:lol: Hi guys! Newbie to the forum here.
I've found this post a very interesting read. I've been shooting handguns, in fact all types of guns, since 1958 when I got my first .22lr, single-shot, hand-cock, rifle. As they say, I was hooked and the rest is history.
Along the way, I shot competition while in the military, both handgun and rifle. I very fondly remember the two national match M1 Garands and two national match Colt Gold Cup, .45ACP, 1911s that I was issued.
Now, concerning the Gold Cups. My armorer told me to "never" release the slides with the slide "stop". He told me to "always" pull the slide back and then release it. He went into a lot of reasons for it, and they all had to do with wear and tear on the gun. Never quite understood what the difference was, but, he was very insistant. Now, coming from the dude that was doing our local maintenance and keeping us shooting, I had to assume that he knew what he was talking about. I also had the opportunity to speak with one of the armorers from the main Air Force armory at Lackland AFB, and he emphasized the same thing.
So, be as it may, ya'll can do whatever your little pea-picking hearts want to, but I've had it hammered into my head that slide stops are exactly that, slide stops.
I can tell you that the "slide stops" on my Browning Hi-Powers are on the difficult side to use as a "slide release". When I got these weapons, it didn't cause me any problem as it seemed to be the norm from my past experiences with the Colts.
So, I just thought I'd put this out here for a little information, and fodder for the discussion.
As I said, I'm new here, and I think it's going to be interesting and fun.