New Slide Manufacturer

[mcattack]

Never had issues with Caspian, I have STI but not Caspian, I have one open gun with 80 to 100 thousand rounds on the slide. that is still tight. 2 barrels and 5 compensators. Never had an issue with any I have owned. 

Edited July 5, 2019 by mcattack

[warpspeed]

23 minutes ago, zzt said:

D, Caspian slides suck as far as machining goes.  They suck worse dimensionally, as in they have no idea what parallel means.  They also have no idea what sharp tools means.  They are made by contractors.  There is no uniformity, no consistency.  After the last one I would not use another even if I got it for free.  It's amazing you have an opinion since you haven't even broken yours in yet.

 

11 minutes ago, mcattack said:

Never had issues with Caspian, I have STI but not Caspian, I have one open gun with 80 to 100000 thousand rounds on the slide. that is still tight. 2 barrels and 5 compensators. Never had an issue with any I have owned. 

 

 

So what we have found here is that the slides from Caspian appear to be inconsistent.  My experience has been more along the lines of what zzt has found.  I haven't lightened them or shot a ton of rounds but the 2 slides I had were not even close to parallel. 

[Sandbagger123]

the caspian slide on my open gun cracked right where the ejection port is at the front.  cool no big deal as its warranted for lifetime. i called them and ask them the process.  they told me to send in the slide and they will take a look at it.  if they determine that its got a lot of rounds through it by looking at the breech face, they will decide to warranty it or not.  looking at the warranty online it says nothing about limiting the amount of rounds for warranty.  it just said lifetime.  did not bother to send it back as i dislike these kind of shenanigans 

[yigal]

4 hours ago, warpspeed said:

 

 

 

So what we have found here is that the slides from Caspian appear to be inconsistent.  My experience has been more along the lines of what zzt has found.  I haven't lightened them or shot a ton of rounds but the 2 slides I had were not even close to parallel. 

 

original  US made  STI slide producing  technology  is very good and different from the others. sti slides machined after heat treating and not like  few  other companies .this eliminates distortions .

Edited July 5, 2019 by yigal

[geraldskip]

On 7/4/2019 at 5:51 PM, tha1000 said:

 

Arent Warwick slides taller than a standard 1911 slide?

 

They are a hair taller. It's frustrating, but I was able to heat gun a RHT holster to fit easily. Recently I got lucky and have a VERY good holster maker local to me so he blocked one out custom for me. I love it so far.

[tha1000]

9 hours ago, geraldskip said:

 

They are a hair taller. It's frustrating, but I was able to heat gun a RHT holster to fit easily. Recently I got lucky and have a VERY good holster maker local to me so he blocked one out custom for me. I love it so far.

 

Still kinda problematic that their 1911 slide  won’t fit in a standard 1911 holster. 

[RangerTrace]

On 7/3/2019 at 9:13 AM, Mytmousemalibu said:

I think Atlas might be doing their own frames too. My freshly built Open gun doesn't have any PT markings on it at least. It has the Atlas logo where it would say PT at least. I don't know if PT has any distinct marks or cuts to identify it otherwise. 

Cheely Custom Gunworks is doing grips/frames for Atlas.

[Ssanders224]

34 minutes ago, tha1000 said:

 

Still kinda problematic that their 1911 slide  won’t fit in a standard 1911 holster. 

 

Why in the world would a manufacturer think that’s a good idea? 

[tha1000]

44 minutes ago, Ssanders224 said:

 

Why in the world would a manufacturer think that’s a good idea? 

 

.16 taller than standard from what I hear. Stumbled upon this talk when I was considering a short block from them a while back. 

Edited July 6, 2019 by tha1000

[ltdmstr]

I've used a ton of Caspian slides over the years, and yes, they're pretty inconsistent in terms of dimensions and machining quality.  But I don't build open guns and don't do any extreme slide lightening, so I've never had one break.  From what I've seen, they're still the best available option unless you want to pay for Infinity.

[zzt]

A couple of the newer,  good slide makers are making slightly oversize slides.  For instance, the manufacturer of the slides Virgil Tripp and JEM Guns most recently sold.  The last JEM slide I used was dimensionally perfect in every way, except outside dimensions.  The slide was .020" wider than 'normal', and it was higher.  I had no trouble filing the top down to 'normal'.  It looked great.  I only did that on a lark, because I knew I was going to send it out for lightening.  

