I'm wondering if anyone can help out with this or offer some advice. I always had been accustomed to racking the slide on an M9 or 92 series pistol using the "pinch" style of grip (using the thumb and forefinger to grasp the slide and let it slingshot forward again) and also had used that method on other pistols as well (like Glocks or Sigs for example).
That being said, I have grown fairly comfortable over the last year in using the overhand slide racking technique (that many people these days use) for all other pistols EXCEPT Beretta M9s/92s. I've tried to adapt that method to the Beretta but unless I am extremely deliberate and careful I seem to get a big chunk of my hand bit by the slide when I try to rack the gun that way. I don't see how I'd be able to use the overhand slide rack technique on a Beretta consistently under any real stress, timed or otherwise without getting part of my hand bit by the slide. It (my hand) seems to want to slip off with such a small area to grab on to, and it seems awfully tough to get and maintain a good positive grip.
I think if the safety/decocker were not there and there were more room on the slide to grab onto, the overhand rack method would be easier for me with this gun, but it just seems like there is so little room with the decocker there.
Does anyone have any advice or things to try to make it easier to manipulate the slide on a Beretta 92 with the overhand/over the top of the slide method? Is it more trouble than it is worth to try to learn how to rack the slide that way on this gun? More than anything I'm looking at this from a standpoint of clearing simple malfunctions (tap, rack, shoot). A long as I can do that smoothly and quickly enough (without slide bite!) I don't care which method I use, although it would be nice if I could use the same technique for the Beretta as I do for all my other pistols.
Any input here is appreciated. Thanks.