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This is rather difficult because the book you need is sitting in my lap. Anyway, in front of the hammer is a block, called the “Slide Stop.” Its purpose is to stop the rearward travel of the slide when you shoot the pistol. Otherwise you would get hit between the eyes each time you shot it.
The Slide Stop is attached to a lever, called the “Takedown Latch” which has a shaft that goes through the frame and the bottom of the Slide Stop. This shaft is keyed to a slot in the Slide Stop so that when the lever is rotated downward and backward the Slide Stop is rotated forward and downward from a vertical to (more or less) horizontal position. When it is in this position the slide, with the recoil spring locked out, can be slid off the frame going in a rearward direction.
If someone removes the Takedown Latch” (lever) while the slide is still on the gun the Slide Stop, which is under spring tension, will fly out-of-place and lodge somewhere in a manner that jams it against the slide locking it so it can’t be removed. Really bad news and the instructions say “never remove the takedown latch while the slide is on the frame, as it would cause a condition that is difficult to remedy.” I’d call this an understatement to say the least. Been there, done that.
What you need to determine is if the Takedown Latch is still properly attached to the Slide Stop, or is the Slide Stop floating around loose? I suspect that may be the “strip of metal” you are looking at. I hope it is. If so, turning the lever backwards should make what you are looking at rotate forward/downward. If not we will have to go to Plan-“B.”
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