Slide lock malfunction or inoperative

[Lone Dog]

 " If after firing all the rounds in the magazine the slide lock fails and the shooter needs to reload without moving, one may do so without locking the slide back before inserting the new magazine.  This is considered a malfunction.  Safe reloads after any type of malfunction are legal. " 

Ok, I am clear on the above. Now what if  I  hypothetically only had one 1911 and it suddenly in practice shooting did not reliably lock the slide open after every mag. ?? It would pass the pre-match inspection as no rounds are fired. I do not have time to get it fixed before the match. Enter and shoot or stay home? 

[DUSTY BODDAMS]

LD, I really think that answer rests with the shooter because he is in charge of policing his own gear. The question would be does the competitor Want to put up with a pistol that's not reliable? Move with the slide down one time buys a sdq move with it twice and you just bought a shiny new match DQ.
Sometimes a problem develops and if a shooter doesn't have a spare or gets a loaner he could just be careful to make sure the slides back before moving and have to mess with it the whole time. Hey on th upside I bet the old pistola could be bought cheap after the shooter puts up with it a whole weekend. Dusty

[Lone Dog]

As I said this is a hypothetical question. Not a matter of WANT to put up with it. Shooter only has the one gun and no time to get it fixed before the match. IS it legal to use or IS it NOT??

[Boggus Deal]

I would consider it legal to use. However, not very efficient. Were I there and knew the situation, I would offer to loan the shooter a gun.
That exact situation happened to me at WR 2015. Had replaced the plunger spring for the slide lock. In pre match testing, it worked great. Worked good first couple of stages. Then slide would not lock back on 50+% of the magazines. I had to make sure it was locked back when moving or staging it. Cost me a lot time locking it back and the mental frustration of it affected my match.

[Garrison Joe]

Legal.  But very frustrating and disturbing to shooter.

At just completed state side match WB, a shooter had a gun that would fail to slide lock half of his mags.   I RO'd for him quite a bit, and between the two of us, we'd both yell to each other "LOCK SLIDE BACK" as soon as his fifth shot was fired.  He was good at paying enough attention, never took more than one-step before getting slide locked back, and made it through the match without safety penaties, but I am also quite sure he gave up lots of time trying to manage that situation.

As mentioned, take a loaner offer from a pard.  This is not IPSC or 3-Gun.   Thank goodness.   

Good luck, GJ

[Boggus Deal]

In my experience, 3 gunners are usually very willing to help or loan a shooter a gun. IPSC, on the other hand, not so much.

[Lone Dog]

Thanks for the input guys. I always bring 3 or 4 good running 1911s to any match. So if anyone needs a loaner let me know. At least one of which will be Traditional legal even tho I shoot Modern.