According to *Butch's* dictionary.....

GAPophobia:
An innate fear of the use by anyone of the .45 GAP cartridge in preference to the .45 ACP cartridge.

GAPophobes always seem to want to argue about how there is no purpose for the .45 GAP cartridge, no reason for it to exist. No amount of bandwidth wastage on the subject is too much!

They completely and callously disregard the fact that some people don't have hands that are big enough to handle a G21 well, but really like the Glock for it's many virtues, and want the historical power of the .45 ACP cartridge. They also don't seem to care that those of us who can be relatively comfortable with a G21 sized grip may simply *prefer* the smaller grip frame.

Even though it's been proven many times that the .45 GAP round is very much equal to the standard .45 ACP round (and very often is even a touch more powerful), GAPophobes will often repeat the inaccurate ramblings of those who think it could not be, and/or refuse to be honest about it.....but facts are facts.

Often GAPophobes cannot understand that a lot of folks feel the standard .45 ACP and .45 GAP cartridges are powerful enough, they just don't feel a need to have a .45+P or .45 Super, or compare the GAP to them. The .45 GAP, like the .45 ACP, is plenty mean enough!


It appears that GAPophobes are for some reason afraid that if the .45 GAP becomes popular, or in any way 'mainstream', they will somehow loose the ability to use or get their regular .45 ACP ammo or guns made for the round. This is obviously nonsense. Did the unstoppable .45 Colt go away when the .45 S&W (Schofield) appeared? Or when the .45 ACP appeared?

A note to GAPophobes: Can't we all just get along? We don't need to argue every time we desire to talk about the .45 GAP round. A lot of us like ALL .45's! I even like the .455 Webley round!



:)


Galeophobia or Gatophobia- Fear of cats.
Gallophobia or Galiophobia- Fear France or French culture. (Francophobia)
Gamophobia- Fear of marriage.
GAPophobia- Fear of the .45 GAP cartridge.
Geliophobia- Fear of laughter.
Geniophobia- Fear of chins.
Genophobia- Fear of sex.
Genuphobia- Fear of knees.
Gephyrophobia or Gephydrophobia or Gephysrophobia- Fear of crossing bridges.
Germanophobia- Fear of Germany or German culture.
Gerascophobia- Fear of growing old.
Gerontophobia- Fear of old people or of growing old.
Geumaphobia or Geumophobia- Fear of taste.
Glossophobia- Fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak.
Gnosiophobia- Fear of knowledge.
Graphophobia- Fear of writing or handwriting.
Gymnophobia- Fear of nudity.
Gynephobia or Gynophobia- Fear of women.




:patriot:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives says that the Glock ‘Safe Action’ trigger is a double action only (DAO) trigger. OK, but it is so much more…..simply put, it allows the shooter to use the trigger either way, as a DOA trigger or as a single action trigger.

If you start with the trigger all the way forward (I guess that’s the only way it can start huh?), and pull it straight through all the way to the rear to fire the gun, you just pulled it ‘double action’. Pulling the trigger that way did the two things required to fire the gun, it finished pulling the firing pin all the way back to what could be called it’s fully cocked position, and it released it to fire the gun. It also deactivated the three passive Glock safeties, but they aren’t what we’re talking about here.

Due to the time and movement it takes to pull the trigger from front to back, the shooter has more opportunity to move the sights off target from the start of the pull till the shot fires, and with a Glock, ‘hitting’ the reset point near the rear end of the DAO trigger movement can cause the shooter to pull the shot off target all by itself. Also, moving the trigger all the way forward and all the way back for each shot takes time, unless you’re a *very* good shooter, you’re shooting slower than you need to.

The other way to use the Glock trigger is to ‘Use the Reset’. Again, one must start with the trigger all the way forward, but instead of simply pulling the trigger all the way straight through to the rear to fire the shot, you just pull it back (stage it) to the reset point, and from there you apply steadily increasing pressure to it until the shot fires….just like any single action trigger.

When the shot fires, the slide opens, the empty case ejects, and the slide moves forward to chamber the next round…..and it all happens before you can let the trigger move forward….when the slide closes, you are still holding the trigger to the rear, and this is the key.

At this point you *don’t* let the trigger move all the way forward, you just let it move forward to the point where it resets, the ‘click’. The click is made by the connector as it snaps back into position behind the rear end of the trigger bar as you let the trigger move forward. At this point all you need to do to fire the next shot is squeeze the trigger again….in a single action mode, and continue to repeat until you are done firing.

