OK, I have never been much of a pistol shooter!

[RED]

I have bought two new handguns made in Turkey. A 1911 clone and a PX-9 a pistol that is marked Philippines Nation Police. It seems that they were liking them and bought 20,000 of them.

PROBLEM?- they are built with very close fitting parts including springs making them hard to operate the slide, load the mags, and even use the magazine release.

My 78 year old arthritic hands are not up for it.

Can I cut off a couple of turns on the operation spring and maybe the mags? I won?t be using +P ammo?

What is the best and easiest to use magazine loaders?

I?ve been told to put 500 rounds through them and they will be a lot easier to shoot. Let?s see 500X $.50 is more than the gun cost.

[Art]

I feel your pain, when I got out of the hospital 16 months ago I couldn't open the action of my M1 rifle without putting the butt on the floor and leaning into it. I can do it now but it took a spell.

My magazine loaders are ADCO SUPERTHUMBs. Very simple, very cheap and lighten your load a lot with stiff springs, especially on new mags.

Shooting does make the gun friendlier to operate, I don't think 500 rounds is probably necessary but a couple of hundred might loosen things up enough for you. One method for operating stiff slides is to get a good, solid grip on the slide with the thumb of your left hand facing the rear of the pistol and pull back with the left hand while pushing forward with the right hand in one hard simultaneous motion. If you haven't tried that give it a whirl. Women are sometimes taught to use that method. Our son has a Walther PPKs and those thing's springs are a beast, I used that method when operating the slide on it. You may be able to find a friendlier after market spring.

Cutting the spring may (or may not) not be dangerous, and will void the warranty. With your M1911 you may be able to load the first round by putting the front of the slide below the barrel on a hard flat surface and pushing down. Make sure the barrel bushing engages said hard flat surface. This does not work with all auto pistols, obviously.

[Dick Mayward]

With a 1911, it is usually helpful to cock the hammer, then pull the slide back.

[RED]

Thanks Art! I tried your method of racking the slide on the 1911. It is still difficult but I will practice it every day!

[Allen]

With a 1911, it is usually helpful to cock the hammer, then pull the slide back.

+1

And as far as cutting off a little bit of the springs go, the worse that could happen is you have to buy another spring.

I see 1911 recoil springs on ebay and maybe GB that are different #, sometimes sold in a set of 3 different so reducing the strength must be pretty common.

It's your gun. You need to be able to shoot it w/o any hesitation. Buy a couple extra mags from different manf's. Experiment. It's not a Singer so you can do things to it.

Just to add: I don't know what your strengths are nor your experiences with 1911's but I've got several and they're all a little stiff. A couple of them are over 100 years old so they've obviously been shot a lot. Be glad it's not a 50AE or a 44 automag.

[barretcreek]

With a 1911, it is usually helpful to cock the hammer, then pull the slide back.

+1

How's the .38 Super Art? One Foster will be a Super, the other gets the DCM ACE kit.

[lyman]

RED

if the front sight is square enough, or the rear, you can use that as a bearing surface and push either against a table etc and work the slide,
as in lean into it, wiht the sights pressed against a table top, or a door frame, etc

use your body weight if needed,

[dryheat]

My Spanish STAR 9mm is loose. The short pistols are hard to cock. The stiff magazines are damned hard to reload. My nightmare is, trying to reload a mag on a check pistol under pressure.

Red, how did you come across Turkish pistols?

[Phloating Phlasher]

You might try this instead of pulling the slide back.
Cock the hammer, as suggested.
Bend both elbows slightly the strong hand side more than the offhand.
Grasp the serrations fully & as firmly as you can.
Now punch forward with the strong hand on the pistol grip while keeping the slide where it is.

You could also "loosen the action up" without firing it!
remove the recoil spring & simply rack the slide a bunch of times with the pistol empty & bone dry (NO lube), now field strip, clean & lube & reassemble with the spring back in.

[Art]

RED

if the front sight is square enough, or the rear, you can use that as a bearing surface and push either against a table etc and work the slide,
as in lean into it, wiht the sights pressed against a table top, or a door frame, etc

use your body weight if needed,

This method, using the back sight, is taught by law enforcement agencies and the military as a method to operate the pistol if one hand is disabled. We were taught to use the belt if nothing else is available, as an option to engage the back sight. The front sight would probably work too, but if your front sight is held on by a tenion in the traditional M1911 manner, it might be a bit fragile compared to a front sight in a dovetail.

[Allen]

PROBLEM?- they are built with very close fitting parts including springs making them hard to operate the slide, load the mags, and even use the magazine release.

My 78 year old arthritic hands are not up for it.

A few of the many reasons to shoot revolvers.