Should I use the slide release or overhand to release the slide?

[Surf]

I would like to add that there are good arguments for doing things the same way across the board ie, always use an overhand release. In fact, the overhand is the method that I predominantly teach my student base, again as they are mostly gloved. Even when I run full finger gloves I will more often than not use the overhand also. However I will mention that I am not always rolling with gloves or that my primary gloves are missing some fingers and I will opt to use a slide stop release with the primary hand. Heck I am so messed up that when I switch to a 1911 I will use the support hand thumb release.

I understand the argument of commonality and consistency thing, but I do believe that a highly skilled shooter can understand the differences and seamlessly move from one technique to the next without really thinking about it and where there is no loss in time or delay in thinking "well what type of a release am I going to use here?" I often butt heads with "Hicks" and his law, but that is another story. We like to promote thinkers as well as do'ers. If I, or my guys, cannot understand that I need to go to an overhand release because I am wearing gloves because I have some issues perhaps with loss of dexterity or tactile feel, then maybe they shouldn't be in that stack to begin with. Again, I will say that the overhand is the predominant method that I teach, but it is not however my preferred method across the board.

Surf, while I could remark on mags falling free when on a flat range and not operating under duress, I have to congratulate you on at least giving us something more or less empirical to work with rather than opining/speculating on what's faster: this, that or the other technique.

While I don't prefer BAD levers as they change the manual of arms I've long since grown accustomed to, with a devotion to getting the requisite reps in, they can be a useful device as you illustrated in your videos.

I get you on the flat range thing, but it is a baseline and we can translate the findings to other drills, dynamic situations etc... I have gone back to pretty simple with my rifle set ups, but I am still a big fan of the BAD. I do train quite a bit without it however as I teach with the same set ups as students, so I don't have too much issues with manual of arms. I will readily admit that I shoot a lot and am doing this full time year round, non-stop.

having gone from sling shot to slide stop, I have found that not only do I get the gun back into battery slightly faster, but the transition back into proper grip is quite a bit faster if using the slide stop method.

I also used the BAD lever for about a year, while it does slightly increase the speed on returning the rifle into battery, it also increases the chance of accidentally sending the bolt home while trying to perform fast reloads.
the marginal time savings of the BAD lever is offset by the number of accidental bolt releases, IMO of course.

The times that Surf posted are almost the same times me and a friend came up with while testing these various techniques a few weeks ago.

One more thing I will throw in, we also tested our fastest possible AR reloads versus transitioning to pistol. No matter how fast we could reload the rifle, we found the transition to pistol to be about 1 second faster, YMMV.

Yes, reacquiring your full firing grip is a big part of the time issue with the methods. As noted a good shooter will see virtually no time differences between a slide stop release with the primary hand and a pure speed reload.

As for the BAD lever, I always preach that if does not work on your rifle don't run it. Simple as that. I will also note that the bolt tripping and going back into battery is not really one of my issues provided that it isn't just tripping when you are attempting to do an emergency type of reload.

My findings are exactly the same when it comes to transitioning to the pistol. All of our guys roll with pistols and they determine if the circumstance favors a transition to pistol or a reload of the rifle. Last week we ended a carbine training phase and that point was hit home hard when we had 9 guys on the line at the 10 yard line. It was a set round count drill to force a transition at the same time for all shooters. One guy neglected to transition and performed a rifle reload. All 8 others on the line finished a multiple round pistol engagement before he got his rifle reloaded. On the plus side, he won't ever forget that lesson.

I use mostly a Glock 17 & 34. The G17 has the identical factory extended slide and magazine releases and trigger as the G34.

I use the strong hand thumb to release the slide and like your times above it's over half a second faster than the other methods. For me it's utterly reliable, consistent and fast.

As a side note, we tried these to do an overall comparison with the CFS reload method where they have the pistol tucked in for reload and perform an overhand release. The Combat Focus Shooting reload method is at least a second slower than using right thumb for slide release after bringing the pistol to your workspace slightly below your face rather than tucked in.

A second is an eternity...

Try doing that type of a reload where you never glimpse at your magwell to watch the mag into the magwell and do it under force on force with say SIMS ammunition. Guys will literally look like monkeys ****ing a football trying to pull off that type of reload, even when they get to cover and perform it. If you note in that video, under a non pressure, step by step demonstration, he actually does not get a good clean first insertion. Try that under stress with lead flying.

The chamber check left with the previous regime. Steve was never really a fan and quit doing it when C left, and it certainly isn't coming back on my watch. Less "diagnostic" stuff = better, IMHO. The new paradigm is outlined on the updated mission page on the MD site.

To bring it back to the OP, we demo both slide release/stop and overhand, talk about the pros and cons, and recommend overhand. I use overhand.

Good to hear. I have an awesome student in my course right now, no doubt one of the top shooters. He came through your old courses twice and has some serious habits that I am currently fixing. The good thing is that he truly gets it, not just because he is trying to appease me, but the bad thing is that it is an absolute bitch to try and break.