Glock custom slide reliability

[baekacaek]

So I've been looking into custom slides for glocks, and was wondering about this. For the AR15 platform, it's easy to swap out things like pistol grip, butt stock, rails, and those will never affect how the gun cycles. But for glocks, the slide contains a lot of parts responsible for making the gun go bang, along with some safety features.

So what's the opinion here about glock custom slides? Are the parts simple enough that third party can make them and won't affect reliability in any meaningful way? Or will reliability always take a hit when swapping out OEM slides?

[G-forceJunkie]

Are the parts simple enough that third party can make them and won't affect reliability in any meaningful way?

No

Or will reliability always take a hit when swapping out OEM slides?

yes.

[Leadingall]

[Bullets&Whitewalls]

if it is an issue, I think we would have a lot of threads about it. last I looked there wasn't any I can think of.

[Munny$hot]

OEM parts in an out of spec slide will not guarantee you a reliable platform. I've seen my fair share of aftermarket slides, parts etc all fail. Some will have poor results from the start, some will fail over a short period of time, while an out of spec may ware parts prematurely. Most people buy Glocks for reliability so swapping out OEM parts for aftermarket is asking for trouble.

[rodralig]

I have an aftermarket slide simply because I did not want to mill my OEM slide for a red dot. I use the pistol in USPSA Carry Optics. Reliable at 6K rounds. Albeit, internals are stock OEM. No fancy safety plungers, titanium strikers, non-MIM or whatever extractor, etc.

However, my defense/carry are all OEM. Slides are milled.

_

[k1dude]

On my competition guns, I run most with aftermarket slides and parts. All have been as reliable as the factory parts through tens of thousands of rounds. I'm sure there are some brands out there that may be problematic, but I haven't run into one personally.

But, as mentioned by another poster above, I wouldn't consider it being reliable until you have at least 500 rounds through it. My HD/SD Glocks are still all factory.

[FNGGlock]

I have an aftermarket slide simply because I did not want to mill my OEM slide for a red dot. I use the pistol in USPSA Carry Optics. Reliable at 6K rounds. Albeit, internals are stock OEM. No fancy safety plungers, titanium strikers, non-MIM or whatever extractor, etc.

However, my defense/carry are all OEM. Slides are milled.

_

I run a Brownells 34 slide with RMR cut on a 17 frame, all OEM internals. Prob around 2-3k rounds through it on USPSA and Steel challenge. Only issue I had was that the optic came loose, but also died - slide has been fine though with no issues.

All HD/SD Glocks are all OEM with the exception of TruGlo TFX sights.

[Tere_Hanges]

I completed a Zaffiri Glock34 gen3 slide with a parts kit from Aim Surplus. It felt very stiff when new (stiff pulling slide back after dryfiring) and had a lot of malfunctions at first (light primer strikes, slide locking back with rounds in magazine). It probably needed fitting somewhere but I just shot it to try and "break it in".The malfunctions went away after approx 200rds. Now it seems to be reliable but I would never trust it with my life. Its just a range toy for use with cheap steel cased ammo.

Also, I dont like using it with an aftermarket trigger because it makes the trigger super light with a very slow trigger release. The trigger is much firmer with stock Glock slide.

I recommend OEM slide parts for best reliability.

[Chaco99]

I think the consensus is....maybe. Tolerance stacking is a real thing, even if all the parts are in spec. It happens with stock guns from the factory as well. Most likely an aftermarket slide will be fine. As others have stated, go with oem internals for a gun where reliability is paramount and buy a slide from a reputable company. If you just want a slide to mount an optic, maybe milling the oem slide is the way to go and less expensive than most slides. If Gucci is what you seek, then get whatever tickles your pickle. The only way to see if it will be reliable is to go shoot the snot out of it. Someone mentioned shooting 500 rounds first, which is always a good idea before you should consider it for defensive purposes. However, as someone else also mentioned, parts that are out of spec or on the outer limits of being within spec could wear out faster. What if a part decides to fail at the 501st round fired. Sample size of one, but I have a Killer Innovations slide with a Faxon barrel and OEM internals. I had about 5 or so failures to extract with stovepipes within the first 100 rounds. I was using newish oem glock mags so springs were not an issue. Ive put another 500 rounds or so and no further problems and it has smoothed out quite a bit. I personally trust it now as many guns have growing pains. Most 1911's are famous for requiring a 500 round break in period. I'm of the opinion that a gun should function flawlessly out the gate, but still wouldn't put it in the rotation if I haven't fired a few hundred rounds under different conditions first...even a stock glock.

[lastinline]

The consensus seems to be that using aftermarket stuff for competition can be OK, but nearly all responses noted that actual, real-world use (carry, defensive) all stick with OEM parts. Simple.

[static2126]

So I've been looking into custom slides for glocks, and was wondering about this. For the AR15 platform, it's easy to swap out things like pistol grip, butt stock, rails, and those will never affect how the gun cycles. But for glocks, the slide contains a lot of parts responsible for making the gun go bang, along with some safety features.

So what's the opinion here about glock custom slides? Are the parts simple enough that third party can make them and won't affect reliability in any meaningful way? Or will reliability always take a hit when swapping out OEM slides?

Really depends on brand

[naz]

“Should” be fine with slide from known manufacturer and oem internals.

[floogy]

Really depends on brand

Yeah, I've heard about lots of problems with cheap slides. Much fewer with good quality and fewer still for OEM slides.

But a cheap slide could work perfectly and a high end slide could give you nothing but problems. Won't know until it's put together and shot a bunch.

[Rover]

Unsatisfying answer, it depends.

Cheapie slides are very hit and miss, but good quality ones are every bit as reliable as OEM, despite many reports to the contrary from people who have never owned or maybe even seen one.

It's all about tolerances, because nobody knows what Glock's in-house tolerances look like you have to manufacture them to extremely tight tolerances to make sure nothing stacks when attached to a Glock frame. Tight tolerances drive cost, that's why you get such variable reliability out of the cheap slides, they run loose standards and hope to get away with it.

I've got thousands of rounds through aftermarket and OEM slides on Glocks and Sigs, by far the biggest reliability issue on all of them has been simple carbon build up. Beyond that the only time I've had a Glock simply not function, it was a brand new OEM G19, read into that what you wish.