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By moving her thumb to the slide lock her strong hand grip has now changed.
It may be a shorter path but she most likely has trained to slingshot the slide instead of using the slide lock.
Hth
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The slide locked back on its own after each shot when she had to switch magazines.
There is not a slide release.
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My strong hand grip stays the same except for the thumb and it is raised a little bit to reach the slide release. My weak side hand has to fit back in after the reload so the strong side thumb stays high until the weak side is established and the thumb falls right back to where it was. Easy on a 365 XL.
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Being a lefty, on the majority of my pistols the only way for me to release the slide is to slingshot it.
I have, over the years, have learned to lock the slide back using the knuckle of my trigger finger.
Even with the magazine release, I use my trigger finger.
Hth
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Was trained and drilled into my head, “it’s a “slide stop” not a slide release.
I, like the U.S. Marshals use the “slingshot” method.
Never timed myself, nor have I done it with more than 5 magazines. I don’t even carry more than 3 extra magazines at a time.
Do they still say “different strokes for different folks”?
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So, you’re one of the few of us gunners who are in your right mind.
I’m in my left mind, so I shoot right-handed, but I swapped the mag release to what a lefty would use and I hit it with my right-hand middle finger.
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Reload Practice - I would call it “Rare” but Not “Useless. “My luck” - If I Do Not practice it I am dam sure to need it.
So I practice it several diff ways.
Like exa - My Off Hand is injured or shot and not available to reload.
So - I practice several methods of Reloading with only my gun hand available.
1 - Release/Drop mt Mag, Put gun on ground, sept on it, load a new mag and rack slide while standing on gun.
2 - Drop mt mag, put gun under knee
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That’s right - practice, because you need it.
But the truth is you should always keep as many rounds in your pistol as possible, meaning - tactical / admin reload is a priority method of reloading your firearm.
And it doesn’t require speed.
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Who cares about reloading unless you are in a combat situation where you shouldn’t be in the 1st place, as a civilian.? Yes, I’ve been in combat as a soldier several times, two wars and uncounted deployments to hostile areas over 20years plus. Even then, I carried a snub nose 38 as my backup last resort, besides my bayonet. Unfortunately I have also been involved in seven civilian (not all in the U.S.), gunfights. Two of them I was wrong place, wrong time, and did not even have a weapon, as a teenager, but was shot at, just the same. Ha, ha. One was a spray and pray attack directed at me in my home. The simple solution is carry 2 firearms, (revolvers or pistols), for civilian self-defense situations. Of course I am old school, which was one shot, one kill, not the spray and pray mentality that I personally saw developed in Vietnam. Basically it’s the same idea for having a backup weapon. OMG! Who, as a civilian, needs to reload with all the pistols that have a zillion rounds in the magazine? Yes, unfortunately, I put myself in places, and circumstances, that I should not have been in the first place as a civilian. But I’m still alive, not wanted for any illegal actions, and haven’t been shot at for about 25 years or so.
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If your gun only holds 7 rounds, I will carry an extra magazine or two, or moon clips.
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I personally do not know anyone who WANTS to be in those situations, including myself, but it seems more and more, as much as we try to avoid those situations, other individuals will try to force us regardless of how much we don’t want to be there. It doesn’t matter if we are civilians, veterans, law enforcement or whatever. There will always be someone out there trying to force us into situations we do not need or want to be in.
NEEDING all those rounds may not be an issue, but WANTING all those rounds is. It’s an intimidation factor.
While I, as a Veteran, who has not ever shot anyone since being discharged, enjoy the fact I can tell someone I can double tap him, his dog, and seven of his best friends, if needed, before changing magazines.
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With military credentials and experience from being in the field of battle I do not argue with others even when I was in. I was reminded about this when watching the movie Blackhawk down when one guy tells the other, Oh leave that, you will not need that. We will only be out there for a couple hours.
I gear up the way I want and always have. I often wonder what branch of service they are with and what group they are associated with. I believe their answer will associate them to that group.
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Hi Bruce. Enjoyed your reply about having a large capacity magazine, being able to intimidate some bad guy, 7 of his friends and dog. While These scenarios are fun to discuss, the cold, hard, truthful, reality of this scenero has some other points to consider. 1-why would you even put youself in this situation? With a little situational awareness, A group that large surely could be avoided fairly easy. 2-why would you eliminate the surprise factor warning them? 3-why would you aggravate, escalate, and provoke the situation? 4-the reality is, at a close self defense distance, you might disable 3 of them, if you’re highly trained, really good under pressure, practicied your skills to a very high degree and assuming they were not armed, before the rest of them beat you to death physically. 5-If they were armed, the odds of you surviving long enough to disable a 4th man are even less. 6-leave us not forget the dog. The dog won’t care about your intimidation. Other than you threatening to dispose of the dog, to many unknown variables to discuss. Best wishes and hope that neither of ever gets in this hypothetical situation.
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Hi Todd30. I totally agree with the reality of your comment. I was simply pointing out that speed reloading, especially with high capacity magazines, is fun to practice, fun to discuss. But it’s not practical in self defense situations. Neither are spare magazines or speed loaders. Another pistol or revolver is one of the obvious answers.
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All very good points to consider.
Situational awareness is good, head on a swivel and all that.
BUT, “hypothetical situation”, what happens when you are at the gas pump donating your paycheck to whatever petroleum company owns the pump? You and the Wife are discussing what to buy at the grocery store if you have any money left after filling up the truck.
Some guy with a dog on a leash steps out of another truck which has stopped in front of you and he offers to “buy” your truck. He has several friends in his truck. You decline his offer. He reiterates his offer to relieve you of your truck without buying it and shows a revolver he has stuck in his sagging pants. You know he has six rounds. You know you have eighteen rounds, seventeen in the magazine and one in the pipe. You also know you have two spare seventeen round magazines on your left side.
He has already shown you his, so you show him yours. You decline his offer again, stronger this time, and you add the comment I described above.
Time slows down. You hear the theme from “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” in your head because now you are in a real Mexican Standoff. You cannot retreat because you still have a fuel hose stuck into the side of your truck and your wife is in the passenger seat. The prospective buyer and his dog are ten feet away from you and he has already shown you his buying power. You have shown him your counteroffer.
What do you do?
You hope and pray he decides not to make a third offer to buy the truck. If he does make that third offer, you revert to your highest level of training, including the quick change on the magazines, and pray it is enough.
Luckily for you on this day, he decides he doesn’t want your truck that bad. He and his dog get back in the truck with all his friends and they leave. The guy at the next pump gets your attention and gives you a nod as if to say “I had your back.” He shows you his counteroffer. You look in the truck and see your wife putting her counteroffer away.
Nobody WANTS to be in that situation. We train, we practice, we learn everything we can to help us avoid, but these situations still come up for an unfortunate few.
Hypothetical situation? You decide.
Not everyone has the financial fortitude to be this guy. Spare magazines and extra ammo is less expensive than a second weapon, or six as the case might be.
So…We only have one weapon. We practice the quick change on the magazines and we have several spare magazines available.
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Someone who has seen a lot of combat would be in a different category. I was taught that for us civilians, when we’re in an incident, multiple things happen like time speeding up or slowing down, tunnel vision, and loss of fine motor skills. Losing the fine motor skills means we’ll find it more difficult, in a moment of high stress, to use the slide stop, especially on certain handguns. Whereas racking the slide is more of a gross motor skill and much easier to manage when in a life or death type scenario.
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