Could this eventually wear down the slide lock?

[2tonic]

If you're in a situation that's stressful enough to impair your fine motor skills, then that means that things are happening rather briskly. I, for one, would wish to reacquire a proper sight picture on my "target" as quickly as possible. I favor the 1911 for serious social engagements and my training would have me lock the fresh magazine home and re-establish my firing grip with my support hand, while I simultaneously present the pistol towards the target and drop the slide with the lever which is (conveniently) directly under my right thumb, as JMB intended. It seems to me this would be quicker than bringing my support hand from under the pistol, over the top of the slide (blocking my sights), slingshot the slide, then get my hand back under the gun, re-establish firing grip while trying to relocate my sights and get on target before receiving any incoming. YMMV

 

[WebSnyper]

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?

Different trainers, different users of different guns, etc preach different ways of doing this.

Are you asking, if you use press down on the slide stop/slide lock/slide release (various manufacturers call it different things as some guns are designed to operate differently regarding this), will it eventually wear on the parts? Wherever there is metal to metal contact you will eventually have wear.

Go with what works for you and the model/style of gun you shoot/carry.

Vickers just had a TacTV episode on firearm myths and covered this.

 

[rvb]

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?

I do slide-lock reloads with the lever vs pulling the slide back. I do this quite frequently (some guns probably seeing a couple thousand times). I've not seen one wear yet. Not that doesn't mean they couldn't, but you're not likely to see it. IF you did see wear, a quick pass w/ a small file to square the edges back up would be all the repair would require.

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.

The contradiction you are seeing is because you have the cause right, not the effect. Taking a fine match grade 1911, for instance, and dropping the slide on an empty chamber will not hurt the " chamber walls/extractor." What it can do is damage/peen the slide stop pin as the barrel lugs crash into it, and this can loosen a tight match-quality barrel lock-up. The other problem is the hard single impact can cause the hammer to bounce on the sear, and can damage a very fine/light trigger job. At least that's the theory; there's disagreement even among top gun plumbers if it really causes problems in the trigger, or reveals them.

None of this has anything to do with the OP's question.

-rvb

 

[kludge]

Put me in the "yes it can wear it out" camp. The speed at which this happens depends on the design and the materials. I have/had one gun which had worn enough such that inserting the magazine would close the slide.

 

[Rob377]

There are plenty of guns, M&Ps most notably, that will 'auto-forward' the slide upon firmly inserting a mag, brand new right out of the box.
S&W acknowledges this 'feature' on p. 16 of the owners manual.
"WARNING: DO NOT USE EXCESSIVE UPWARD FORCE
WHEN INSERTING A LOADED MAGAZINE INTO THE
PISTOL. EXCESSIVE UPWARD FORCE COULD CAUSE
THE SLIDE TO MOVE FORWARD, CHAMBERING A ROUND AND
MAKING THE PISTOL READY TO FIRE."

(having owned a few M&Ps, the level of 'excessive' force required is inserting the mag about as forcefully as a 10-yr old girl might)

I've had brand spankin' new Glocks that did it too.

That's not really a wear thing. It's a design thing.

Or, a "your thumb dragged on the slide stop button as it was being pushed up, causing less than 100% engagement" thing....or a "worn out mag spring not forcing the slide stop all the way up into the slide stop notch" thing.

 

[kludge]

In my case it was a wear thing.

 

[JettaKnight]

There are plenty of guns, M&Ps most notably, that will 'auto-forward' the slide upon firmly inserting a mag, brand new right out of the box.
S&W acknowledges this 'feature' on p. 16 of the owners manual.

My Bersa was notorious for this from day one. I considered it a "feature".

As for the slide release / slide stop, Ruger Mk I/II/III are notorious for having there slide stops wear out and stop locking the slide open. Never use it as a slide release on this pistol.

 

[jrh84]

My Bersa was notorious for this from day one. I considered it a "feature".

As for the slide release / slide stop, Ruger Mk I/II/III are notorious for having there slide stops wear out and stop locking the slide open. Never use it as a slide release on this pistol.

Guilty...my Mark III won't always hold the slide back after using the slide release for the first 15k rounds. I need to give Ruger a call.

 

[church]

I prefer to pull the slide back to disengage the slide lock. Its just easier for me to do.

 

[Robert Richardson]

If you are talking 1911, I don't think JMB would have put serrations on it so you could push it down to release the slide if that wasn't his intention for it.

 

[Mango]

It doesn't matter how you unlock the slide because CC > OC.

Gas, Fire, Done.

 

[Grelber]

Hitting the release lets you get back on target with a solid 2 hand grip faster, sling shotting can be simpler and more reliable. In my opinion. I prefer door number 1 but wouldn't argue with the merits of d2.