Detect Slide Lock by Feel

[lazarus]

Being mostly a Glock guy, I tell more by trigger reset. I'm sure, were it not for that, I would likely feel the lack of slide returning to battery. I always feel when my AR runs dry by the lack of forward bolt movement.

For me this too. Some guns I notice more by recoil impulse difference. Some by trigger rest (or lack of) feel. And yeah, occasionally I pull the trigger and not realize the bolt or slide has locked back.

More often I think I ran it dry and then do a “oh, I’ve got another round left”

 

[lazarus]

God knows what happens when you shoot a High Point. A chain smoking obese, flatulent tranny just laughs his ass off.

When you shoot a Glock, John Mosses Browning gives you a reach around while he sobs quietly in to your shoulder.

 

[Tower43]

I personally can feel it with the M9, 1911. M&P 9,40 and 45
After years shooting in the Corps I developed a weird peripheral sense for the bolt catch on the M16/AR platform, plus the lack of the bolt going forward helps too... Only weapon Ive had issues with is the 12ga pump lol...more than once ive racked and "click" empty....

counting rounds is easy with my 45s... theyre 8 and 10 round mags. the 9mm... 15+ is a bit harder lol.

Figure out what works for you, thats your best practice

 

[John from MD]

A couple weeks back I took some advanced pistol training. One of the instructors was a nationally ranked competitive shooter. I mentioned to him how I'm trying sensitize myself to watch for slide lock. (Occasionally at the range I don't notice and pull the trigger despite being at slide lock.) The instructor said he doesn't need to watch for the visual cue because he can feel slide lock by the change in recoil.

Inspired by this idea, I went to the range, loaded some mag's with two rounds, some with one round, randomly shuffled them, and inserted them. I aimed, closed my eyes, pressed the trigger, and without opening my eyes I tried to predict if I was at slide lock. I was an utter failure (the gun: Sig P320 XFive Legion).

I'm debating on whether I will develop that sensitivity with more practice. Or if, with my gun and my situation, that's not going to happen no matter how many round I burn trying to develop it.

Do others notice slide lock by recoil alone?

Count your shots.

 

[Racinready300ex-2]

I'll go one farther, sometimes I can feel if it doesn't pick up a round when cycling. So like mags empty but fails to lock the slide back. Depends on the gun, and typically I can't do that in a match but I can if I'm just standing there shooting.

You certainly don't want to be standing there with the slide locked to the rear pulling the trigger wondering why it's not going off. Pretty common thing to see really. Just takes time.

 

[Chasbo00]

If recognizing slide lock is a problem, shoot USPSA. If you have reached slide lock in USPSA, then you have probably already messed up given the extra time to reload from slide lock. The speed reload (live round still in chamber) is king in USPSA.

However, if you shoot IDPA, then recognizing slide lock is a necessary skill. Having to retain magazines (required by IDPA rules when you still have rounds in the gun's magazine before the reload) eats away at your time.

With experience, recognizing slide lock will become natural and automatic.

 

[Sticky]

Mostly Glocks, but I can usually 'feel' it in the recoil with the farther rearward travel of the slide. It upsets the normal balance of the pistol. I need to shoot my Sig P228/9 more to see if that feels the same, but I suspect not to be honest, I just don't have as much trigger time with it as my Glocks. It shoots lights out tho, so I need to spend more time with it.

 

[Art3]

It's more pronounced on certain pistols and isn't so much a change in recoil as far as the rearward pulse and rise but rather a lack of the secondary, forward dip when it doesn't go back into battery. Your grip also affects the ability to detect it.

Stop thinking about it, stop trying to practice it and just shoot.

I agree with this. If you focus on trying to watch for it, you'll miss important stuff going on around, and probably make bad shots. If you focus on trying to feel it, you still aren't focusing on the big picture (via the front sight) and, as you learned, you may not feel it anyway. I think it's really a summation of context clues and your familiarity with the pistol.

Usually in competition, I "just know" Maybe the recoil feels a little different; maybe I'm visually slightly aware in the periphery of my focus that something is different. Maybe I feel it in the trigger reset. I never really have the conscious thought that, "Oh, look at that! My slide is locked back." I just reload (or, even though I do not try to count rounds, if I am fairly certain that there are quite a bit left in the mag, I'll tap & rack). I really think it's a little of all of the above and more...being in tune with your pistol and something about the unquantifiable energies of the universe.

Or...just that the unconscious mind works a little faster than the conscious and I see and feel it before I even know that I saw and felt it.

