Correction
In this post, I said my M&P didn’t have a slide release. At lunch, I checked it out. And the thing I called a slide stop does actually also release the slide. It’s just stiffer than Al Gore is before getting a masseuse to release his chakra.
November 9th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
It will loosen up after you use it to drop the slide about 50 times. But for the M&P, you can get the slide to go forward automatically every time when you slam the mag in at a slight forward angle.
November 9th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
my slide release had some burrs on it that gave it properties much like yours
November 9th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
When I was trying potential carry guns, it seems all Smith slide releases required a prodigious amount of force to release. This was before the M&P line came out. I guess they continued that tradition.
November 9th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
IIRC S&W was one of the first to refer to it as a slide stop as opposed to a slide release.
November 9th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
One nice thing about the M&P is that it’s one of the few guns on the market that has an ambi slide lock – check both sides of the frame. That’s a very nice feature for anyone running the gun left handed. That actually makes it the most lefty-friendly gun on the market, because left handed shooters can run the mag release with the trigger finger, but w/o a left side slide lock there’s no easy way to lock the gun open (or release the slide) using left hand only.
November 9th, 2011 at 6:19 pm
KR… You know the mag release is reversible too right?
November 9th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
I’m actually kind of glad to hear that your M&P release is excessively hard to use as well. That means mine is not an anomoly.
I’ve used that release to drop the slide on an unloaded gun at least 50 times so far, but it hasn’t loosened up noticeably yet.
I’m taking the gun in to have a trigger job done and I’m going to ask the guy if he can smooth out the release a bit as well.
I’ve fired other used M&P’s that weren’t as bad, so I’m pretty sure it’s fixable. I just don’t want to take the time to let it “break in” naturally, as it is really a PITA right now.
Btw, funny you should mention it now, as I just posted a comment over at Caleb’s about how it’s not “always faster” to use the slide release as opposed to running the slide by hand and I used my M&P experience as an example. It’s definitely NOT quicker or easier to use the slide release in my gun, and it sounds like I’m not alone.
November 9th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
My Smiff 5904 release, after 1000+ rounds and 100+ releases is still a PITA.
November 9th, 2011 at 11:49 pm
That goes away if you shoot the thing, you know. π
November 10th, 2011 at 11:40 am
Tam,
What happens when the bullet bounces off it?
π