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From: marko@hutch (Mark O'Shea)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Extended Levers
Message-ID: <35220@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 4 Jun 91 20:04:15 GMT
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In article <35192@mimsy.umd.edu> bercov@bevsun.bev.lbl.gov (John Bercovitz) writes:

.I've never really understood the bit about the extended slide release -
.could somebody elevate my consciousness on the subject?  My friends who
.shoot IPSC (our form of it at Chabot Gun Club - no trick guns allowed)
.all tell me that you don't need a slide release (aka slide stop) because
.you're not supposed to be dumb enough to run a magazine dry and if you
.are dumb enough, you ought to use your off hand to press it down or wrack 
.the guns sideways.  So I always ask, "Yeah, but what's wrong with having
.it?"  I'm not sure I've ever gotten a cogent answer.  I like it on my Gold
.Gold Cup because I can hold back the trigger and drop the slide with one hand.
.But I do hate fitting slide stops so I didn't bother with my Delta Elite.
.I could maybe speculate on why, but I'd rather ask, so I'm askin'.

The "conventional wisdom" among IPSC shooters here is that any buttons, levers,
etc. that you might have to use in the "heat of battle" should be enlarged
so that they are easy to find without looking.  Hence saving time.  I tend to
agree with your folks (and so do some other shooters here).  

Since the situation may arise when you do shoot the gun dry (miss a popper or 
two in a string).  I practice doing anything out of the ordinary with my
off hand (release the slide, cock the hammer, etc.) and it is no hassle.  It
comes naturally in a match.

A word about IPSC competition.  It is meant to be fun above all.  There are
a lot of stock shooters and it can be inexpensive if you shoot a stock gun
and reload your own ammo.  The entry fees are cheap compared to skeet and trap
shoots.  Matches here cost $10 to enter.  The last time I shot registered 
skeet it cost me $57.  There is a movement afoot to make stock guns a class
within the classification system.  I am in favor of this.  I shoot stock.
To me personally, it is just a lot of fun.  Considering that I shoot anyway
and would own this gun whether or not I shoot IPSC, I have to ask where else
could I have this much fun for $10?

One other point I like to make.  Trick guns do not make good shooters from
poor ones.  There is no substitute for practice.  Practice your weaknesses.
You'll know them after a match or two.

Gun Control Means Being Able to Hit Your Target
Mark O'Shea
marko@ijf1.intel.com