bassochist Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 in the last few months, the slides's cracked on their open guns, all different calibers (.38super and 9mm) and all on the same place (on the right site, at the back of the ejection port) on 1 gun this happened within 5000 rounds, one other gun cracked last week, wich was 6 years old, with about 60k rounds trough it, but the rest of the guns, are build in the past 2 years, and had about 10k of round trough it, my own gun is build 1 year ago, had about 20k of rounds trought and i haven't had any problems with the slide cracking (but my slide is a shortened 6" unique slide, all the others were 5" unique slides) any one know of sti having any problems with the materials or changed something, sti has replaced all the slides under warranty wich is a good service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskd Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 have the slides been lightened ? if yes by how much ? and what weight springs and p.f loads are the guns running? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 all the slides have been lightened, most of them shoot with 10 lbs springs, and some with recoil masters, pf between 163 and 170. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Was there a common powder used or was everyone using different powders? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 alla the 9 mm's were using vv N350, the supers were using, vv 3n38. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskd Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Have you got photos . All the cracked slides I have seen have had to much taken out of them or bad springing the nearly all crack on the left side of the ejection port when you are looking at the gun as you would shoot it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 were they rib caged with a ball end or round nose end mill or a straight across or square regular end mill? Pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Have you got photos . All the cracked slides I have seen have had to much taken out of them or bad springing the nearly all crack on the left side of the ejection port when you are looking at the gun as you would shoot it no pictures of the cracks yet, but i have exactly the same gun, and mine has twice the roundcount of the other guns, and my slide didn't crack yet, but they are all cracked on the right site of the ejection port, when looking at the gun as you would shoot it. the only difference between my gun and the other guns, is that my slide was originally a 6" slide wich is shortened to 4.5" because there weren't any 5" or 4.5" slides available when he build my gun, and there are still other shooters with the same type of gun, but their guns are all older than the guns listed above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskd Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 have you got a photo of the right side of your gun how low has the ejection port been gun. as most crack on the left as it has no flex compared to the right side , the only slide i have seen crack on the right has had way to much cut out of the port are all of these guns the same design ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 i made a mistake, i'm looking at the pictures of my own gun now, the cracks are on the LEFT side not the right side. (to make it easier, the slides are all cracked on the side where the cmore mount is mounted) the most guns are the same design, some guns have a 5" slide, others have a shortened (4.5") slide like mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OperationHitFactor Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I'm sure I might stir up a bee's nest here, but I've had a few top gunsmiths tell me tri-top on an open gun is a no no unless it is an SV slide. It was explained that the way the breech face is designed on a SV slide it will hold up, but on caspians and sti slides tri-top will weaken at the breech face. On the other hand, I've had other gunsmiths tell me you can cut a slide and avoiding tri-top is bull. They claim tri-top holds up as long as the metal is cut correctly. I've seen a few cracked slides now, which more than half had a tri-top slide that cracked from the breech face. The others were heavily chopped, which cracked above the reverse plug from a slide cut down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 but sti, also made their own tri top slides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OperationHitFactor Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Tri-top on a non compensated gun is different, the pressure, slide speed, and impulse is all different. At least this is how it was explained to me. STI sells tri-top slides, but not open guns with tri-top, only non-compensated guns are sold with tri top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 i will let you know how long my slide wil last, next slide will be one without tri top, but then i have to have a new comp also, and that's gonna be an expensive piece of titanium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OperationHitFactor Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Don't just take my word for it, I'm still learning. I'm just throwing that out on the table. There are a few experienced builders on the forum. Hopefully they will explain in detail one way or the other in regard to tri-top open slides. I'm still learning a lot myself, the problem is every builder gives a different answer on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskd Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I'm sure I might stir up a bee's nest here, but I've had a few top gunsmiths tell me tri-top on an open gun is a no no unless it is an SV slide. It was explained that the way the breech face is designed on a SV slide it will hold up, but on caspians and sti slides tri-top will weaken at the breech face. On the other hand, I've had other gunsmiths tell me you can cut a slide and avoiding tri-top is bull. They claim tri-top holds up as long as the metal is cut correctly. I've seen a few cracked slides now, which more than half had a tri-top slide that cracked from the breech face. The others were heavily chopped, which cracked above the reverse plug from a slide cut down. most of the cracked open slides in my shop are try toped , my own slides have more cut out of them than that slide(looking at the pic) but not try toped one of the has about 80k of 180pf no cracks its not a slide fault its a design fault sorry to say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Sierpina Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Photos of the actually cracked slides are much more helpful than one that shows none. There are many variables that will lead to the damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Am I correct in reading that the slides that have failed are all cut up by the same builder over various years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted April 23, 2012 Author Share Posted April 23, 2012 (edited) Yes, all by the same builder, but i also have seen cracked slides on hps guns wich are not tri topped, 2 days ago i saw an svi slide cracked. Edited April 23, 2012 by bassochist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Not to be argumentative but it sounds like an gunsmith that was overly aggressive with the mill has created this problem. It sounds like he created a stress riser that is failing. Blaming STI for it is sort of similar to blaming Chevrolet for a blown up motor if you put nitrous on it. It seems like the the gunsmith has made a mistake not STI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassochist Posted April 23, 2012 Author Share Posted April 23, 2012 I do not agree with that, because sti said they have made a batch of slides wich are bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 That doesn't add up for me. It doesn't make sense that STI would be making slides for all that time over multiple years and have five of them fail that one guy cut up. It sounds like they may have had a problem with something that was exacerbated by whatever pattern the gunsmith cut. I certainly don't doubt that it's possible that they had a metallurgy issue. However there are thousands of STI open guns out there that haven't hadn't crack slides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1911Prof Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 It seems to me that the gunsmith was pushing the limits ( which is what open shooters want) and had been successful. But whenever you push the tolerences that far, any unforseen change in the quality of the material can lead to failure of the part Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcs Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 I don't think you can make a leap of faith that STI open slides that have been tri-topped are going to crack. The cuts on your slide look pretty aggressive. You have to put a lot of weight on the fact all these guns came from the same smith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junkie Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 My Buddy has had his open gun crack in the same place 2 years in a row. They are STI and we are a bit confused about it. STI has backed up their product no questions so I am not badmouthing them at all. They cracked on the left side at the back of the ejection port. So yes I have heard of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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