My hope is that it would work for CO eventually. But maybe it won't fit in the box or something and not make it? I'm not going to pretend to know all of the rules. It's just that I find accurate guns interesting and I bet Apex will do it right, right out of the box. If they're going to CNC the slide it's nothing to insert a few more commands to make the cut for an optic. Or anyway, it seems to me that it's no big deal but I'm not a machinist and the only thing I know about CNC is to stay away from it. But I think that's why S&W can offer it so inexpensively on their CORE guns.
As of right now, slides can only be replaced with ones of the same length, regardless of fitting in the box (but it wouldn't fit anyway). So unless S&W decides to start offering 6" slides / barrels, it will be a no-go in CO -- same as Production.
isnt production for guns with factory parts externally only?