Shoot more (with varying mag loads), and be thinking more about the important details of doing your reload when it is time than knowing when it is time...and I think you will get to "just know" when it is time.

 

[Occam]

Or...just that the unconscious mind works a little faster than the conscious and I see and feel it before I even know that I saw and felt it.

Shoot more (with varying mag loads), and be thinking more about the important details of doing your reload when it is time than knowing when it is time...and I think you will get to "just know" when it is time.

I’ll certainly agree with this. I honestly can’t be sure how I know, but I can’t even remember the last time I wasn’t aware of running dry in the instant it happens. Things look, feel, balance, and sound different when that slide isn’t going back home.

With some practice, every pistol lets you know after a few hundred rounds, or always has for me. So many senses are usually on high alert (especially during a speed-centric competition, when you get that adrenaline time dilation thing happening) that it would seem strange to me to miss instantly knowing that slide status. Hope that doesn’t sound like boasting, just an observation after lots of shooting.

 

[Crosseye Dominant]

Count your shots.

How? my fingers are busy gripping the gun

 

[John from MD]

How? my fingers are busy gripping the gun

Spoken like a true MDS'er.

 

[ironpony]

I've never thought of this, I thought everyone could notice? Shoot more!

 

[gwchem]

In the context of competition, good advice but ultimately unhelpful.

You should 100% be counting your shots. And not shooting to slide lock in uspsa. And idpa sucks, for other reasons, but one is that my grip keeps my CZ from going to slide lock anyway. My left thumb rides on the lever.

 

[smokey]

+1 for just shoot and train more. Also know that under stress, you're likely to dump a bunch of what you intentionally do in training as you fall back to your level of unconscious proficiency.

Competitive stress will induce this a little, but there's lots of videos of pretty well trained people not realizing they're at slide lock in defensive situations.

This goes along with general malfunction clearing drills.

 

[outrider58]

Pretty sure I'm not gonna be counting rounds in a self defense situation.

 

[John from MD]

Pretty sure I'm not gonna be counting rounds in a self defense situation.

If you train that way, you will revert to your training in times of stress.

 

[alucard0822]

I'm in the "trigger doesn't reset" camp. can feel the difference in recoil on some pistols, but it can be really subtle on a well balanced or comp'ed pistol. I ride the reset on triggers, if I let it forward, and it doesn't reset, either need to reload or do a malf drill. It simplifies training and practice compared to trying to feel something that might not be apparent if you are shooting in a hurry, moving, or doing something like shooting strong/weak only. The main thing is to train a lot more malf drills than most do, the main idea is that you immediately recognize a problem, and the need to get the pistol back up, either with a reload or tap/rack. A lot of people can run a pistol fine at the range, but soon as they end up in a shoot house or comp stage they get "stuck" pulling a trigger over and over again without recognizing the need to do something else.

 

[Blaster229]

If you train that way, you will revert to your training in times of stress.

I saw a video of a cop in a restaurant getting ready to shoot an armed robber, but he first threw his hands up in the surrender position before drawing.
Yeah. Don't train in that type of competition mode. Competitions aren't 2 way ranges.
I also saw another where a cop bent over to pick up his brass after a shooting also. Because that's what they did at the range to not have to pick up a shit ton of brass when finished.

 

[outrider58]

I saw a video of a cop in a restaurant getting ready to shoot an armed robber, but he first threw his hands up in the surrender position before drawing.
Yeah. Don't train in that type of competition mode. Competitions aren't 2 way ranges.
I also saw another where a cop bent over to pick up his brass after a shooting also. Because that's what they did at the range to not have to pick up a shit ton of brass when finished.

Excellent points. Competition shooting and defensive/offensive shooting are two different things, at least to me.
I don't want to be standing there waiting for the BEEP.
(only half kidding)
I will stick with my naturally learned tactile keys. That's how I train.

 

[Racinready300ex-2]

I saw a video of a cop in a restaurant getting ready to shoot an armed robber, but he first threw his hands up in the surrender position before drawing.

If that cop was a competitor he must steel challenge lol. that's all they do. To get good at competition you should practice everything. Your hands should be able to be anywhere doing anything and just go to the gun.

I helped a local guy run some matches in the past. His philosophy for start positions was every stage needed to be different and none would be the super common hands relaxed at sides. You might have to do some odd ball stuff, but it got you out of your comfort zone of the standard thing you always practices. The same people still finished at the top, ultimately if you practice right it doesn't matter.