Yes, to use the reset in this manor takes some training, a conscious effort to make the trigger control a habit that you can do without having to think about it when you’re shooting….lots of repetitions. Start with dry firing (no ammo). Stage your first shot and squeeze it off perfectly, now hold the trigger to the rear and rack the slide enough to reset the firing pin, get back ‘on target’, and then let the trigger move forward slowly till it clicks at the reset point. Now you can squeeze off the next shot….single action.

It is my very experienced opinion that using the reset to shoot the Glock as a single action is the only way to do it, it’s easier to be more accurate, and it’s faster. Use of a NY spring makes it more difficult to control the trigger movement well, both forward and backward movement.

Use of a NY1 trigger spring with a 3.5 connector to best simulate a DAO revolver type trigger pull is probably the best use of a NY trigger spring, but I’d be right surprised to find anyone using such a setup to win the Matchmeister prize at a GSSF match.


Butch

We all know the story of Christopher Columbus’s journey to the New World. Where we once celebrated his landing on October 12 as a national holiday, in recent years the focus has been more on the negative side of Columbus’s legacy.

While discussion of those aspects have their place, I think it is time for us to focus on what Columbus Day should be – a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and the spirit of adventure that would make America the greatest economic power the world has ever seen. Columbus was willing to risk his life and the lives of his crew on the premise that there were profits to be made by sailing west to the Orient. Never mind that he didn’t get where he originally planned, or that when he got back he had no idea where he had been. He had a dream and a plan. He got funding and backing, and he made it happen. Like many before and since, he was an accidental success, but it was his willingness to risk all for his vision that we should celebrate today.

[This is written in the context where "left" means somewhere along the continuum of Democrat-Socialist-Communist, while "right" means somewhere along the range of Libertarian-Republican. I do not buy the argument that Authoritarians are on the right. They are variants of leftists, all of whom gravitate towards more, rather than less, government. Anarchists are neither right nor left.]

The difference between leftists and rightists lies in their perceptions of themselves, perceptions that they extend onto others. The leftist believes that strong governments are necessary, in order to thwart the inherent tendency of people to do evil things to each other. This is because the leftist sees in his own heart a darkness that needs restraint. It is only his fear of the state’s threat of retribution that restrains his own evil tendencies, and he knows this, so he advocates for a strong state that will restrain his evil desires in all areas of life, except that of sexuality. The leftist’s desire to be coerced into avoiding evil comes from his fear that he, and others, will naturally commit evil, if given sufficient freedom. It’s not that he gravitates towards communism because he is evil, he gravitates towards it because he fears that he will become evil if allowed to.

The rightist prefers a weak government, so that his own freedom, and those of his fellow citizens, is an unencumbered as possible. This is because the rightist trusts himself to do good without coercion from the state. Often, but not always, the rightist looks towards religion for his guiding star on matters of morality. His positive opinion of himself is extended to those around him – he expects that the majority of people will naturally tend towards doing good without needing to be coerced into it. They need only be convinced of the right thing, to ensure that they do the right thing.

The rightist is an optimist – he trusts in the good of his fellow man. The leftist is a pessimist – he expects mankind to do evil if given the opportunity. Both are right, especially about themselves.

Basic tenets of my faith

I am revert to Catholicism. I was a cradle Catholic, then fell away from the Church during when the post-Vatican-II reform movement in the United States got well and truly out of hand during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It also didn’t hurt that I was young, full of hormones, and not at all interested in any body telling me that I couldn’t have sex with my girlfriend unless I got married first. I live a terribly sinful life, and I know the pleasures and temptations of lust, materialism, pride, anger, you name it, and except for murder, I’ve done it.

I came back to the Church in 2005, in response to not only the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but also because I had finally reached a state of maturity that allowed my eyes and ears to be opened to the ancient message of Catholicism.

There were many, many pivotal moments in my journey, and I will write about those in more detail, but suffice the following to stand as some of the basic beliefs that I have come to recognize as being true. Absolutely true.

As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Truth Himself speaks truly, or else there’s nothing true.” Jesus did not only speak the truth, He is the truth. He did not just bring the word of God, He is the Word of God made man. It is a great mystery, a profoundly beautiful thing, and a reality that I could contemplate for the rest of my life without fully understanding.

