people giving wrong info

[thr_wedge]

I don't offer unsolicited advice.

[Texas_Tactical]

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the word. However I'd like to think I know enough to help guide people with little or no gun knowledge in the right direction. That being said I usually don't say anything to the customer to avoid looking like a know it all who's interrupting the salesman. I have offered my opinion about guns I own for CC after salesperson walks away(e.g. Lady looking for CHL gun when teenager at counter states that vastly overpriced Ruger LCR is much better because of the "laser")

Two things I will ALWAYS at least try to correct (especially from incorrect salespeople)I was a semi-professional photographer for 4 years.

Have a url to some of your work? I'm an amateur photographer...I dabble.

[alvins]

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the word. However I'd like to think I know enough to help guide people with little or no gun knowledge in the right direction. That being said I usually don't say anything to the customer to avoid looking like a know it all who's interrupting the salesman. I have offered my opinion about guns I own for CC after salesperson walks away(e.g. Lady looking for CHL gun when teenager at counter states that vastly overpriced Ruger LCR is much better because of the "laser")

Two things I will ALWAYS at least try to correct (especially from incorrect salespeople)I was a semi-professional photographer for 4 years.

Have a url to some of your work? I'm an amateur photographer...I dabble.

well atleast know more megapixils are not better. no your 13MP point and shoot camera is not better then my 6mp dslr.:)

[Texas_Tactical]

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the word. However I'd like to think I know enough to help guide people with little or no gun knowledge in the right direction. That being said I usually don't say anything to the customer to avoid looking like a know it all who's interrupting the salesman. I have offered my opinion about guns I own for CC after salesperson walks away(e.g. Lady looking for CHL gun when teenager at counter states that vastly overpriced Ruger LCR is much better because of the "laser")

Two things I will ALWAYS at least try to correct (especially from incorrect salespeople)I was a semi-professional photographer for 4 years.

Have a url to some of your work? I'm an amateur photographer...I dabble.

well atleast know more megapixils are not better. no your 13MP point and shoot camera is not better then my 6mp dslr.:)

this is true.

[HotLeadSolutions]

I had this discussion at Academy. The salesman behind the (five foot) counter was telling a woman that the only way to release the slide was with the slide release, and if she couldn't do it..well she was doing it all wrong....and try this and that..and....

She could cycle the action, she just couldnt release the slide with the release.

I finally got tired of seeing the woman get frustrated, and walked over and played dumb....

"..'scuse me sir...I have a question about that pistol...I think I have been doing it all wrong and I want to make sure I dont break my gun...I have been releasing the slide like this...(pulled slide to the rear and released it) is there anything wrong with doing it like that?

The lady got the point...I gave her a few web sites for information (including this one) and wished her well.

Never hurts to help a stranger....

[O6nop]

Are these people having trouble operating the slide release because they are using their thumb from the same hand as they are gripping the gun with? Tell them to use their off hand to release the slide... that's the hand I'm sure you'd otherwise use to pull back the slide. Much better leverage. That's how I realease the slide in most cases, especially after a reload, plus your off hand is already in position to aim and shoot. If the conversation involved one hand shooting, then the slide release is the only way to release the slide, short of the rear-sight-on-the-belt method (don't know the technical name).

I probably wouldn't offer unsolicited advice because I'm not trained in the subject. It may very well be that I give wrong advice. It might also be I didn't hear the initial part of the conversation. The best advice would be to tell them to get instruction from a qualified person, borrow or rent guns from someone else and try them before you buy them.

[Capt Jeff]

Was at a gun show a couple weeks ago and encountered a similar situation. The lady behind the table was giving some bad info to a customer about the loaded chamber and cocking indicator on an XDm. She also stated she was not really familiar with the gun, so I politely mentioned that owned one of that model and asked if I could help her out. She was grateful for the advice and the customer didn't leave with bad info about a great gun.

