]

What the slide is made of will have an effect on this, steel should wear the best but aluminum and Zamac would likely fare worse.

 

[chezuki]

What the slide is made of will have an effect on this, steel should wear the best but aluminum and Zamac would likely fare worse.

What non-.22 has an aluminum slide?

 

[kalboy]

What non-.22 has an aluminum slide?

The op says naught whether centerfire or rimfire and since habits often transfer from gun to gun my reply is as it is.

 

[MikeDVB]

Do whatever you feel works best for you, replace parts as they wear out.

I'm all for pulling the slide back as it's not such a fine motor skill and applies to every firearm with a slide that I've ever handled without having to look for a slide stop/release.

 

[VN Vet]

I believe Kahr wants you to use the Slide Release/Slide Lock Lever to load the first round in the chamber.

 

[Mosinguy]

What? It's a bad practice on match grade firearms and on high end 1911s. Look it up. The biggest thing you could damage is the chamber walls/extractor. But it would take A LOT of disengaging to harm the gun.


EDIT: Saw the OP meant when reloading. I thought he meant when the gun is empty. I was mistaken.

 

[Rob377]

If you remove one molecule at a time, it'll eventually wear out too.

It'll be fine.

 

[Rob377]

What? It's a bad practice on match grade firearms and on high end 1911s. Look it up. The biggest thing you could damage is the chamber walls/extractor. But it would take A LOT of disengaging to harm the gun.

What in the world are you talking about? That's complete nonsense.

 

[Classic]

There is a school of thought that says it is physically easier to pull the slide back to unlock the slide in a stress situation. Gross motor skill vs. fine motor skill.

After observing the mechanical action and listening to the aforementioned theory I have stopped using the "push down on the slide lock" to release the slide and switched over to the "pull back on the slide" method.

To each his own I guess.

 

[Mosinguy]

What in the world are you talking about? That's complete nonsense.

Not really. Look it up. I promise you that it is bad for the handgun if done repeatedly for a long time. But only if it happens on an empty chamber. You have to think that on an empty chamber the spring pressure and lack of a round causes the slide to go into battery harder than usual. Is it bad to do every once in a while? No. Is it bad to do 700 times a day for years? Yeah. You would've knocked something out of spec by then.

 

[byhova]

My $0.02 would be to use the slide lock release (if thats what is more comfortable for you & quicker) if situations that you would need to release the slide after an empty mag, but use the other method when your not in such a critical situation so you can save the wear and tear on using the slide release

 

[Rob377]

What does dropping the slide on an empty chamber have to with using the slide release or a slingshot method to do it?

Non sequitur

 

[jd4320t]

There is a school of thought that says it is physically easier to pull the slide back to unlock the slide in a stress situation. Gross motor skill vs. fine motor skill.

After observing the mechanical action and listening to the aforementioned theory I have stopped using the "push down on the slide lock" to release the slide and switched over to the "pull back on the slide" method.

To each his own I guess.

This.

 

[Mosinguy]

What does dropping the slide on an empty chamber have to with using the slide release or a slingshot method to do it?

Non sequitur

What do you mean? The slingshot method or using the slide release will cause the same type of wear. I thought to OP was talking about using the slide release on an empty chamber not on a reload. On a reload it won't hurt anything.

For the record I don't worry about the wear dropping the slide on an empty chamber could cause. Barrels and extractors for my handguns are cheap. On other people's firearms I don't drop the slide on an empty chamber. I'll guide it into battery. If I'm reloading though by all means I'll slingshot/slide release it all day long.

 

[blueboxer]

Eventually anything done lots and lots of times on a gun will wear it down. Mechanical things wear with use. Just use the gun. Its a tool, no big deal. If this is that big of s concern just throw the thing in a safe and leave it alone.

 

[Excalibur]

A lot of training stresses on grabbing the slide and pulling back to release over pressing the slide release button because of the cave man principle during stress, but the other side says that's BS because if a fighter pilot is trained to worry about a dozen different buttons while going at super sonic speed, you can train yourself to press a small button during stress.