Here are two points, two encounters with the truth that brought me back and that support my faith today. My faith is a gift, not an intellectual process, but all of us need to use the intellect on the road to loving God:

1: The Eucharist

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” John 6:53-56

What does it mean? Jesus lost almost all of his disciples after this teaching. It was not until Holy Thursday, the night of the Last Supper, when Jesus celebrated the first holy Mass, that it became clear to His disciples how he was to achieve this seemingly impossible task, of feeding them His own blood and flesh. He did it by transforming bread & wine, while keeping their appearance unchanged, so as not to offend our weakness.

Jesus told them to do this, in memory of Him. He empowered the apostles to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit to effect this change, this transubstantiation, in order that He, Christ, would remain physically present among us until “the end of the age” exactly as He promised.

Conclusion: the Eucharist is really Christ. Body, blood, soul and divinity. Jesus is really, truly, physically present in every Catholic & Orthodox tabernacle in the world. He may be present spiritually among other believers, but nowhere else on the planet is He truly and consistently completely present, other than within the sanctuary of a Catholic or Orthodox Church.

Because of the reality of Christ’s complete and overwhelmingly holy presence, I cannot choose any other church. To do so would be to reject Jesus, to turn my back and walk away from Him. This I cannot do.


2: The Need For More Than “Faith Alone”

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.” James 2:14 - 18

What does it mean? The fundamental problem of the Protestant rejection of the Catholic and Orthodox faith handed down to us by the Apostles is this notion of the concept of a lack of accountability for one’s actions in this world, so long as one makes some sort of “sinner’s prayer” or similar expression of faith in Christ, one time in one’s life.

Conclusion: Although faith is absolutely necessary for salvation, it is far from all that is needed. Martin Luther promoted the idea that faith solved all things, and that anyone could interpret scripture for himself, alone, and have a solitary relationship with Christ, based on a mere expression of faith, alone. Neither of these ideas are biblical, and both go directly against sacred scripture, as well as sacred tradition, which pre-dates sacred scripture. Read the early church fathers for more on this.

Luther knew that scripture contradicted his radical idea of “faith alone”, and consequently he edited, mistranslated, and threw out seven books of the Bible when he created a new version to suit his easier view of salvation, his view in which he was free to indulge in his sinfulness, because he arrogantly assured himself of Christ’s forgiveness no matter what.

The idea of faith without, or despite, one’s actions is a mockery of love and devotion – it’s like telling your wife “I love you”, then slapping her, saying “I’m sorry – I still love you” and slapping her again. This is what the Protestant does to Christ. “I love you Jesus, don’t judge me by my actions.” That’s crazy. Your actions are the way that you prove your faith. Without actions, faith is mere words.

“See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone… For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James 2:24 & 2:26

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery: “Your sins are forgiven you. Go forth and sin no more.” He did not say “sin proudly”. Jesus tells us to reform our lives, and to do our very best to “sin no more”. When we fall short, we go to Confession, call ourselves to account, and are re-infused with the grace and forgiveness of God via the ministry of an ordained priest.

Confession is a beautiful experience. It’s a terrible shame that among the thefts of Martin Luther from European Christians in the 1500s, he not only stole away Jesus in the Tabernacle, he also took away the best channel of grace other than baptism.

The whole concept of keeping people disarmed while flying is something that strikes me as being counter-intiuitive.



9/11 happened because... the terrorists were armed, apparently with knives, and took over airplanes filled with unarmed pilots, crew, and passengers. Nobody could fight effectively against them with their nail clippers, swiss army knives, corkscrews and knitting needles.


So our reaction to the above situation is to ban non-terrorists from carrying nail clippers, corkscrews and knitting needles. As well as knives and guns, which might've been helpful to have around when the nice middle eastern men started clustering at the front of the airplane.



And we feel safer because... we're even less prepared than before to deal with it? Good thing is that the pilots are now behind a reinforced door and some LEOs carry onboard, plus once in a while there might be a sky marshal around, but in essence our reaction to the threat of terrorists in the passenger cabin has been to disarm ourselves completely. 



The terrorists, of course, will find a way around the restrictions, like via the food service or maintenance personnel who swarm the aircraft at every stop, who aren't checked for weapons at all, and who roam freely throughout the airplane which is then never checked or screened internally for weapons, explosives, or anything beyond whether there are enough trays of "chicken or beef" for the flight.



