UPDATE!
June 13th, 2011
On the way back home from a week at the NRA
Whittington Center near Raton, New Mexico, I knew that an
update to this review was in order. We were out there attending
the annual Shootists Holiday,
and I was able to persuade the good folks from Slide Fire
Solutions to come out and show their Slide Fire to the Shootists
present at the event. While every Shootist is experienced with a
variety of firearms, there are some who seldom if ever fire
AR-15 type weapons, and many who have never fired anything with
a high rate of rapid fire. In addition, some of the Shootists
bring their families to the event. This offered an excellent
opportunity to get a wide variety of shooters in one place to
try out the Slide Fire.
At the range, shooters were strung out along
the entire length of the handgun silhouette range. When Jeremiah
and Matt from Slide Fire arrived and set up their weapons, I
started toward the control tower to announce to the shooters to
stop by and view the Slide Fire, but changed my mind. Instead, I
grabbed an AR with a loaded thirty-round magazine, walked to the
line, and unloaded the entire magazine into the hillside. Within
a few moments, a crowd had gathered.
Shooters with all levels of experience took
to the Slide Fire, and within a magazine or two, were firing
controlled groups of fire at various targets. Also, we have
added another video of me firing the Slide Fire attached to a
Valkyrie Armaments belt feed conversion on an AR-15. In watching
the video, note the steadiness of the muzzle. I was holding on a
spot on the hillside at about 140 yards, and the muzzle was
easily controlled by the manner in which the pressure is applied
to the hand guard.
As excited as I was before about the
potential of the Slide Fire, I am even more enthusiastic now,
after spending more time using the unit on several AR-15 rifles.
The Slide Fire is an excellent product, simply designed and
perfectly executed. I highly recommend it for owners of the
AR-15 rifle. For shooters of other popular semi-automatic
weapons, such as the AK-47, AK-74, and the Ruger
Mini-14, these units are in the planning and development
stages right now.
The times are few when most of us really need
a high rate of fire, but when needed, the Slide Fire delivers
the fire accurately and reliably. Besides all that, it is a
whole lot of fun! Sometimes, having fun is reason enough.
Check out the new video, and look at the
Slide Fire online at www.slidefiresolutions.com.
For all practical purposes, the end of
affordable select-fire for most of us in the USA began when
Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1986 the ban of manufacture of
select-fire and automatic weapons for civilian sales. Until
then, in many states, one only had to submit a lot of paperwork
along with a $200 extortion tax to the BATF, wait a few months,
and could then take possession of a reasonably-priced M-16
rifle. Since the signing of that law, prices of civilian-legal
firearms that are capable of firing more than one shot with each
pull of the trigger have skyrocketed beyond the reach of most of
us, with a good quality transferable M-16 going for upwards of
$25,000 US.
There have been a few legal devices on the
market over the years that allow the rapid firing of
semi-automatic rifles, but most have been junk or worse. I
expected to find the same when I first heard of the Slide Fire
stock shown here. However, to my surprise, this thing really
works, and works well. The first thing that I want to make very
clear is that the Slide Fire stock does NOT make an AR-15
capable of full-auto fire. It does NOT make the AR-15
capable of burst fire. The rifle still only fires once with each
pull of the trigger. However, with the Slide Fire stock in
place, the weapon will fire much more rapidly than it will
without the stock in place. Effectively, the Slide Fire stock
allows for controlled, reliable “bump fire” of the AR-15
semi-automatic rifle.
Made from reinforced polymer, the Slide Fire
stock replaces an AR-15 telescoping buttstock and pistol grip.
The rifle must be equipped with a mil-spec or civilian-spec
buffer tube made for the telescoping buttstock. If your AR-15
has a fixed style buttstock, the buffer tube can be changed
easily, allowing the installation of the Slide Fire stock.
Installing the Slide Fire stock on an AR-15
is very simple, quick, and easy to do. First, empty the weapon,
then remove the pistol grip by removing the bolt that attaches
it to the lower receiver. While doing so, be careful to not let
the spring and plunger for the safety lever fly over into the
next county. Retain the spring and plunger, and install the
interface block, using the bolt which attached the pistol grip.
Next, remove the telescoping buttstock. On most, this is done
quickly, without the use of tools. Slide the Slide Fire
buttstock over the tube, and you are ready to go burn some ammo.
The process takes all of five minutes, if you take your time.
To fire the weapon with the Slide Fire stock,
the shooter pulls the weapon to his shoulder using his strong
hand. Being a left-handed shooter, that would be my left hand.
For most of the world, it means the right. Anyway, with the hand
that holds the pistol grip, pull the weapon into the shoulder
firmly, but relaxed. The trigger finger is not upon the trigger,
but is placed across the trigger onto the finger rail. With the
hand that is holding the forearm/hand guard, push forward. This
forward motion pushes the trigger into the trigger finger. As
the rifle recoils, the trigger, along with the rest of the
rifle, will recoil rearward away from the trigger finger.
Applying pressure forward repeats the process. As long as
forward pressure is applied to the forearm, the weapon will
continue to fire until the magazine is empty. Cool! Again, this
is not full-auto fire. The rifle is still firing only once with
each pull of the trigger, but the rapid motion of the weapon
recoiling and the pressure of pushing the weapon forward again
will empty a thirty-round magazine in about three seconds.
What sets the Slide Fire apart from other
bump-fire methods is that with the Slide Fire, the weapon is
very controllable, as the off hand is steadily pushing the rifle
towards the target. To stop firing, one simply stops pushing
forward on the hand guard. Also with the Slide Fire in place,
the shooter has instant selection of rapid fire, or can fire the
rifle normally by sliding the trigger finger from the finger
rail onto the trigger, or back to Slide Fire mode again by
moving the trigger finger back to the finger rail. All this can
be done without changing the shooting grip to move a safety or
selector switch.
In use, operating the Slide Fire stock is
much easier than I have described, and can best be understood by
watching the video.
What the Slide Fire does is give shooters the
capability of very rapid fire; controllable rapid fire, without
the exhaustive paperwork and exorbitant expense of buying a
select-fire weapon. The Slide Fire stock does not alter the
weapon, and the original stock can be returned to use whenever
needed. For the cost of just the tax and transfer fees, a
shooter can buy the Slide Fire stock, and use the several
thousand dollars saved to purchase more ammo.
The Slide Fire stock comes with everything
needed to attach to an AR-15 rifle. It is easy to use, and after
just a few minutes, I was getting pretty good with it. The Slide
Fire also comes with a letter from the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) stating that it is
legal to own in the US.
The Slide Fire is a good design, very
affordable, and made in the USA.
For more information and instructional
videos, go to www.slidefiresolutions.com.
Jeff Quinn
