Technical Tuesday: Don't Baby Your Gun

Technical Tuesday is BACK!
Today, we are talking about something our Technical Team has been seeing in some recent customer-reported issues... Don't Baby Your Gun!
First, be aggressive with the gun when chambering a round or clearing a malfunction. Don't ride the slide forward; instead, use an aggressive movement to pull the side to the rear and allow the full force of the spring to slam the round up the ramp and into the chamber. Pull all the way to the rear and release from there.
Second, hold the gun firmly when shooting. The pistol needs to have adequate support from the shooter's grip and body position in order to cycle properly. When you have a proper firm stance and a strong grip, the slide has a firm surface to recoil against. If your wrists are unlocked and you aren't holding tight to the gun, then your body is slowing down the movement of the slide, preventing it from getting all the way to the rear to pick up the next round.
We sometimes hear reports about slide release levers; that the gun is either not locking back when it should or is locking back prematurely. These have, in the cases we have seen, been shooter-induced errors caused by the pistol sitting so low in the hand that the shooter impedes the movement of the slide release lever with their non-firing hand.
Finally, please have reasonable expectations when it comes to ammunition. In these times, when ammo is scarce, we know we are all using ammo that isn't necessarily our first choice, but we have seen more cases than ever before of guns blown up by squib loads when using poor quality ammunition. Be aware of potential safety issues and also do have reasonable expectations on the reliability when using poor quality ammunition. If you're seeing potential issues while using poor quality ammo, please fire some high quality ammo to test it to see if that issue persists.
We are answering your questions and comments for future Technical Tuesday videos, so if there is something you want to see, drop it into the comments!
As always, our Technical Team is here to help with any issues or questions you may have. You can reach them at [e-mail] or at shadowsystemsc...