Poor man's Steelmaster - XDm 3.8 Open Minor?

[Rudukai13]

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'd really like to have an STI Steelmaster, but until I'm able to save up enough money to actually buy one (which won't be any time in the foreseeable future), I figured I might be able to build a less expensive version for myself as a fun range toy, and I'm thinking an XDm 3.8 Fullsize would be a perfect base. A couple questions;

- Are there any special considerations that would need to be made using such a short barrel and adding a compensator?

- One thought I've had is to transfer a tactical-length guide rod (4.5") into the 3.8" slide to extend out under the compensator a bit, mostly for cosmetic reasons. Is this feasible without any custom fabrication to the slide or guide rod?

- Anything I'm not considering that I should be?

I would be using factory 9mm minor ammo, probably around 130ish power factor. So I'll also use a minor PF 9mm comp.

[Kmarsh1966]

It sounds interesting. I have had similar thoughts. My only other consideration is to mount an RMR on the slide. Something about an optic slamming back and forth over and over, just seems like something to break.

[Planner]

3.8s use a captured double recoil spring, I don't think the single spring/solid rod combo from a 4.5" would work without a guide bushing type at the front to keep the longer rod straight.

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Edited July 2, 2016 by Planner