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Slide cracking. Is it just particular brands of slides?


Sandbagger123

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Any slide will crack if cut wrong or not treated correctly for the manufacturer. I have all caspian slides on three open guns with 15 to 20 thousand on each and no cracks or problems . Everything I've seen lately has been STI slides. Can't go wrong with CK parts either

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I have cracked two STI slides. The facts these slides were tri-topped and had other cuts for weight reduction. They also had an ass ton of rounds shot thru them 50K +. 9 major well yes, but also 38 Super Comps, so not caliber specific.

I do have a 9 major with a Caspian Slide, the cone on the comp cracked a few years ago I have another comp in the safe ready when it fails. I had the slide cut very different but the same look and left lots of meat around the chamber back of the locking lugs, this maybe will let me shoot two tons before it cracks.

I think this is like the Ford and the Chevy argument.

Keep that gun in the safe and the slide will never crack, but take it out and shoot the snot out of it year after year and sooner or later something will break. I am psychic and I can see the future.

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Slides are essentially consumables just like barrels when you are shooting 10s of thousands of rounds yearly. They do crack faster if cut on generally since it induces a failure point for cracks to develop. It seems that buffers help a lot more than folks give them credit for preventing premature slide failure.

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They will all crack eventually if you shoot a lot through them. If you get 75-100+k out of them it is often still covered unless way to light i.e. Sti is I think 10.5 oz. if not it's not that expensive for the use you got

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Mine cracked also. A long time smith who built IPSC/USPSA open guns when the PF was 190 told me the crack was due to tri-topping the slide to deep. He returned the slide and when I compared it to a new untouched slide...It was easy to see why it cracked.

I bet most of the cracks are at the left side top of the ejection port.......... My slide had less than 2k and was still in the white.

A word to the wise..don't ask for tri-top. You don't see any factory STI guns cut that way. I would bet most cracked slides are the result of slide cuts being cut the wrong way.

I sent back a comp that cracked to Brazos ( The comp had less than 100 rounds and Bob replaced the comp free of charge), Bob was quick to point out the reason for cracks in comps and slides.

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I've seen a lot of the local open gun shooter's who have tri-topped slides that have cracked around the ejection port. Most of them now have found better ways to lighten the slide without tri-topping it.

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Yikes, I was really close to ordering a tri-topped slide. Do you guys see the same issues with durability on a limited gun?

I would think any tri-topped slide has the chance of cracking. Doesn't matter if it's a open gun, limited gun, or a single stack. All depends on how deep the slide is tri-topped, recoil spring that is used, and probably the power factor of the ammo used.

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Yikes, I was really close to ordering a tri-topped slide. Do you guys see the same issues with durability on a limited gun?

I would think any tri-topped slide has the chance of cracking. Doesn't matter if it's a open gun, limited gun, or a single stack. All depends on how deep the slide is tri-topped, recoil spring that is used, and probably the power factor of the ammo used.

*slowly slides credit card back in wallet* I'm glad I read this. Definitely warrants some more investigation... Thanks!

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Yikes, I was really close to ordering a tri-topped slide. Do you guys see the same issues with durability on a limited gun?

I would think any tri-topped slide has the chance of cracking. Doesn't matter if it's a open gun, limited gun, or a single stack. All depends on how deep the slide is tri-topped, recoil spring that is used, and probably the power factor of the ammo used.

*slowly slides credit card back in wallet* I'm glad I read this. Definitely warrants some more investigation... Thanks!

Both the limited guns I'm building right now have standard slides that are flat topped with 3D panel cuts done by Glenn Rasch at Lone Star Innovations. I highly recommend Glenn if you want a Unique looking slide for your gun.

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Yikes, I was really close to ordering a tri-topped slide. Do you guys see the same issues with durability on a limited gun?

I would think any tri-topped slide has the chance of cracking. Doesn't matter if it's a open gun, limited gun, or a single stack. All depends on how deep the slide is tri-topped, recoil spring that is used, and probably the power factor of the ammo used.

*slowly slides credit card back in wallet* I'm glad I read this. Definitely warrants some more investigation... Thanks!

Both the limited guns I'm building right now have standard slides that are flat topped with 3D panel cuts done by Glenn Rasch at Lone Star Innovations. I highly recommend Glenn if you want a Unique looking slide for your gun.

*slowly pulls credit card out* I will be making a phone call tomorrow. And I'll stop hijacking this thread now.

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Did you tell S&W that you were giving it major handloads?

I did, To be honest, I was surprised they decided to warranty it, but I'm not going to argue.

Edited by Bkreutz
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Yikes, I was really close to ordering a tri-topped slide. Do you guys see the same issues with durability on a limited gun?

I would think any tri-topped slide has the chance of cracking. Doesn't matter if it's a open gun, limited gun, or a single stack. All depends on how deep the slide is tri-topped, recoil spring that is used, and probably the power factor of the ammo used.

*slowly slides credit card back in wallet* I'm glad I read this. Definitely warrants some more investigation... Thanks!

Both the limited guns I'm building right now have standard slides that are flat topped with 3D panel cuts done by Glenn Rasch at Lone Star Innovations. I highly recommend Glenn if you want a Unique looking slide for your gun.

*slowly pulls credit card out* I will be making a phone call tomorrow. And I'll stop hijacking this thread now.

I can tell you that I have about 40K rounds on my HPF Edge that is the same as the day that Dave Dawson blessed it, full size slide no rips tears or cuts. No sign of a crack. I have tried a few limited guns in different configurations had an SVI 9/40 rig with a light slide loved it in 9 hated it in 40 sold it. I love my Fat Boy Edge the best! Precision 185gr bullets and 4.7gr of WST.

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I just received my Warranty Rejection form STI. This is a shift from 3 years ago when the twin to the one that just cracked had a cracked slide and they replaced it. Yes, they were both "cut" exactly the same, they made me send in the slide last time after sending in pictures, this time they just looked at the photos and said no.

My guess is that the bottom line was hurting and warranty costs were the issue, so they have decided to cut costs.

Me 2 went Caspian.

They would fit a TruBore slide on it for about $750.00.

I'm going to read the warranty information end to end and see what the appeal process is.

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At the end of the day it comes down to good heat treating. Gotta find that perfect balance point between too soft and too hard/brittle.

Some manufacturers seem to have that science down better than others.

You guys are talking about 1911/2011 slides, but Glocks for example, are heat treated to essentially perfection. (Lol, Glock...Perfection...) Anyway, they aren't soft slides by any means, yet even with extreme lightening I've seen Glock slides go well beyond the 50k+ rounds mark with no signs of cracking.

Edited by bruceg
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