Yet, the most important area of vulnerability, which is the possibility of a bomb getting aboard not via checked luggage, but in all those tons of unscreened, un-x-rayed cargo, is essentially ignored. Anybody remember Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie Scotland? Hello FAA/TSA... is anybody home?



The whole reality of TSA screeners patting down grandma, or denying boarding to babies whose names match the no-fly list, or making forgetful people surrender their death-dealing corkscrews, strikes me as being the most insanely wrong-headed goat-eff-you-see-kay that anybody has ever implemented. 



Since when has it been the smart ploy to disarm the potential victims when there's a threat? It's the most un-American reaction to an act of war in the history of our nation, and I think it's a national disgrace as well as a cosmic waste of time. 



Put LEOs and CCW holders through the air marshal course, make them carry unchambered while aboard, give them all the background and psych tests in the world, but for the love of God and humanity, allow the good guys to be armed in the face of the threat of terrorism. 



This was originally written as part of a thread where people were commenting on a road rage incident in Arizona, where one genius in a monster truck had confronted another similar genius, jumping out of his truck to challenge the other driver to a smack down.

The one still in his truck had simply shot the would-be brawler, in a scene vaguely reminiscent of a modernized episode of Gunsmoke.

That story, building on top of my own decade of experiences in the hell that is known as driving in the Phoenix area, initiated the following rant, which attempts to be both humorous and realistic.

[AZ driving rant on]

I've driven about a million miles in cars & bikes, in Europe as well as most parts of the USA, and I have never seen as many crazed-in-a-rage drivers, true psychos who are out to ruin somebody's day, or just plain idiots as I have in the Phoenix area.

It seems like 50% of the drivers have a cellphone permanently attached to their left ear, while the other 50% are doing their level best to double the speedlimit on a surface street, or put their bumper about six and half inches from the back of whatever car is in front of them on the loop 101. We’ve got every teenage girl in the state permanently texting her “circle”, whether or not she’s barreling along at 30 over the limit in her Mom’s white minivan or Daddy’s jacked-up F-350 diesel dualie whose bumpers are about eye-level for a pedestrian.

Add in the smoke-spewing ‘83 Toyota pickups with 4 guys in the front, three more in the back, and a bed full of ladders and 5 gallon paint buckets ready to fly off at every corner, and it gets even more interesting.

But the best part is in the Winter, when we welcome the tens of thousands of 85 year olds from Michigan and Minnesota who drive down in their bald-tired Oldsmobiles, squinting confusedly at a world gone mad from behind their wrap-around blind-man glasses. I watch in genuine amazement as these old-timers lurch slowly through traffic on their way back from the drive-up liquor store or the golf course, defiantly refusing to use their turn signals, never looking sideways or checking their mirrors as they merge onto I-10 at 42 mph. Somehow God smiles on them: the trucker who has been pounding it out non-stop from San Antonio to LA doesn’t flatten them or punt them into next year as they struggle towards the middle lane, giving everyone a nice chance to test their ABS systems.

You know, I’d really enjoy driving in Arizona sometimes, if it weren’t for the flame-painted trucks doing 80 on their way back to the gravel pit, blowing a storm of sand & rocks in their wake, causing $1,000 a minute in windshield repairs for all the cars desperately trying to avoid their debris field. But there are benefits: I never have to clean the inside of my windshield, because it never lasts long enough to get dirty. Hey, I’m on a first name basis with my glass guy now… if only they offered a free trip to Cancun with your fifth windshield in a year.

No, driving here is not fun now, and probably never will be again. It truly is seriously the most dangerous environment I’ve ever put hand to wheel. I’d rather do 120 in the rain on an Autobahn at night then drive to Tempe during commute hours.

No wonder those two guys snapped… it’s a miracle more people don’t. I can’t wait until it’s 110+ degrees every day for three or four months later this year. It’s really gonna be interesting then.

[rant off]

Ted Kennedy’s Dead!

I wonder how long before the geniuses in Massachusetts elect/appoint/crown another Kennedy to take his place?

I can't believe you guys say things like "public service", as though he was doing something for people. Being in the Senate for that guy was all about power, perpetuating his royal Kennedy legacy, crusading against gun owners, and sucking as much pork out of the public trough for his state as possible.

Canonize him all you want, the guy was a vicious political animal, a drunk, a freedom-hater, a cheat at Harvard and a murderer at Chappaquiddick. Overall, as Howie Carr would say - Uncle Ted was a classic Massachusetts political hack.

