Jon Merricks Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 This is for shooters that put alot of rounds through there open guns. How many rounds do you expect to get through your open gun before you crack the slide. I know most shooters will not put more than 10k rounds through the same gun in a years time. The reason I ask is a friend of mine is breaking slides about every 10k. For him that's about every 90 days when he is training. STI and Caspian are the slides he use's. I have only had my open gun for a couple of months and I'm at the 8k mark. So I'm figuring it won't be long before mine goes. If you have an open gun that is no more than 2 years old and you have more than 15k through it speak up and help me figure out what's going on. I have no idea what the cause is, springs, powders, etc. I'd like to know how your gun is set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 Jon Same guy build both guns? If so, yes, you probably can expect problems. If not, you may be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 Jon, The Open (Caspian) that I sold Anderson is going strong. It had been rode a bit when he bought it from me. He then wore out the barrel. He had EGW add a new barrel and tighten the gun back up (over the winter). Now he is shooting it 200-300 rounds x two practice sessions of live fire every week...and matches every weekend. Most of the other Open guns that I see every weekend are going strong. I can't see any good reason to be breaking Caspian and STI slides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L9X25 Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 I am approaching 60,000 rounds of 115gr 9x25 bullets on a Caspian Slide. The slide has not been severely lightened beyond flat topping, removing the rear sight area and slotting the top for TJ holes. My previous gun had a old cast Caspian Slide and it lasted 8 years and 50,000+ rounds before cracking. Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Merricks Posted April 29, 2004 Author Share Posted April 29, 2004 How about some recoil spring weight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 hmmm, I have about 90K through mine and (70k from the owner before me) and the slide is fine, just had it hardchorme last year. When I shot open I shot about 30-40k per year. I've lost a barrel lug and a safety in that time, but no problems with the slide. PS. I've always shot 124's or 125's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul B Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 While there are slides that last longer, 20K is pretty good if you are shooting nothing but major with 115's. With 124-125's the slide life is substantially longer. I've been through 2 slides with the 115's and never cracked one with the 125's on the same gun. Mine cracked around the ejection port someplace (usually at the front). All my slides have been Caspians and they used to have a warning on their website about 115's. I even went with N105 powder to soften the recoil impulse but still the 115's do what they want. This was all with an 11 lb recoil spring and appropriate shock buff changes. It depends on what you want. I really like the way 115's shoot so I accept the possibility of shorter slide life. I practice with lead and heavier bullets to extend the life, but the light bullets will eventually take their toll unless you are just lucky to get that "special" slide that fits perfect and has exactly the right temper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 I was told recently that, all other things being equal, a hard chromed slide will crack near the ejection port before one that is not hard chromed. YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmercury2 Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 IVE put 40k plus through 3 open guns with no slide cracks,this past 6 months 15k+ on a 38 sti open with 115's with no probs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpspeed Posted April 29, 2004 Share Posted April 29, 2004 jon, where is the crack at? same place both times ? Are the slides lightened at all ? Open gun recoil spring should be about 12 or so for a major laod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcoliver Posted April 30, 2004 Share Posted April 30, 2004 Open gun recoil spring should be about 12 or so for a major laod. No open gun yet, but I always thought they'd be sprung even lower than limited guns? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjanglin Posted April 30, 2004 Share Posted April 30, 2004 guys my open gun is eight years old with the same slide its an SVI Ive replaced one breech face and thats it.I have all the guns I build CRYO treated-i have a six inch 40 single stack that has 40,000 or so through it. On of the fellows I build guns for a GM Roger Sherman has put 15000 rounds through a Para LDA and the season has just started-Todd J Cryo's all his slides-Iv only seen quality slides break/crack when they are lighted to much. Jim Anglin Sailors Custom Pistols Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Merricks Posted May 3, 2004 Author Share Posted May 3, 2004 STI has replaced the slides that have cracked even after looking at how everything was fitted so no problems there. The slides all crack in one of three places top near the breach face toward the left side, bottem of ejection port both front and back. This last slide had only been shot with 124's The lighting cuts are no more than what STI would put on them 12lbs recoil spring? Never in my gun. To me an 8lbs'er is to heavy. I starting to think that spring weight maybe an issue. I was hoping that someone would say that they thoughts the metal used today may not be has good. But no bite's yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Jon, I'm not even biting on that fact that STI replaced the slides. There is a "how" as well as a "where" on those cuts. Some pics might help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j1b Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 First, I don't believe this is an open gun vs. limited gun issue. I've cracked slides on both - frames too. Most guns should go 40-50K without much in terms of issues. I'd be willing to bet most of my guns have a crack here or there in them - some that I'm aware of some that I'm not. I have an open gun that I'd take to nationals today that has a cracked frame. Most of my blasters that went down due to damage were either P-9's or 9X25 with 115 grain bullets. We beat the crap out of all of those guns. On the other hand I have a .45 that has in excess of 115,000 rounds on it that is practically brand new. Its the best gun I've ever owned - and everyone has tried to buy it (including some big dogs ). Nope - it ain't for sale JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Merricks Posted May 3, 2004 Author Share Posted May 3, 2004 The cut's are not an issue. I am not sure if you can tell from this what your looking for. But crack's on the side of the slide would not come from a flat top and a swoop cut that far back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpspeed Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 I had a barrel fit by Irv Stone from Barsto Prec. a couple of months ago and the first thing he did was take the slide and check the hardness on a real trick machine. He said that he was making sure that the slide was within a certain range; not too soft, not too hard. Must be an issue or else he would not check. jon - along the lines of todays metals - I do not hink it is that so much as QC. We have all heard/read here that STI seems to ship products that are not 100% perfect. I have seen this myself. The range of what is acceptable for them seems to be wide. Don't get me wrong, I have 3 pistols all made with STI slides and frames, but you cannot assume that just because a certain dimension is suppose to be 0.355 that it will be. You have to measure. My guess is that the hardness of the slides and frames is similar - a range that is acceptable. But the real Q is do they check???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 I'm pretty sure that each part (slide or frame) that Caspian ships has the hardness reading printed right on the ticket. I don't know about STI? I'm sure they hard a hardness testing machine. Anybody that has one should be able to locate the "dimple" left by the tester. I'm thinking Caspian tests on the disconnector rail? Jon, if the cuts themselves aren't the issue, then the next thing would be the weight of the slide itself, coupled with a light recoil spring...and shock buffs likely figure in there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinney Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 All I can say without seeing the slides, is that if the same guy is breaking the same type slide over and over again as often as you state, there is a problem..... if they aren't all from the same bad batch of slides, I'd say it was either gunsmith induced, load induced, or something else thats dumb, dangerous, or different that this shooter is subjecting his pistol to..... Of course it could just be a statistical anomaly; I mean look at how many sights Erik Warren has gone through! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted May 4, 2004 Share Posted May 4, 2004 FWIW My fresh-from-Caspian frame had a dimple (and RC tag attached), but the accompanying slide did not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 Well I am new to this forum, have been out of shooting for about 10 years or so. The only problems I ever had were on the first batch of aluminum frame para's before they made steel. At that time we were all still shooting 135's or 155's and It got beat to heck within 20k. At that time Para replaced it with a steel frame. The other was a Caspian High Cap when the First Gen ones of those came out. It cracked at the cut for the ramped barrel. That gun saw nothing but 124's. Bot the slides were still in good shape. Though I do have a single stack that the slide crapped out at about 75k with major loads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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