738--slide won't pull back if full mag(6rnds) is put in pistol

With the slide locked back, you can load a full magazine into the pistol easier than with the slide closed. When it is closed, the rounds in the magazine are forced down further into the magazine by the slide. That is why you are having to hit the magazine with the palm of your hand. That is not a big deal as a lot of people do this to make sure the magazine is seated. So what your neighbor is telling you is true. If you want 6+1, lock the slide back and insert a fully loaded magazine, release the slide lock and you will chamber a round. Drop the mag and insert another round in the mag and then insert it in the gun with a smack on the bottom of the mag to seat it. You now have 6+1 and you didn't have to pull the slide back with a full mag installed. Not sure why you are worried about the 'expanding gases from the fired round might just blow the slide off'. Every time a round is fired, the expanding gasses cause the slide to travel back to eject the spent casing and on the forward movement, it chambers another round. That is how they work. Now on the mag springs being relaxed after two months, I will tell you that they relax quicker from being compressed and released, as in loading/unloading or the gun having been shot over and over. The gun will break-in between 200-500 rounds. All guns are tight when new. We have two TCP738 - mine and the wife's - and both were very tight when new, but they are much better after continued use. Shoot it and you will be fine.

Thanks for your advice---but---have put 220 rounds thru it & it is still the same---as I stated---using all of my strength, I can't pull the closed slide back to the rear to open it. Now if I can't open it, will the firing of the round have enough power to force the slide back or will the pistol be damaged since the gases from the fired round have to go somewhere & if that pressure can't force the slide to the rear( just as I can't pull it back), it seems that the gas pressure has to go some place--be it up--down--to the sides--or who knows---I was just hoping that someone had an easy fix for this problem, but I guess not; or perhaps I'm not explaining the problem correctly---You see it's not that the pistol is "very tight" but there is some problem with the magazines (both of them) which seems strange---unfortunately it's off to Taurus I guess...

Gee, this is tough--As I stated before, you can't pull a closed slide to the rear if a magazine w/6rounds is inserted--w/only 5 rounds in the inserted magazine & the slide closed, you can pull back the slide by hand, but just barely--if you fire the pistol w/5 in the magazine it functions fine---I'm afraid to fire it w/6 in the magazine for fear something BAD could happen---THUS instead of a 6 + 1 pistol, I can only have a 5 + 1 pistol--unless I'm willing to take a chance & pull the trigger w/ a full magazine containing 6 rounds & 1 in the chamber.............It seems that the rounds in the magazine are applying undo pressure to the bottom of the slide--why, I just don't know. The rounds I fired were Winchester white box FMJ (also known as truncated cone) and Winchester ranger JHP---the results are the same with both....it has to be the magazines....