Milling a glock slide from solid stock?

[$P-Ritch$]

Hey All,

This next year at school I will have pretty much unlimited access to a machine shop with nice big manual mills.

So, I was looking at my glock slide and was wondering if one could be milled from solid bar stock? All the cuts look doable except for the striker hole and face that it comes out of. Other than that it just seems like it would take time.

Can anyone with more experience than I (which other than turning the mill on and doing basic passes, is virtually none) weigh in?

[hermosabeach]

You can find aftermarket Glock slides....
One source tactical
Lone wolf

It is doable but why? Some LEO are not allowed to sell old guns so they sell everything except for the frame.
So you can find all parts with the tennifer finish for cheap.

I would think researching what receivers you could make would be more fun
AR lower
Glock frame from steel
Or taking a raw match barrel and machining it to fit your rig.


I would think the machining would be easier than the correct heat treatment.

[ar15barrels]

Factory glock slides are milled from solid stock.
No reason you can't do it too.
It might take you a large amount of work.
It might not come out as nice as a factory slide.
I suspect that does not matter as it's more of a "can I do it?"challenge than actually NEEDING to do it.
Choosing the proper material and heat treating it will be your next challenges.

[$P-Ritch$]

Yeah, it is more of a just for fun project to challenge myself and get practice on the machines. This is one of a few firearm related projects I've been dreaming up this summer.

I think I am already pushing it with firearm parts and do not want to go into making receivers.

As for materials, from what I see 416 stainless is machineable and seems to be what most of the aftermarket slides are made of. Then I would just have to get someone to properly heat treat it when I am done.

I know it won't look too pretty, but just like parents with ugly kids, I'll love it just the same.

[Gunsmith Dan]

Yes Glock slides are milled from soild block of mild steel and require surface hardening (case or nitride) so they do not gall and wear out to fast (and why they are so low cost).

You can alway use other materials just make sure that the slide is not too heavy compared to a original or you will need to change out other parts (recoil spring for one). If you make the slide alot heavier than the original you will not only wear out the frame faster BUT you can stress out the frame to the point it will fail over time.