[03Lightningrocks]

If the empty magazine is in the weapon, you would have to pull the slide back and press the release down at the same time or you get nowhere. Most guns I see in stores are not loaded... thank goodness. Maybe that customer was trying to do this while the magazine was in the gun. Something else I have noticed. With some weapons, pressing the slide release down while the empty magazine is in the gun can be quite a challenge. My 1911's for instance. Put rounds in the magazine and it seems to work much easier. I have no idea why, but both my Kimbers are the same way.

[rm9792]

In the 1911 there is a ledge that rides up with the follower (actually part of the follwer) that holds the slide release up when it is empty. With rounds in it the ledge is down with the follower so no pressure on the slide release.

[03Lightningrocks]

In the 1911 there is a ledge that rides up with the follower (actually part of the follwer) that holds the slide release up when it is empty. With rounds in it the ledge is down with the follower so no pressure on the slide release.

Thank You!

[wgoforth]

As a general rule, I try to not butt into the conversations of other people, so I wouldn't have said anything either.

On the other hand, I've heard some interesting info of questionable reasonableness at gun counters before as well. Once I observed a family obviously new to handguns handling a Sig P238 and a Glock 26 at a gun counter in a local store. The "expert" behind the counter was obviously pro-Glock and even made the statement: "And the G26 doesn't even have to be cleaned - ever - because, well, it's a Glock."

I started to say that both Glock and Sig have reputations for being accurate firearms with excellent records for reliability and while it is true that with powders used in modern ammunition and materials of construction used in modern firearms, the need to be overly obsessive about keeping the firearm spotless at all times is probably not what it used to be, I also don't know anybody that would trust their life to a firearm that they have practiced with enough to be confident in, but never cleaned.

Then I remembered that it was not my conversation and moved on...

A forum member here once exclaimed you never have to clean or lube Glocks....even after scuba diving with them! A few months later they asked for help concerning an issue they were having with their Glock. I figured he'd find out soon enough on his own, and he did! :))

[WildBill]

A forum member here once exclaimed you never have to clean or lube Glocks....even after scuba diving with them! A few months later they asked for help concerning an issue they were having with their Glock. I figured he'd find out soon enough on his own, and he did! :))

Scuba diving with a Glock. Was he expecting a shark attack?

[03Lightningrocks]

A forum member here once exclaimed you never have to clean or lube Glocks....even after scuba diving with them! A few months later they asked for help concerning an issue they were having with their Glock. I figured he'd find out soon enough on his own, and he did! :))

Scuba diving with a Glock. Was he expecting a shark attack?

[bigmoney]

I find it even more disappointing when a salesman at an actual gun store/range can't give you good info. When I recently bought my M&P compact, I had done a lot of video watching and research before-hand, and had seen videos of S&W's way of field takedown, and asked the guy for an in-person demo. I got the "it's the same as a glock". I then repeated that I had seen that you could just flip something( the sear deactivation lever) down, rotate takedown lever and pull the slide off without pulling the trigger. "No it's just like the Glock, that's S&W's way". The thing that bothered me about it, was that he refused to accept that I was onto something, since the handbook agrees with what I was saying. Point being, even at an actual gun store you don't always get good info, which is why I research the crud out of everything I buy and pretty much don't listen to anything said by someone without first hand knowledge. like you guys. And like said before, unless I hear advice that could potentially kill someone, butting into conversations can have consequences. It's best to let people do their own thing.

[PhillRoath]

If she wasn't strong enough to operate the slide release, she might as well not be strong enough to pull the slide far enough to the rear to properly chamber a round. In this case, I side with the advice. That is what Kahr, for example, states is the proper way to chamber a round.

I've never seen it called a slide release in any owner's manual (could be, just never seen it). On mine they call it the slide stop because it's primary function is to lock the slide back after the last round. With an empty magazine in the gun, the slide stop is harder to move than with a loaded magazine. So with a loaded magazine either way is correct - pull back slightly and release or move the slide stop.

Could be totally wrong but that's the way it seems to me.

Phill