Under Barrel Slide Racking

    At a local steel match, I saw a shooter rack his pistol in an unusual method. He pinches the front of the slide to pull it rearward but he does so by grabbing the slide from underneath rather than on top. Most people use the slingshot method or the hand over the slide, but I have never seen someone rack their slide like this.

    One of the RSOs later told him that he should not rack the slide like that because his hands were dangerously close to the front of the barrel and close to flagging himself.

    This shooter explained that he racks the slide from underneath because he is concerned about out of battery detonation. Supposedly another competitive shooter had a fail to fire and racked his slide with his hand covering the ejection port to capture the round. The round went off in his hand when he extracted it.


    Advertisement