While I understand if one is building a competition gun you may want to tailor it to a given round/recoil spring weight and having less mass both helps with this and followups etc. I also understand lightening cuts on long slides and the like for function.

That said why does it seem EVERY aftermarket slide is a modern art project or the equivalent of what shape goes in what hole. Why is does it seem so rare to see a simple aftermarket slide with practical cuts (a dot cut, different sight cut or just more aggressive serrations etc.). Is it simply a look at me market differentiator?

I’ve thought about this for years as it seems like every aftermarket Glock slide looks like something I would grate various cheeses or Julianne potatoes with.

Slow work morning this just sort of popped into my head again today.

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
Is it simply a look at me market differentiator?

Yep. Otherwise every one of the eleventy thousand aftermarket Glock slides would look identical.

It's easy for manufacturers to do in this age of CNC machining. The Instagram generation, ignorant as they are, choose appearances over performance. Many of these younger buyers purchase a handgun, take it to the range and put half a box of ammo through it at eighty cents a round, and that's it. Gotta keep the other half of the box in case they, you know, ever need to "use it".

There's nothing like having huge gaps in the slide of your pistol. It's not as if these holes allow debris into the pistol- including particles of whatever which are big enough and stout enough to create malfunctions. It's all academic for most people, though. We're no longer a nation of shooters; we're a nation of firearms fashion models.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
We're no longer a nation of shooters; we're a nation of firearms fashion models.

Yep.

I agree and to me most of the "new" slide cuts are the modern equivalent a gold plated gun, all show and no function. I eagerly await the rebuttle from the white convertable BMW drivers.

Yes I’ve understood that either. I guess some people like clearing malfunctions.

Cutting holes in the slide reduces slide mass and- all other things being equal- increases slide velocity, which affects the extraction and feeding portions of the firing cycle. The more mass that's removed, the truer this becomes. This can be compensated for to a degree by altering the weight of the recoil spring but this window is narrow and making such changes cannot be called a science for Joe Pistol Shooter.

Pistols are designed by engineers to achieve a balance which allows smooth, reliable functioning, and when you start altering the values of slide mass and spring weight, you are taking chances with a device that is designed as an emergency, life-saving implement.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Pistols are designed by engineers to achieve a balance which allows smooth, reliable functioning, and when you start altering the values of slide mass and spring weight, you are taking chances with a device that is designed as an emergency, life-saving implement.

Preach it, Brother!

Ok so I’m not the idiot here. Like I said for competition needs I can totally see tailoring weight/slide velocity/springs etc. but for normal use makes no sense to me.

Now don’t get me wrong I’m no gunfighter by any stretch and the vast amount of my owning and shooting is for pleasure (may it ever be so) so I am a you be you kinda guy. I just never understood why somebody would introduce so much potential for issues in a firearm simply for perceived aesthetics.

I mean hell I am not even an old curmudgeon, I am still on the right side of 50……….ok I am a curmudgeon but it’s not like I am a “if it’s not blued, walnut and .45 blah blah” guy by any stretch but even I kept thinking this seems stupid for the VAST amount of uses.

Guess I’m not wrong. .

Save for adding my choice of tritium sights I prefer my pistols to be in stock form. They seem to be more reliable that way.

For me… out of all my handguns (mostly P226 variants) I have 1 with the Procut slide. I was drawn to the “appearance” of the Procut but prefer the non-railed frame so I built my own Grayguns/Bar-Sto/Mec-Gar/Procut/SIG P226 RX



Again, it is the only cut slide in the herd but I really do like the look (especially with the match grade Bar-Sto barrel) and it is a great shooter! That said, for me, one is enough. As much as I enjoy this one, I enjoy the classic look much more… particularly the stainless on stainless versions in my collection.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: NMDave, March 08, 2023 12:24 PM

quote:

Originally posted by NMDave:
For me… of all my handguns (mostly P226 variants) I have 1 with the Procut slide. I was drawn to the “appearance” of the Procut but prefer the non-railed frame so I built my own Grayguns/Bar-Sto/Mec-Gar/Procut/SIG P226 RX



Again, it is the only cut slide in the herd but I really do like the look (especially with the match grade Bar-Sto barrel) and it is a great shooter! That said, for me, one is enough. As much as I enjoy this one, I enjoy the classic look much more… particularly the stainless on stainless versions in my collection.

But you did this purely for aesthetics. This is not a judgement, like I said I shoot for pleasure and I have green frames purely for aesthetics for example.

I have just been amazed at the sheer number of hacked open slides in the past 10 years or so.

I don't pretend to know anything about gunsmithing, and the holes are certainly presented as an aesthetic thing. I wonder, though, if there's an argument to be made that its a way to improve weight distribution and cycling for slides on those long-barreled (non-1911) 9mms that seem to be growing in popularity.

When there is an actual need/benefit, the engineers employed by the manufacturer will include cuts in the design. For example, the window cut into the forward top portion of the Glock G34 slide. Given that the G34 uses the same RSA as the G17, I imagine this aperture was put into the slide to keep the weight approximately that of the G17 slide.

However, I notice that on the gen5 G34, this aperture is missing.

On top of all that, the popularity of RDS mounted on slides can be a factor. I don't know what these sights weigh, but they weigh something.

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:

But you did this purely for aesthetics. This is not a judgement, like I said I shoot for pleasure and I have green frames purely for aesthetics for example.

I have just been amazed at the sheer number of hacked open slides in the past 10 years or so.

YUP… just got an itch and scratched it. Thought it would look cool and to me, it does. And my son-in-law is jealous

Oh Man… I forgot CCR frame finished in Cerahide SS look. So, it’s a Grayguns/CCR/Bar-Sto/Mec-Gar/Procut/SIG P226 RX

I don't know. Some very significant percentage of the shooting public must want very busy looking rifles, shotguns and pistols. These, with all manner of gadgets and doodads attached, along with decorator colors and the obligatory "modern art" holes machined into pistol slides. Perhaps in some shooter's minds, it makes their firearm look more speed racer, or high speed, low drag Ninja operatorish?

I've seen many comments by shooters about how this or that firearm and/or the blast, flash, etc. of it's cartridge causes other shooters to take notice of them and/or their firearm at the range. Getting noticed at the range is the goal now?

There's no accounting for taste, and that includes people with lots of money.

There's nothing wrong with having a Barbecue Gun or two. As a matter of fact, I think the man whose firearms are strictly utilitarian is missing out on part of the pleasure of firearms ownership.

Some holes on the slides are done artfully, while others are just an eyesore. And, all the "holy" slides that SIG NH have churned out are an eyesore to me.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I don't know what these sights weigh, but they weigh something.

I have weighed a few.
While I don’t have my notes in front of me, the aluminum or titanium housings of the optics weigh about the same as the steel plate that is removed, or steel machined off of the gun.
My memory was that a P320 slide had an RMR or Holosun added, the net weight difference was only a few grams.
In the case of my P229 pro cut slide from Sig, the slide with the optic attached weighed the same as a stock slide with no optic or slots cut out. Sig moved metal around the slide to keep weights similar for reliability.
Aftermarket stuff is usually quite a bit lighter than stock if it has holes punched in it.

The ONLY way I want a cut in a slide is to account for a top ported barrel.