Today’s issue: difficulty using the slide release on an empty magazine.
This is an utterly irrelevant issue. First off, that little lever on the left side of the gun is a slide stop, not a slide release. Notice the somewhat inconvenient placement on many guns. To release the slide, the proper technique involves pulling the slide to the rear and letting it “slingshot” into battery.
Now, I’m aware that there are very experienced and knowledgeable shooters who use the slide stop as a release. They’re not wrong, but that method has its drawbacks. In a stress situation, fine motor skills evaporate. Operating a small, oddly-positioned lever with shaking, sweaty hands will be problematic at best.
If you try the slingshot method on a pistol with an empty magazine inserted, you’ll quickly discover that it does not work. Why not? Because you’re not supposed to drop the slide in that state. Continued...