I no likey worm holes in my guns and don't see them as a cosmetic upgrade.

Didn't really care for them either way, but I was building a Glock 19 from parts just to see how it would turn out.

I got a deal on a Salient frame and barrel. Thinking that since the barrel had boxed flutes, it looked kinda cool as I hadn't seen one like that before.

The grip had already been reduced and undercut and a brass counterweight installed, the barrel was plated to match. I decided to go with the similarly plated parts.

Fast forward to the next black Friday sale, the ZEV slide was the one for me!

RMR cuts? Yes. Slide cuts? Yes. Why did I have to have this one? Because it was 60% off their regular price.

Bought a few parts later and the build was a success.


I've always thought it is funny how the slide cuts on a Glock are frowned upon, but the completely exposed barrel on a Beretta is just fine.

I don’t even like front slide serrations, let alone slide holes. I don’t like skeletonized triggers, either. Nutty, IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
<snip>
I've always thought it is funny how the slide cuts on a Glock are frowned upon, but the completely exposed barrel on a Beretta is just fine.

The Beretta was designed to work that way – note the thick cheeks of the slide. The Glock slide cuts are anti-functional decorations.

“Torture tests” of guns used to be a regular feature of the gun magazines (periodicals), and they occasionally show up on YouTube with firearms being covered in mud, dragged through dirt and sand, etc. Does anyone do that with these fashion pieces?

If a Blackhawk SERPA holster can be jammed to inoperability by a pebble, it seems to me that it would be equally possible to render the slide immobile if a tiny piece of rock got into the space between the slide and barrel through one of those beauty holes. It obviously doesn’t matter with guns that are used for many activities, but it could for serious purposes or even one of those “brutality” competitions that have people crawling around on the ground.

“They occasionally show up on YouTube”.

God there was a point that was the ONLY content on YouTube. “Will your gun work if you drop it in a vat of syrup???? You life may be at risk!!! What if your gun get dragged through wet concrete and broken glass after being dropped in hydrochloric acid…….WILL YOUR GUN WORK….WILL IT!!”

I mean I want a well proven and reliable design with the best chance of handling the environment but I am not a Bond Villain living in a volcano so dropping it in a puddle of lava in my living room isn’t a regular issue for me.

Sorry for the drift I just got a kick out of how that trend started off fairly realistic in nature and showed how just the right particle in the wrong place can stop anything and blossomed into can my gun survive being eaten by a T-Rex.

Slide cuts look bad ass, man!

If the slide is not broke, don't machine holes in it.

Unless needed to ensure its function, I don't want any holes in my guns other than the one the bullet comes out of.

I could suffer lightning cuts if it served a purpose.
A lot of people seem to think it looks cool as they seem to sell.

^^ I wonder if they are selling? Maybe its just new tech that everyone wants to play with so they're getting into the market on the ground floor because it could be the next big thing.

I see them on other forums enough that it leads me to believe that they sell enough to keep coming up with more stuff.

I don't recall anyone posting that they bought one for performance reasons, they liked the look.

quote:

I don't recall anyone posting that they bought one for performance reasons, they liked the look.

I guess I'm the exception that proves the rule. I originally had my P229R's slide cut to make it balance more like my old P228, which it did. But then I missed the reduced muzzle flip of the 229's heavier slide, so I subsequently elected to have the actual barrel ported.

It all works, and works perfectly. My 229 now has the pointability of a 228, but the muzzle stays down making for nice double-taps. It also greatly helps long range shooting (especially at 100 yards), as I can now see the impact on the berm instead of the front of the pistol jumping up and blocking my view at the moment of impact.


P229R Fully Ported - 1 by kpkina, on Flickr

Those serve a purpose though and doesn't look tacky.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
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.

WELL SAID! The selfie generation buys them!

quote:

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

This hits the nail right on the head. I admit I like a good looking pistol as much as the next guy, but it seems like there's a lot of pristine guns with flashy finishes and slide cuts out there that folks paid so much for that they're afraid to shoot them. If they do get shot, it's carefully removed form it's padded box, fired a few times, then gently returned. Sure looks pretty on instagram, though.

Its interesting to contrast that with the mods that people have historically made to guns that are used as tools. I have an older buddy who's really into bullseye, as his dad was before him. He still owns most of his dad's guns, and a lot them are modded in ways that would make a collector cringe. But the mods were practical and made them more functional for what he was doing with them. Drilling and tapping the trigger guards for overtravel screws, receivers for sights, filing front sights, sanding grips to fit his hand...stuff like that.

I have a love/hate relationship with milsurp sporterizers, too. I hate that some of these old war relics got cut up, but it's also really interesting to see how my grandpa's generation took what was available to them at the time and made it work for their needs. It wasn't about making it look pretty...it was about taking the tool they had and making it work for their individual needs. Yeah, it frustrates those of us who want a nice correct example of a military rifle to hold and look at, but those guys were more concerned with actually using it.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
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.

This is correct, re: the 34. The 34 Gen 5 has material removed in other places, similar to what I expect was first done on the 40 and 41.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
^^ I wonder if they are selling? Maybe its just new tech that everyone wants to play with so they're getting into the market on the ground floor because it could be the next big thing.

Sex sells. Apparently slide holes is the gun world's equivalent of 'showing cleavage'. I will say that those factory guns in our inventory that have cutouts in their slides attract more attention and even generate sales despite the near universal, requisite not-insignificant price hike for the additional CNC mill work that what, takes an additional 30 or 40 seconds to do, if that.

I have a couple of factory guns that came with appearance cutouts and/or other aesthetic-driven milling work. On principle I thoroughly dislike the trend, but I will admit that from a strictly aesthetic standpoint I'm not as off-put as I once was, and at one time I was really put off by this trend. My P320 Spectre Comp is so far my nicest shooting pistol out of the 320 family (including the "X4.7" FrankenLegion I cobbled together), though I still question its lofty retail price tag (full disclosure: I didn't pay anywhere close to retail for the thing so my op/ed regarding that gun might be a bit jaded by that reality).

quote:

The Glock slide cuts are anti-functional decorations.

Don't think that blanket statement is accurate, some might be aesthetic choices, however some are functional as in the case of the G34, Glocks first choice was a cutout, and as postulated, to balance the longer guns forward weight bias. Gen 5 models changed however they found a better way to balance the gun.

In the case of race guns, cut outs to balance weight, change recoil speeds, all kinds of engineering reasons for different designs.

Agree though that it's also a fashion statement, and JMO nothings wrong with going either way, stock factory or full on movie magic upgrades.

People wanted the Smith Model 29 after Dirty Harry, now they want Taran Tacticals JW3 Combat Master with cuts, bronze barrels, magwells, all kinds of custom goodness.

If you want to stand out big time at the race gun event, CZ Checkmate Parrott is there...

I see some people who really spend good money- like even more than the equivalent of a new gun on an aftermarket blingy slide with lightening cuts/holes , cheese grater serrations which will not improve function in any way…