Hello Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I have not had the opportunity to shoot a sight tracker yet, but I think the design is cool, i.e. weight forward on the barrel and a light slide. I currently shoot a 6” bushing barrel, short dust cover gun and I find it to be a little slow for most local matches I shoot. I have owned many 5” limited guns in the past and believe they are faster on tight stages with heavy round count so I have decided to buy a 5” gun and am leaning toward a sight tracker but have a few questions for those of you who know. Does a sight tracker cycle faster than a bull barrel gun? Does a long or short dust cover make any noticeable difference in the way the gun handles or cycles? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EngineerEli Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I shoot a 5" SVI with a 5.4" barrel in it so it sticks out of the slide 0.4", the slide is also tri topped. For your first question, yes the weight of the slide is pretty substantially less than a bull barrel slide because the entire top is part of the barrel instead of the slide. To answer your second question, My gun actually is a butler cut style. Half way between a classic and full dust cover. The previous owner had it narrowed by about 1/10" though which I believe brings the weight down to somewhere near a classic frame. Honestly I liked the balance a little better when I had the old 5.0" sight tracker barrel in it, but I am happy with the extra velocity so I consider it a wash. It seems as people get better with recoil control and as their general skill improves they tend to move towards lighter guns (classic short dust cover frames with bull or sight tracker barrels). Just to clarify I have only been shooting competitively for about 4 years and I'm a B class shooter so take my suggestions for what you will. People always do say that it all comes down to preference, so you best bet is to try shooting other peoples guns of different styles before putting money down on something of your own. Good luck! -Eli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I have a tracker, mine is very heavy, but tracks like an open gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I shot my 5.4" Sight Tracker and my 6", Bushing barrel gun the other day, side by side with the same ammo. For me, the Sight Tracker is faster and snappier. The 6" gun, though a bit slower, did feel softer in recoil. I'm only at 900 rounds in the 5.4 vs. 17K in the 6". So, I still have a lot of learning to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaeOne3345 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Does a sight tracker cycle faster than a bull barrel gun? Does a long or short dust cover make any noticeable difference in the way the gun handles or cycles? Thanks This depends on how light the slide is on the normal bull barreled gun. I have a conventional 5" Bull Barrel with a chopped slide, and I also have a 5.4" Sight Tracker that utilizes a 5" slide as shown here, built using an SV Infinity barrel: The 5.4 gun does cycle just a bit faster than my 5" bull barrel gun with the slide cuts. The sight tracker slide is super light for obvious reasons (big gaping hole cut out of it) but I can go between them with ease. It isn't drastic. Both of them are much different than a full profiled slide though. Some folks make a big deal out of dust cover length, but I am personally not affected by it that much. My 5" bull gun has a butler cut. The gun pictured above is a little bit further than a short dust cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 I have a tracker, mine is very heavy, but tracks like an open gun. How heavy is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaeOne3345 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 FYI, my 5" bull and 5.4" sight tracker with 5" slide weigh exactly the same. The balance is a little different, but total weight is the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 Does a sight tracker cycle faster than a bull barrel gun? Does a long or short dust cover make any noticeable difference in the way the gun handles or cycles? Thanks This depends on how light the slide is on the normal bull barreled gun. I have a conventional 5" Bull Barrel with a chopped slide, and I also have a 5.4" Sight Tracker that utilizes a 5" slide as shown here, built using an SV Infinity barrel: The 5.4 gun does cycle just a bit faster than my 5" bull barrel gun with the slide cuts. The sight tracker slide is super light for obvious reasons (big gaping hole cut out of it) but I can go between them with ease. It isn't drastic. Both of them are much different than a full profiled slide though. Some folks make a big deal out of dust cover length, but I am personally not affected by it that much. My 5" bull gun has a butler cut. The gun pictured above is a little bit further than a short dust cover. Nice looking blaster. Does the extra weight of the 5.4 barrel slow the lock up time at all? I tend to prefer light snappy guns, but it is starting to look like a heavy gun with a light slide might be the right choice for me. Thanks for all the good info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hello Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 I shot my 5.4" Sight Tracker and my 6", Bushing barrel gun the other day, side by side with the same ammo. For me, the Sight Tracker is faster and snappier. The 6" gun, though a bit slower, did feel softer in recoil. I'm only at 900 rounds in the 5.4 vs. 17K in the 6". So, I still have a lot of learning to do. Even though you were shooting the same ammo you know what power factor both guns were at, I am assuming the 6" was hotter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I shot my 5.4" Sight Tracker and my 6", Bushing barrel gun the other day, side by side with the same ammo. For me, the Sight Tracker is faster and snappier. The 6" gun, though a bit slower, did feel softer in recoil. I'm only at 900 rounds in the 5.4 vs. 17K in the 6". So, I still have a lot of learning to do. Even though you were shooting the same ammo you know what power factor both guns were at, I am assuming the 6" was hotter? The barrels are virtually the same at 172 with my ammo. But, the 6" guns felt softer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 It's not often that a picture of a pistol makes me do a double take but that one sure did. That's a sweet looking pistol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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