The Slide Lock Lever

[earlthegoat2]

So which is it, a slide lock lever or a slide release?

I say it is a lock lever. I think that pistols in general are not inherently designed to use it as a slide release and I think people are better off if they slingshot it anyway. Some lock levers are downright impossible to "release" the slide with anyway without the use of two thumbs and berserk rage.

I know police academies teach the slingshot method and I believe it was Jeff Cooper who at least sung a little praise for it back in the day. Thunder Ranch teaches that method as well as they say it is wise to slingshot it because it gives you that fraction of an inch more oomph when seconds count and things are dicey.

Once in a while in the gunstore you hear customers complaining that you cannot release the slide with the lever. I even witnesses a store return a Sig 220 for that reason alone. Must have been a heck of a customer. Sigs are easy to release too. I even see people on here talk of 1911s and how it is a pain to have to change your grip on the pistol to release the slide. There is a perfect solution for that, dont release the slide with the slide lock lever.

I tend to think it that people with not much gun experience or training like the idea of being able to release the slide like they see in the movies. They like the sound and the look of doing it.

The main arguement in favor for releasing the slide with the lever is in the far fetched but still possible scenario of your off hand getting injured. Or either hand for that matter. I think this is a valid point but not so much as to learn to release the lever EVERY time and not practice the slingshot method primarily. Do some drills where you have to release the slide with the lever and primarily practice slingshotting.

Kind of a bit of a rant but feel free to criticize. I dont get defensive when I set myself up for flaming.

 

[usp9]

So which is it, a slide lock lever or a slide release?

Does a door knob open or close the door? Both. It works both ways. It isn't brain surgery. Use it how you prefer.

 

[REAPER4206969]

"Slide stop lever."

 

[REAPER4206969]

It works both ways.

No. It stops the slide; you release it.

 

[earlthegoat2]

There is also a point about fine motor skills going to heck in a high stress environment and manipulating the lever could be trouble. I dont know how true this is. I am not a kinesthesiologist.

 

[earlthegoat2]

slide stop lever

If this is the proper term then I will start using it but I think my use of the term slide lock lever means the same thing in this instance.

I guess I would say the door knob opens the door. The door can be closed without the door knob. Of course if stealth is required then you need to use the door knob to close it.

 

[RippinSVT]

I have always used it as a release during speed-reloads on my Sigs and Beretta 92's. I usually am thumbing the thing as I slam a magazine home. It is the quickest method, by far, for me personally. When I'm just plinking I'll frequently sling-shot it.

 

[nwilliams]

IMO it's a slide lock because it locks the slide open.

The only time I use it as a slide release is when I'm trying to close the slide on an empty mag.

When I chamber a round from an open slide position I reach over the top and a pull back on slide and release. The way Clint Smith demonstrates 2 minutes into this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVGQQhkjzec&feature=PlayList&p=AC7C1E6FAFBFB140&index=17

 

[REAPER4206969]

If this is the proper term then I will start using it but I think my use of the term slide lock lever means the same thing in this instance.

The slide lock lever is what many people call the "takedown lever" on Glock/Walther/SIG/Beretta/Etc. Just sayin'.

 

[John Parker]

There is also a point about fine motor skills going to heck in a high stress environment and manipulating the lever could be trouble. I dont know how true this is. I am not a kinesthesiologist.

Pressing the trigger and hitting the magazine release button are also 'fine motor skills' and no one complains about them...I never really understood why they've made such an issue of this. And before I get flamed for that gem, I've been in a gunfight or three during my deployments.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I was just clarifying with you Reaper, no challenges.

And before I get flamed for that gem, I've been in a gunfight or three during my deployments.

Well this sounds like you have above average experience in what is being conveyed here then and if that is the case I am not surprised you have trained well enough to maintain fine motor skills when boogers hit the fan. The average first time gun purchaser though.....

 

[REAPER4206969]

I was just clarifying with you Reaper, no challenges.

I didn't mean to be a dick about it.

 

[hankdatank1362]

The slide lock lever is what many people call the "takedown lever" on Glock/Walther/SIG/Beretta/Etc. Just sayin'.

No, the takedown lever is what is used to field strip the pistol.

The slide lock lever is more posterior than the takedown lever. Although the slide lock must be engaged on many pistols in order to allow rotation of the takedown lever and field stripping.

 

[REAPER4206969]

The "takedown lever" is what locks the slide assembly onto the frame.

http://www.lonewolfdist.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=416

 

[gwnorth]

This is as nutty as the argument of whether a revolver is a pistol (and vice versa).

 

[The Bushmaster]

Revolver and a pistol are two different items...If you are discussing small arms you have rifles (shoulder arms) and handguns...And it is still a "slide stop"...

 

[REAPER4206969]

This is as nutty as the argument of whether a revolver is a pistol (and vice versa).

A revolver is not a pistol!

 

[gwnorth]

Tell that to all the dead pistoleros of the old west As far as I'm concerned any and every handgun is a pistol be it autoloader, revolver, flint lock, whatever ('course, I originally learned to speak English, not 'merican).

Like I say, pedantic internet debates about words and terms with multiple interpretations and meanings is nutty

 

[REAPER4206969]

Are all long guns rifles to you as well?

 

[hankdatank1362]

Yes, the takedown lever locks the slide assembly to the frame.... As opposed to the slide stop which just holds the action open and prevents the slide from going into battery.

 

[gwnorth]

Are all long guns rifles to you as well?

No, but all rifles and shotguns are long guns (as are, by some definitions, all cannon, naval guns and so forth).

Like I said, you can argue your interpretation of the words all you want, but it does not make you correct in your use of them. Nor does it make me - there are dictionaries and linguists who would argue either of our case, and all would be equally wrong and equally right.

 

[REAPER4206969]

And all pistols and revolvers are handguns...

 

[gwnorth]

But the word pistol originated in the muzzle loader era, long before there were any autoloaders, so by extension of your logic, we have pistols, revolvers, and autoloaders, and they are all distinct (ie. an autoloader cannot be called a pistol, since the meaning of the word was already in use long before the invention of an autoloading handgun).

My primary English reference has always been the Oxford English dictionary, and by that source, a revolver is "A pistol provided with mechanism by which a set of loaded barrels, or (more usually) of cartridge-chambers, is revolved and presented in succession before the hammer, so as to admit of the rapid discharge of several shots without reloading". Just as "automatic" is "Abbreviation of automatic pistol, gun, etc.".

Like I said, one persons interpretation of a word with varied meanings...

 

[REAPER4206969]

Where did I say anything about autoloaders?

 

[gwnorth]

I never said you did, but if a revolver is not a pistol, and an autoloader is not a pistol, just what the heck are you referring to when using the term "pistol" - flint locks, cap and ball, ?