Valtro USA

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Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction and follow safety procedures at all times.

Practice these steps with an unloaded pistol or dummy ammo until you are completely familiar and comfortable with the procedures Use live ammo only when you are prepared to shoot Always use clean, dry high quality ammunition (of the proper caliber) that meets industry performance standards.

To release the magazine from the frame, hold your free hand under the magazine and with the thumb of your shooting hand, index finger for left handed shooters, depress the magazine catch, which is located on the left side of the frame behind the trigger. This will cause the magazine to fall free of the magazine well.
To load the magazine, place the round at the top (open end), push down and back making sure that the back of the cartridge is facing the rear of the magazine. Repeat this procedure until the magazine is fully loaded.
Place the magazine in the magazine well in the frame, with the rounds facing forward, and push up until magazine is fully seated. A click will be heard when this is done properly as the magazine catch engages.
To chamber a round, hold the pistol in the shooting hand without touching the trigger. Make sure it is pointed in a safe direction. With the thumb and forefinger of the opposite hand, grab the serrated finger grips on both sides of the rear of the slide and pull it fully rearward, then release. Do not "ride" the slide down to the forward position. Fully release the slide unhindered. Keeping your hand on the slide may cause a misfeed, or stop the breech from fully closing. This will cock the hammer, strip off the top round from the magazine and chamber it. The pistol is now fully loaded and ready to fire. Keep muzzle pointed in a safe direction and engage slide lock safety until ready to shoot. Always unload the pistol immediately after use and before storage.

Note: 1911 style handguns were designed to function best with bullets that have a smooth contoured nose, seated to an overall length of at least 1.260 inches.

Shorter blunter ammunition, such as hollow points, will normally function best if the barrel is throated and polished, by a competent pistolsmith, specifically for the bullet configuration most desired.

When cartridges fail to fee, check the following:

Substandard ammunition
Cartridge overall length too short
Bullet nose too blunt
Non-military type ammunition that requires fee ramp throating and polishing by a custom gunsmith.
Slide is short stroking. Ammunition charge is not to military specifications.

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