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I had the unfortunate turn of events on Easter weekend (and on my birthday no less) to break my wrist in a dirt bike accident which required emergency surgery due to a compound fracture. I ended up with some new hardware - a permanent plate and 4 screws and a pin that will come out when the cast comes off.

I also got a Rock Island Armory 1911 9mm for my birthday that I haven't been able to fire. This raises the question - how can you rack the slide with one hand on a semi-auto? This would be very applicable if either your strong hand or weak hand got injured in a scuffle.

My right hand (strong) doesn't currently have the grip strength with the cast and all to grip the gun in order to rack with my left hand.

Do you have an immediate need to be able to do this?

If your sights are up to the task, they can work.

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C-dub wrote:Do you have an immediate need to be able to do this?

No immediate need - just more curious than anything else!

You can also kneel as if to sit on your foot (the side with the pistol) and catch the rear sight on the heel of your shoe or boot and rack it that way.

If you keep it locked and loaded you don't have to rack it. After all it is almost a 1911. I'm betting there is probably videos out there showing how.
I'm thinking if you press the back strap up against something while holding the slide and pressed down you could probably do it. Like up against your thigh. Might want to be careful not to press the grip safety while doing it. If you try anything just make sure you do it unloaded.

Tazman wrote:

C-dub wrote:Do you have an immediate need to be able to do this?

No immediate need - just more curious than anything else!

That's good. I thought you might have a class or something coming up soon that you didn't want to cancel or postpone.

I would load it up with a round in the chamber, as The Wall suggested, and keep it that way until I regained the use of both hands. And then do what you're doing and figure out a way to manipulate it one handed for emergency purposes.

My 1911's have rear sights that one could use to rack the slide - although, doing so seems like something I don't want to do. With a 1911 without a full length guide-rod, you can push slide back by pressing slide's guide plug against a flat surface. I have done this exactly one time. It worked but I have not had occasion to do so again.

You can, allegedly, http://forums.1911forum.com/showpost.ph ... stcount=67 use your pant's leg. This sounds, dare I say, risky to me.

Use your rear sights on your gun belt, jeans pocket, leg, or heel of your shoe to rack the slide one handed.

I carry my BTA90 with a round in the chamber with the safety on. Reloading one-handed will be problematic, but I only have to get the new magazine locked.

I have 12 opportunties to avoid having to reload.

If highly recommend this video set regardless, but for learning the best tips for how to run a gun one-handed in a gunfight I've not seen better instruction than "Magpul Dynamics Art of the Dynamic Handgun" video set. Can buy at Amazon etc.

+1 on the recoil spring cap if you have a short guide rod. It will give a little, then you're just pressing on the slide itself.

I had hand surgery a while back and had the same problem. My solution was my snub nose and ruger sp101 until my hand was fully healed and I felt confident with a slide again.

The Wall wrote:Might want to be careful not to press the grip safety while doing it. If you try anything just make sure you do it unloaded.

Good advice on a 1911 style, and excellent advice about making sure it's unloaded when practicing.

However, on a full-size Springfield XD, you cannot rack the slide without the grip safety being pressed. Not so on the XDs, it racks without the grip safety. I don't own an XDm, and I've only fired one during one session a couple of years back, and don't remember about that one.