 

I had the sides of the slide ground down to exactly match the frame.  The frame was .907" and there was a .001" difference side-to-side on the frame, so I got a perfect fit.  I'd much, much rather have extra material to take off than not enough.  Yes, it costs more and takes extra time, but if you are looking for perfection, it's worth it.

[ltdmstr]

Problem is, when I've checked JEM, they've never had any slides for sale.  Didn't know Virgil was making/selling slides but will check with both next time I'm in the market.

[ncrivello]

So who is the go to slide manufacturer if we can't get them from JEM??

[zzt]

1 hour ago, ltdmstr said:

Problem is, when I've checked JEM, they've never had any slides for sale.  Didn't know Virgil was making/selling slides but will check with both next time I'm in the market.

 

The same manufacturer made the slides for JEM and Tripp.  Anytime JEM had some slides for sale they disappeared almost instantly.  Tripp may have some slides left for sale directly.  He did a couple of months ago when we last spoke.  The 9mm slides at Shooters connection were sold out three days after the last discussion of good slides.

 

The reason JEM and TRipp have no new slides to sell is the 6-axis machine they were made on broke.  It requires technicians form Germany and 6 months to fix.  Three have already elapsed.  JEM is tooling up to make his own slides, but he is so busy making 1911/2011 frames he has no time.  Same thing goes for the one piece magwell/MS.  I've been waiting 2+ years for that one.

[Fo0]

On 7/4/2019 at 6:29 PM, Ssanders224 said:

 

10k rounds? Add another zero and I’d be impressed   

 

I’m not positive I’ve ever gotten a full two seasons out of one.  When I was shooting more seriously, 1200-1500 rounds a week was the norm. 

Broke an STI slide on a Bedell limited gun. Cracked the caspian slide that replaced it. 

Cracked a caspian on a Lonestar Limited gun, the caspian that replaced it failed around the FP stop cut, and a piece broke off. And I have a caspian slide limited gun in my safe that cracked about a year ago. 

My wife has also cracked a couple of caspian slides on Open guns. I’m not even sure that’s all of them. 

 

So, you can see how my opinion has been formed. 

 

All of our guns are built on PT slides now, and we have not had a failure yet. One of which is one of the first prototype PT slides on a limited gun that has many more rounds on it than any of my previous guns did. It’s purposefully Swiss cheesed, and still has not failed. 

 

Where do you buy PT slides from I don't see them on their website

[tha1000]

31 minutes ago, Fo0 said:

 

Where do you buy PT slides from I don't see them on their website

 

I believe you have to buy a Honcho to get a PT frame and slide these days. 

[zzt]

You can buy PT frames in lots of 10.  No Go on the slides.

[assaulter]

You can buy a single frame from PT.

[Stymie12000]

On 7/7/2019 at 12:24 PM, ncrivello said:

So who is the go to slide manufacturer if we can't get them from JEM??

I'm also interested.  Sounds like PT wont sell slides, JEM/Tripp machine is broke down. And I dont want to go the Caspian route again. 

 

I've had nothing but problems with my current Caspian with less than 15k rounds.  Couple of area's out of spec. And a chunk of one of the lugs broke off the slide (lucky didn't damage the upper barrel lugs on my Infinity barrel) . So definitely in the marke for something other than Caspian....

[tjlw]

2 hours ago, Stymie12000 said:

I'm also interested.  Sounds like PT wont sell slides, JEM/Tripp machine is broke down. And I dont want to go the Caspian route again. 

 

I've had nothing but problems with my current Caspian with less than 15k rounds.  Couple of area's out of spec. And a chunk of one of the lugs broke off the slide (lucky didn't damage the upper barrel lugs on my Infinity barrel) . So definitely in the marke for something other than Caspian....

 

I see Brazos is selling a bald slide now. I haven't heard any reviews yet though.

[zzt]

17 hours ago, assaulter said:

You can buy a single frame from PT.

 When I asked they said no; buy ten or none.

[Midwest3Gunner]

On 7/7/2019 at 11:24 AM, ncrivello said:

So who is the go to slide manufacturer if we can't get them from JEM??

That's why I started this thread lols, Atlas is really tight on specs, so hopefully these might help out the quality slide shortage.

[geraldskip]

An Atlas short block kit would be amazing

[MVPFc]

On 7/9/2019 at 9:13 AM, zzt said:

 When I asked they said no; buy ten or none.

There was a 10 frame minimum for a period of time a while back. You can get them one at a time now.

[assaulter]

I just got a couple slides from Atlas.  They look good.  JEM has been posting that they are ready to produce slides too!  So now I guess I'll have to order one of those also.