A topic that has been debated again and again in one of the industry professional groups I am a member of is should you use your slide stop to send the slide home when reloading a handgun. Some experts say absolutely, it is a time saving measure that will get your pistol topped up faster than the slingshot or power stroke method. On the other hand some manufactures as well as professionals on the other side of the argument act like you just peed on their couch when you mention the term slide release.

Personally I don’t have a dog in the fight as I am far from an authority when comes to shooting a pistol fast in either self defense situations or competition. For whatever reason I have gravitated towards the slingshot method of releasing the slide, but is that right?

Bill Blowers from Primary & Secondary put together a pretty good instructional video highlighting the benefits of the slide stop method. LANGUAGE WARNING, it is a bit profane at times but Bill is very skilled and has some great information.

Travis Haley makes a pretty good case for the power stroke method as well. He points out that moving between different handguns often (like I do) the power stroke method can save some time instead of hunting for that slide stop.

What method do you guys think is better or are they equally valid? I want to know how you reload a pistol and why you chose to do it that way.