Reloading While Shooting Question

[JustSomeOldGuy]

Does the fact that both of those guys point their muzzles up in the air while reloading bother only me? When I do a tactical reload I keep my muzzle pointed down range and on or mostly on target. I can't recall if I'm over the top, sling shot, or if I work the slide release lever. It's been too long since I've been to the range to shoot with my handguns and even practice tactical reloads.

No, it's not just you.
Pointing up while reloading you are violating both Cooper Rule #4 and Cooper Rule #2. If you're engaged in competition, you're losing time because you're moving the muzzle off target and then moving it back. You're also coming closer to a DQ for breaking the 180, or getting booted from the facility for a safety violation if you have an ND where your bullet leaves range property. If you're engaged in a social situation, you're risking a lot more than time.....Keep the muzzle oriented on a legitimate target or backstop.

[oljames3]

Does the fact that both of those guys point their muzzles up in the air while reloading bother only me? When I do a tactical reload I keep my muzzle pointed down range and on or mostly on target. I can't recall if I'm over the top, sling shot, or if I work the slide release lever. It's been too long since I've been to the range to shoot with my handguns and even practice tactical reloads.

I know I would have had my muzzle called at a match!

Nope, not just you. I feel that any direction in which my bullet might cause unintended injury or damage is probably not a "safe direction."

S&W M&P does not have a slide release. It has a slide stop. While I can use the slide stop to release the slide from slide lock, I cannot do so reliably. Over the top, or horseshoe, works every time for me.

To be clear, this is a picture of a right handed shooter performing a slingshot slide release.


This is a picture of a right handed shooter performing a over the top slide release.

[Sport Coach]

On my M&P I can use either slingshot or over the top. On my CZ P01 I have to use slingshot because the slide is low profile and rides on the inside of the frame rails and just doesn't give enough surface area (going over the top I tend to grab the frame). I used to use the slide stop but quit doing that after practice and stress scenarios proved it a lesser option in stressful situations. I used to train for IDPA until it became more game-like instead of defensive skills training. I now want to be sure muscle memory is 90% grooved for defensive scenarios.

[mloamiller]

For me, it's always over the top for several reasons:
* It's the same movement used to rack the slide when first charging the weapon.
* It's the same movement used for clearing certain malfunctions.
* It's much easier than trying to hit the small slide lock lever.
* I was taught that it is a slide lock, not a slide release.

In the "sling shot" video, the guy rotates the gun 90 degrees so it's completely horizontal. That's a lot of unnatural, unnecessary movement.

[carlson1]

For me, it's always over the top for several reasons:
* It's the same movement used to rack the slide when first charging the weapon.
* It's the same movement used for clearing certain malfunctions.
* It's much easier than trying to hit the small slide lock lever.
* ...

...and it is the same movement to load "all handguns."

[The Annoyed Man]

I started using the "over the top" method because I'm left handed, and I owned striker-fired guns without ambidextrous slide releases. Plus, some manufacturers specifically warn against using the slide stop to release the slide into battery. Adapting myself to a "manual" slide release procedure overcame the differences in the manual of arms from platform to platform, since either "slingshotting" or "over the top" work universally for all semiautos. And even on the one pistol I own which does have an ambidextrous slide stop - an M&P45 - I still find it easier to use the "over the top" method than to use the slide stop release.

[The Annoyed Man]

Find whatever works for you and use it.

As a lefty, that has been the history of my gun ownership.

[couzin]

For me it depends on the gun.

With a 1911 the easy to use slide release falls right under my thumb and releasing the slide with it is both fast and reliable.

With almost every other semiauto handgun I use the over the top method as the easiest and most reliable.

Exactly! e.g. the 'slide release' on a Glock is not really a slide release. Slingshot or belt/table/edge drag unless you can count rounds and hold on the last round in battery and replace mag with fresh one.

[JustSomeOldGuy]

Having watched both the video segments again, it comes to me that a more important tactical question than "how should I release the slide" would be; "If I have a high capacity firearm AND extra magazine(s), WHY am I shooting to slide lock?". If you reload while you still have at least 1 round in the firearm, you don't have to spend EXTRA TIME manipulating the slide. Yes you have to learn to keep track of your round count. And yes, you have to let go of your IDPA/Bill Wilson brainwashing about speed reload ejecting a magazine that still has rounds in it being a crime against nature. That's why they make 8 rd and 10 rd magazines for (.45acp) 1911's.

[treadlightly]

Interesting topic, and good to be aware of the muzzle at all times. I was taught to bring the gun in close to reload but you have to take care with the muzzle. You can't argue that if the slide is locked back it's the same as propping a rifle, open breech, with its muzzle up. In a reload with a round chambered the gun is ready to go. It would be horrible tactics to either engage a safety for a reload or point the gun in an unsafe direction.

Personally, I vote for dropping the slide with the weak hand thumb. That's where the weak thumb should be, anyway, and any other means of cycling the action is a little artificial. In use, the slide is in free fall from the point it starts to travel forward.

The slingshot doesn't seem the best. Turning the gun, rotating the sights, seems like too much fiddling.

Clearing a stovepipe is a little different, but I'm not sure about safety. Tap the mag, grab the slide in over-the-top method just in front of the ejection port, and sweep the stovepipe out as you release the slide.

In a stovepipe, the gun is out of battery but I'm still queasy about anything "me" getting close to the muzzle.

What's the best way for the time honored tap-rack-bang?