Bwenning

I indicated the end of the barrel level to determine the angle and then ground the end of the slide until it was about .003" below level where the comp would stop, may have been easier to determine since I have a hybrid Barrell. Once I had the comp on I checked it with feeler gauges and made adjustments until I wound up with a .005" gap everywhere.

You're going to have to have the comp in hand and cut until it fits how you want it to. I recently made two comps and went until they threaded on with slight resistance, it worked out well.

I just milled it out, there is a small step there because I didn't want to take the flat top on the slide as deep as the dovetail for the sight was, I think it looks acceptable, most people wouldn't even notice. If I was going to have it coated with something other than black oxide I would have been tempted to weld it up first so it would have been even with the slide flat top.

I can tell you that techmetals does do pvd on firearms, they do the coating for phonix trinity, nighthawk, and a slew of others. They are a regular vendor of mine that I send coating/ plating work to frequently on tooling and aerospace components and they always do a fantastic job. I just finished an open gun and am going to be sending it to them in a couple weeks, just need to run a couple hundred more rounds thru it first.

I think they are compared to STI mags for an open or limited set up, in a tanfo I would go with the stock ones. I bought from Greg Cote LLC, they were about $25 a piece and were exactly the same as the one that came with my gun.

I don't shoot SS that much, but I prefer the ones with the spacers, Cr speed to be exact. I like the additional space from the belt that the spacer creates. Another benefit is that if you decide to shoot a double stack division you can still use what you have.

Well said ltdmstr, I don't believe that many people out side of manufacturing realize the cost and time to have an oem build a new line, this would be a 2-3 year process easily. If it was justified I believe they jump at the opportunity to increase production and profits. Just a year or so ago Winchester and Federal were both having to offer rebates on their primers, the only reason to do this is because you know that the market has a fixed amount of demand and you need to draw sales from your competitors. As much as I hate suffering thru this shortage, I don't think there is an easy answer or any way this isn't going to last for at least the next year, once the non-shooters stop hoarding ammo maybe there will be primers for us.

One easy way to check the position of the firing pin relative to the case is to use and unprimed case with the primer pocket filled with modeling clay, just put a mark at tdc of the case, chamber the case and manually push the firing pin into the clay.

Since you have an SRO I would mill the slide for the optic, It's a much cleaner assembly. I think SRO's will be be desirable for long time to come and you won't have issues with Trijicon changing the footprint/ size/ shape every six months like some companies seem to do.

I agree, the pics and descriptions could be better, what I don't like is that the pictures are generic and don't necessarily match the description.

Here they are at KKM: https://kkmprecision.com/product/355-bull-clarkpara-ramped-threaded-1116x40-4/ The 5" is the oal, once you shorten your slide to allow for the comp, you have a mid length slide.

If you want one that sits high, look at the Atlas shielded ambi-safety, I just fit one on a 2011 and it sits higher than any thumb safety I have ever seen. It sits so high that I am not sure whether or not it will work for me, I have extremely large hands and am not sure if I will be able to keep my thumb out of the way of the slide racker.

I've got one in process of being turned into an open gun, i can measure the cutout if that would help?

Does LImcat still make a SS magwell? I don't see it listed on their site. If you don't mind, will post a pic? I'm considering a new SS build and am going to have a hard time moving away from the Dawson, I love the looks of the Stan Chen magwell but think I would miss the swell at the bottom of the grip that you get with the Dawson.

I put the Volquartsen hammer in mine and was very happy with the results, it really improves the trigger. It's been a couple years since I did this, but don't remember any difficulties. I've attached a guide I found after I did mine that may be helpful. Buckmark_Disassembly.pdf

Unfortunately can't make it this weekend, I am going to shoot it in the pm session at mrpc the following weekend. It will be my first attempt with a dot, should be interesting.

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I put one one an S3, no issues. Plenty of room for the screws.