May God have mercy on his soul, and I mean that sincerely, because he needs it now, in spades.

A blog is a Letter to the Editor, when the editor is yourself.

The title of this would be more accurate if I had made it ‘Trigger Control with Dummies’, but we’re in computer land so I thought a title with some computer lingo might be appropriate…. :)

The two most important skills needed for accurate shooting are trigger control and sight alignment. Of the two, sight alignment seems to get the most attention sometimes, and it certainly is a needed skill, but when it comes right down to it, trigger control is simply the most important.

You can have a perfect sight picture for every shot you take, but if your trigger control is poor enough to pull the sights off target when the trigger is pulled, you miss the shot, and more often than not, by quite a bit.

On the other hand, if your trigger control is perfect every time, but your sight alignment/sight picture is a little off, your shot will very likely still hit the target, but it might be in the 9 ring instead of the 10 ring.

Fact is, if you are human, you cannot hold the sights perfectly aligned in the same spot of the target anyway….not off hand…your body can’t do it. If you really think you can, just mount a laser sight on a pistol and go for it.

All too often a shooter gets his sights aligned on target and when the sight picture is just about perfect, he thinks to himself something like, ‘It’s there, it’s there, shoot it!’. And at that moment he pulls the trigger and moves the sights off target as he pulls the trigger.

If the shooter is right handed, the shot tends to go low and/or left 4 to 6 inches or so, depending on how far they are from the target. This is often done with some consistency even, which makes the shooter think it’s the gun that’s shooting ‘off’.

The problem is that the shooter, due to the muzzle blast and recoil generated by the shot, cannot see that he’s pulling the sights off target as he pulls the trigger…..so what’s the cure?

One thing to do is dry fire. Practice shooting the gun with no ammo in it. Align the sights (with, or without a target), and pull the trigger by putting slow, steadily increasing rearward pressure against it until the gun ‘fires’….without disturbing your sight alignment.

The other thing our shooter needs to do is called a ‘Ball and Dummy’ drill. This, very simply put, allows the shooter to see for himself just exactly how he’s pulling the trigger.

First, ya have to have some dummy rounds, or snap caps work too (yes, there’s a difference*). Then, mix at least two or three dummy rounds into a mag with live ammo so ya won’t know when you’ll hit them while shooting. You can also load more than one mag with the dummy rounds mixed in at random and then mix the mags so you really don’t know where they are in the mags. Be honest with yourself, if you know where the dummy rounds are, it doesn't’t work as well.

Now you go shoot your best group.

When you click on a dummy, one of two things will happen, and you have to pay attention to your sights. Either your sights will stay aligned on target like they do when you dry fire….which means you pulled the trigger well, or your front sight will dip down low and left into the area of your target where your shots are going…..this means you decided to fire the shot and pulled the trigger instead of squeezing the trigger until the gun fired….and that’s why your shots are going low and left.

Now it’s up to you to learn to squeeze/press/pull the trigger correctly, like you do when you dry fire, and continued use of the dummy rounds will help you do so.

People then tell me that pulling the trigger slowly like that isn't practical, they want to shoot fast....like for combat/self defense/competition shooting.

Fact is, you can't ride a bike in the tour de France until you learn how to ride a bicycle, and you can't shoot fast and accurately until you learn how to shoot accurately.

Learn to shoot accurately, then continue to shoot accurately when you practice, with repetition (and boredom) you will be able to shoot faster as you practice, but if you start missing, slow down a touch and get good hits.


*Dummy rounds vs. Snap Caps


Dummy rounds are made up of only a case and a ‘bullet’…..no powder or primer....and are intended for cycling through a guns action to check for feeding function or for training a shooter.



These are the best dummy rounds I’ve found. I get them from http://www.letargets.com/eStylez_ps....hcatcontext=~6

They are not 'snap caps' though....the primary intended use for snap caps is for dry firing, and they have a spring loaded brass, or synthetic rubber, ‘primer’ that cushions the impact of the firing pin in a way similar to how a real primer does.

Snap caps can perform the same function as a dummy round, but they often don’t stand up to the wear and tear that such use tends to cause, and snap caps tend to cost quite a little more than dummy rounds. If you reload ammo, you can easily make your own dummy rounds.

