I’ve never even heard of this. I guess some people have difficulty working a slide. I can think of situations where this could even cause problems.
UPDATE: I think I am forced to admit that this is not, in fact, a dumb accessory, given the comments below.
Check the third comment on that link. Strange things make much more sense in proper context.
Disclaimer: Never seen one before, have no idea how it works. Just noting that it might have plausible use.
As mentioned above, for the disabled. Also, I believe that the primary purchaser of this is the competition shooter. I’ve seen plenty of Open-Class USPSA/IPSC guns that have a charging handle such as this.
Yep … either a race gun mod, or something for a disabled shooter.
Stupid only if you don’t absolutely need it. If you do, then worth its weight in gold.
Also, from the GSSF match, learned people who have red dot sights need them.
First thing I thought when seeing it was that it would be for someone with a prosthetic hand/hook mechanism.
I thought these were for race guns with optics low-mounted over the slide.
I don’t like it. The device still looks difficult to grab, and I can just imagine someone who has difficulty operating slides on some pistols yanking the hell out of that thing and NDing into their foot due to a sympathetic squeeze and improper hold. But I can see that if you train with it from the beginning, and it isn’t used as a prybar, it would be helpful. Just not for those who cannot operate a slide normally IMHO.
How does a one handed shooter operate a slide?
I can definitely see it for race-gun applications, disabled-person applications, and since-we-already-hang-everything-off-AR-15s-we-might-as-well-start-hanging-things-off-Glocks applications. They were just the next step down the evolutionary ladder ;).
A friend of mine has some sort of birth defect that left him with very poor muscular development on one side of the body, and I think this would be wonderful for him. That, stroke patients, etc…
Course, a revolver would be the obvious solution, but whatever.
I think I am guilty of not having enough imagination, and I have updated the post.
This reminds me of something I saw in the American Rifleman many years ago back when the Rifleman was more fun to read. A one armed shooter had a small section of steel rod (maybe 1/2 inch diameter and no more than 1/2 inch in length) silver soldered to the slide of a .45 auto. Using the edge of a table or shooting bench the one armed shooter could rack the slide back. I suspect this is for some similar purpose. Although placing the cocking handle towards the front of the slide would be more useful for someone with a handicap.
“How does a one handed shooter operate a slide?”
It can be done, with the help of a table or other flat surface. Tom Cruise, portraying the disabled Col. Stauffenberg, gives a reasonable demonstration of how to do it in _Operation Valkyrie_, racking the slide of a Walther PPK in this manner.
I believe this device is an Israeli invention, and was developed in response to demand by security forces personnel who needed a way to work their slides one-handed because their other hand was busy doing something else, e.g. operating a car or holding and moving a protected person. As we all know, the Israelis like their Glocks, but they might still be using the “condition three” carry as standard. The charging handle isn’t meant to worked with the opposite hand; it’s meant to be hooked on a corner of a wall or car dashboard, say, so that the hand on the grip can punch forward and cycle the slide that way.
In my Concealed Carry Class, we were taught how to rack the slide with either hand, one handed. I use my belt and I don’t have the factory sights on my Glock, so this does make a difference. Practice also makes a difference.
One of my coworkers has one arm. He racks his slide by using the front sight against a solid object such as the range table or etc. This seems much neater, and safer.