[Pantera Mike]

I just finally got my hands on an SA-35, my first ever experience with the High Power genre. I’m pleasantly surprised at how excellent the trigger is. But, all is not well.

Frequently the slide will not lock back on an empty magazine. The slide lock appears to be sticking and often needs a bit of help from a well-placed thumb pressing up on it. Once that’s done, it works just fine.

I locked the slide back with the safety (in the takedown notch) and then worked the slide stop up and down a hundred times or so in an effort to free it up some, and that has appeared to help somewhat as now the slide locks back on its own 50% of the time. The slide lock is just barely engaged when it does work, and inserting a loaded magazine would probably be enough to cause it to fail and let the slide go forward by itself, thereby chambering a round.

I‘ve never heard of anybody else having this problem. I haven’t fired it yet so it’s possible the violence of actual cycling will be enough to let it work the way it’s supposed to. But if not, does anybody have any advice apart from sending it back to the mother ship?

I should add that it’s extremely difficult to remove the slide lock during field stripping. It’s super-tight in there, which I suspect is what is preventing it from rotating on its axis when pressed upwards by the magazine follower…..

 

[WVSurveyor]

Welcome to the forum Pantera Mike. I suspect the slide lock will work better with a loaded mag inserted. I've often found that to be true. I would go out and shoot it. I've had a number of pistols that will cause the slide to release when a mag is inserted.

 

[Pantera Mike]

Welcome to the forum Pantera Mike. I suspect the slide lock will work better with a loaded mag inserted. I've often found that to be true. I would go out and shoot it. I've had a number of pistols that will cause the slide to release when a mag is inserted.

Uh…when the magazine is loaded with ammo, by definition the slide lock doesn’t engage. It only engages after the last round is consumed and the magazine is empty. If the slide lock engages when there are still rounds left, thats a whole different problem that thankfully I don’t appear to have. What I have is the opposite problem.

 

[WVSurveyor]

When you insert a loaded mag into the weapon with the slide locked back, I've generally found the slide release operates easier to load a round then when you try and release the slide when no mag is inserted.

 

[Pantera Mike]

i locked the slide to the rear with the thumb safety in the takedown notch, and then cycled the slide lock up and down rapidly several hundred times to wear it in. Today I fired it for the first time and experienced flawless functioning. 👍