I don't know the answer to your question, or the solution to your problem, but I do know this:
There are no stupid questions.

If you don't know the answer, the only way to find it is to ask.
There is no need to "swallow your pride."

So, I guess the thing to remember is: You are only stupid if pride keeps you from asking the question you need answered. If you ask the question, you aren't stupid.

i don't know if this will work in your case, but i have had that happen on other guns and what i did was apply pressure on the slided in different areas and assuming your positive the gun is unloaded pulled the trigger and eventually the slide came off

When I was looking for a .22 semi, I was debating between a Ruger MkIII and a Browning Buckmark, and the shop I usually deal with had both in stock. Both had fine reputations, but I'd heard the Ruger was difficult to field strip, and I felt sheepish about asking the quy who was waiting on me about that. He was an off-duty police officer working part time, and a lot more experienced than I am, and when I asked him about it, he kind of wearily said he'd done that, and had to take it to an armorer to get it put back together.

I bought the Buckmark, and I agree that there really aren't any stupid questions.

Was the neighbor girl pretty, and did you get distracted? lol,just kidding, and there is no stupid question.

Just because you don't know some particular thing is no sign you are stupid. So take it on the gunsmoith. No pride to swallow here.No one person can know everything.

I have been is situations with gun owners or those who say they are where I have indeed heard stupid questions. I find that with gun crowd there is more stupid questions then most other crowds. Not many are from what I think are real gun owners or if they are they should not be. I have had a person go to great lengths to tell me how much he knew about revolvers and how the ease of use and reliablility of simple mecahanics made them a superior weapon. Then he proved the there is no stupid questions statement wrong. He asked do I perfer Ruger or Smith and Western revolvers. I am sure this person was very adept at using a search engine for ballistic data and ather tidbits to sound knowlegeable, but had no real idea about handguns. I have also found in gun stores the customers are not always right, but they are always the customers. I have seen too many time a customer ask to see a specific weapon and then proceded to sweep the employee who handed him the weapon on his way to pointing at a customer or two. That just makes me mad.

Sorry back to the OP...............
The question in this case is not a stupid one, if you can't fix it have a gunsmith do so. It is very cool that you are teaching your neighbor to enjoy handguns and teaching her to be safe and to know the guns. Keep up the good work!!!!! We need more people involved in our activity and the better trained they are the better for us all.

RCG

Whats the old saying that are mom or Dad said..It's better to ask a stupid question,Then make a dumb mistake.

i hate to be a realist here but we all know that there are stupid questions.... there MUST be because there ARE stupid people. this is a indisputable. stupid people are out there, among us and asking stupid questions all the time. "what flavor is the moon?" "how much does beige weigh?" "how does sand work?" all stupid questions and if asked of another stupid person would generate a stupid answer.

so now we need to make a distinction between a stupid question and a question as a result of an embarassing situation where we might FEEL stupid.

i feel that the latter is the case here.... the op is obviously not stupid, the question wasnt stupid and the answers arent stupid even if the op IS a little embarrassed.

so please, allow the stupid people to ask stupid questions, it saves alot of time and makes it easier for us to identify them.

But, Ted, we know the flavor of the moon now, and how much beige weighs, and if you really need to know how sand works, I'll write an engineering treatise for you about it.

No, the one really, really stupid question is, "Which round kills better, 9mm or .45?"

I've been shooting since I could walk and that darn P22 kicks my ass everytime.

reading your post i didnt know if the prob was fixed yet so i wanted to try and help.
As long as you are SURE the gun is unloaded, you should be able to strip the weapon as normal and go from there. If this is not the case, dont feel bad about going to a gunsmith, that is why they are there. Even if you have to go to one im sure he/she is not going to charge you much to anything to fix this issue.

good luck.

Originally Posted by Steve M1911A1

But, Ted, we know the flavor of the moon now, and how much beige weighs, and if you really need to know how sand works, I'll write an engineering treatise for you about it.

No, the one really, really stupid question is, "Which round kills better, 9mm or .45?"

The question is properly written as, "Which round kills deader, the 9mm or the .45?"

Originally Posted by Packard

The question is properly written as, "Which round kills deader, the 9mm or the .45?"

Ten points for you, Packard!

I used to work in a "man's industry," (B&D/DeWalt, RIDGID, Hitachi) and often got comments from women, such as "This is probably a stupid question." or "I'm only a woman."

I usually told people it was only stupid if they failed to ask.