slide crack?

[Shadowrider]

I'd bet money that the plating shop didn't do a post plating bake to alleviate hydrogen embrittlement. I'd ask them because if they didn't do it, it's too late now. What they do is apply the plating and within a very few hours, usually way less than 24 hours on high strength steels, they bake the part for a few hours at about 190C. This removes the the atomic hydrogen before it has had chance to become molecular which can and will make the steel brittle and prone to crack.

What you can do to that slide is have someone mill a slot right in the centerline of the slide using an end mill just large enough to fully remove the crack and just cut the slot long enough to go just past the end of the crack. Hope this makes sense. Polish it up good, and run it. You will have a real nice concave radius to remove any possibility of another crack in that area and it will be symmetrical and not look too weird. If it does crack again, I can guarantee that you have a bad plating job (most probably) or a bad heat treat job (not likely but still possible) on that slide which will not be able to be fixed. As mentioned above drilling a hole at the end of the crack would be okay too, and it doesn't have to be very big at all, but just milling it all out is a better route to take.

Good luck.

Edited to clarify...

Edited October 14, 2011 by Shadowrider

[twodownzero]

A lighter spring does not increase frame battering or damage your gun. The recoil springs' sole responsibility is to store energy to push the slide back forward after it slams into the frame. It's supposed to hit the frame on every shot and designed to do so. That's why slides just don't last forever.

[Paul-the new guy]

Update: I have shot this gun as is for a little over a year. I would guess around 10k rounds... I shoot more IDPA than USPSA limited. The good news is the crack in the slide has not moved at all. The bad news is....

[Ronnie j]

"He showed me on the barrel where it meets the barrel bridge how it is cut differently than it really should be and several other things"

Ok we gotta know who built it?

Edited December 14, 2012 by Ronnie j

[Paul-the new guy]

Turns out the barrel was a Para/Clark barrel when it started life and the guy who built the gun turned it into a Wilson/Nowlin. The strange thing to me is the frame started life as an un ramped frame so he had to cut the frame anyway why not cut it to match the barrel???

[Ronnie j]

that doesn't make sense, the para/clark ramp is allegedly easier to cut as well.

[a matt]

No really, who did that?

[Jaxshooter]

I would plan on keeping the gun and having it fixed correctly. By that I would send the whole gun to Bob since he is already being very generous. Have him go through the gun completely and have him rebuild the gun the right way including the ignition parts. When Bob is finished you will have a virtually new gun that will provide years of reliable service. If money is short have the slide blued and when it wears then have it hard chromed. I would find another place to have the slide chromed if it were me. The next time you want to have a gun hard chromed send only the parts you want chromed. Just my $.02