These are snap caps:

The article is to big to be posted here but can be read here.

http://rtkba.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10

You have to try all of them before you settle down with the RIGHT ONE!
I was first introduced to a Glock 30 by a
co-worker of mine while at a shooting range. She was a beauty and it was love at first sight. She had all the right stuff even though she was a bit overweight. I took her to the best ranges, fed her the best amo I could find and she never failed me, not even one time.
Then one day at my favorite gun shop, I spotted a long slim beauty out of the corner of my eye and I instantly felt the need to touch her. I took her home that day and gave my new Glock 17 a thorough cleaning and once again it was Love at First Sight......To be continued.

Heres the story:
http://www.wvec.com/video/topvideo-i...d=366470&shu=1

Good thing the homeowner got the BG's gun and shot him. This was within 3 miles of my house-guess its time to move.......

Oh look, we have a place to blog...yawn

I have nothing important to say.

That is all.

One subject that a lot of folks apparently feel very strongly about and are willing to argue the point at length to make others agree with their way of seeing it, is the use of what Glock calls the Slide Stop Lever. Well, here’s my take on the subject.

As I recall being told many years ago, the original intent was to have an internal slide stop lever that would simply hold the slide to the rear when it opens on an empty magazine with no tab/lever on the outside of the gun (ala Walther PPK).

This is a drawing of one of the G17 prototypes that would certainly appear to confirm this (and I have seen a real photograph of the same prototype):



It was ultimately decided to make the part with an external control though. I can only guess that the reason was to facilitate the shooters ability to manually lock open the slide with out needing to have an empty magazine in the gun, indeed, the original lever ‘s small size and ‘tight to the frame’ configuration tells me that it’s almost certainly the intended purpose.



This would appear to say it was indeed Glock’s intent that chambering a round from lockback should be done via pulling the slide fully to the rear and releasing it to slam forward with the full force of the recoil spring to help insure reliable feeding and chambering of the round being chambered.

In that Glock eventually started making their extended slide stop lever, I suspect that it became obvious that U.S. shooters were very inclined to use the lever as a release, and that there was no real harm in doing so except that the original lever design was not ideal for the purpose.

Although the Glock owner’s manual says the slide can be closed by either pulling the slide or pushing down on the slide stop lever, at their firearms instructor workshops, they teach users to pull the slide. Why?

Most trainers agree that in the extreme stress of a gun fight, strange things very often happen to a person. I won’t go into detail, I don’t feel qualified to, but things like tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, and loss of the ability to perform fine motor skills are common.

The degradation of fine motor skills is what we’re concerned with here. Although some of us are supermen and nothing bothers us, others of us are human, and fact is that this problem exists. The solution for most is good training.

Some functions, such as depressing the mag catch button, are not often affected by loss of fine motor skills. Yes, some folks do have trouble with it, usually when a problem occurs it’s because they’re pushing on the other end of the catch at the same time. But since it’s a function that is commonly used nearly every time the gun is handled, and it requires an inward push as compared to a lateral movement (that’s easier for the finger to slip off the lever), its use under stress isn’t often a problem.

Along those same lines, a lot of folks use the slide stop lever to release the slide and feel quite confident in its use under stress. Most of the time they will be quite proficient at it, but I get the distinct impression that many don’t take into consideration other factors that can cause problems. Water, snow, and blood can be very slippery, and cold (with or without gloves) can make successful manipulation of the lever much more difficult.

I tend to agree with Glock and most law enforcement trainers that racking the slide is the best way to insure successful and complete slide closure under stress, and it is certainly the best way to do it for those who may not train as much as they maybe should. An added benefit is that it is consistent with what is needed during malfunction drills.

Now, how to pull the slide, ‘Sling Shot’, or ‘Hand Over’? Yes, there’s a difference.

‘Sling Shot’ is where you’re holding the gun in your shooting hand and you grab the rear end of the slide with the thumb and the top side of your index finger to pull it back like this (yes you have to imagine my other hand on the grip….it’s actually holding the camera):


‘Hand Over’ (or some call it ‘overhand’- like the pitching method) is using the palm of the hand on one side of the slide, and all four fingers on the other side, like this:


Either way, pull the slide all the way to the rear and let it slip out of your hand to slam shut. Don't let your hand 'ride the slide' forward, it can reduce slide speed and cause a malfunction.

Hand over gives a much more secure purchase on the slide and is very much my preferred method of manipulating the slide.

There you have it! Use your best judgment!

Butch