My First Pistol

[k9870]

Originally Posted by Kirill

Hey guys, just a quick question.
Firstly I've never handle any semi auto pistol in my life, just the m16 and mp5 mostly, so bear with me.....

Assuming a 1911 has no magazine and the slide stop is hooked to the slide:
some press down the slide stop after inserting a magazine to chamber a round,
while others rack the slide back and release to chamber a round.

is this purely self preference or are there reasons behind each one?

like example, me being in the law enforcement reserves, our hk mp5 instructors
always told us to cock, hook, reload and release. instead of reload and cock.
they claim it increases the chance of feeding malfunction.

racking the slide is easier under stress and works with all types of gun so you dont need to retrain when getting another one with different release levers.

Also, consistency of motion, loading, unloading, malfunction clearances, safety checks, etc, all involve racking the slide. So reloads might as well too.