Lightening cuts on slides for RDS, yay, or nay? plus a breech face question

[DacoRoman]

If you’re referring to the breechface cut/notch found in newer production Gen5 guns, I don’t believe that any of the aftermarket slides incorporate it and I haven’t heard of anyone offering to machine it into existing slides. The cut is nice to have since it really seems to improve consistent ejection but the guns without them (millions of Glocks prior to the Gen5 guns) seem to run just fine.

Yes that’s what I was referring to.

A bee was placed in my bonnet about that and I didn’t want to send a gen 3 or 4 slide for milling if it was going to bounce brass into my glass ... I did many searches to look for reports of that specific problem, but uncovered no reports of such a thing, not to say that it doesn’t happen possibly, but not enough to get people to noticeably complain about it.

I did find a YouTube review of an early Gen 5 with very weak ejection, mostly with Blazer Brass, that would eject straight back along the slide and hit the shooters arms, the trajectory very suspicious for potential glass hits if an rds was present. I wondered if this is why Glock modded the breech on Gen5 MOS’s.

Part of me wants to ignore the fear that Gen 3’s especially would suffer from that problem, because I was inclined to convert a Gen 3 for RDS. However, I think I’ll take the opportunity to sell/trade a Gen3 G19 and Gen3, or 4, 17 for their Gen5 counterparts, with the serrations and the breech mod, and have the Gen 5s milled, for extra functional insurance as it were.

Actually out of the Gen 3 & 4 G17, which would you fellers keep, I’m very curious to know? I’m inclined to keep the Gen 3 because I have a ton of spare parts for the 3’s, but I’m conflicted regarding which one to replace!

[DacoRoman]

I’ve never cut lightening cuts into any of the slides I’ve added RDS cuts to (4 total - 2 Sig, a CZ and a Glock) and have never had an issue. The brownells RDS slide I bought had the lightening cuts purely for cosmetic reasons.

10-4, good validation thanks. Did you notice recoil or split times differences post RDS’ing?

[DacoRoman]

That’s a very complicated question.
With my very heavy TSO slide, I can do 0.09-0.11 splits.

There’s a lot more than slide weight to fast splits.

The short answer is that if your springs and ammo all work together it doesn’t really matter.

I prefer heavier slide myself.

.09-.11 splits ! Yowza! That’s amazing. At my best I was happy when hitting .18s splits with a stock Glock 19 or 17. So it sounds like with my skill level I won’t likely even be able to tell .

Good info, thanks !

[JCN]

.09-.11 splits ! Yowza! That’s amazing. At my best I was happy when hitting .18s splits with a stock Glock 19 or 17. So it sounds like with my skill level I won’t likely even be able to tell .

Good info, thanks !

0.18 splits with a stock Glock trigger is about as good as I would be able to do too.

The 0.09-0.11 splits is with a very short reset 1.5# competition single action trigger. That’s like best case mechanical situation.

[DacoRoman]

0.18 splits with a stock Glock trigger is about as good as I would be able to do too.

The 0.09-0.11 splits is with a very short reset 1.5# competition single action trigger. That’s like best case mechanical situation.

I see! Thanks for the video, that's some darn fast shootin' anyway!

[Lon]

10-4, good validation thanks. Did you notice recoil or split times differences post RDS’ing?

I saw more accuracy w jail bait splits (<.16 seconds). I adjusted my recoil spring so the pistols track better. The only stock spring I run w an RDS pistol is on my work pistol.

[GJM]

If you want to effectively operate, you need a slide like this.

[DacoRoman]

I saw more accuracy w jail bait splits (<.16 seconds). I adjusted my recoil spring so the pistols track better. The only stock spring I run w an RDS pistol is on my work pistol.

Very interesting. Can you please expound on that a bit, which weight spring on which gun ? Thanks!

[DacoRoman]

If you want to effectively operate, you need a slide like this.

That’s got so many cuts, I can’t even see it.. it must be one of those ghost guns.. gives splits so fast you travel backwards in time! And you can use it as a camping stove to cook winnies! Meal Team Six is all over these apparently ...

[Sig_Fiend]

My vote is NO on excess slide cuts. Also, if you're just starting out, an easy route to figure out what you like and what's going to work for you would be a Glock gen5 MOS + FCD (Forward Controls Design) adapter plate for either an RMR or Acro. Quality parts, and you won't be locked into something you find you don't like.

For reference, here's a few item weights to put things in perspective:

• Trijicon RMR (any) - 1.2oz
• Holosun 407C / 507C - 1.5oz
• Holosun 508T - 2oz
• Holosun 509T - 1.72oz (Still a bit suspect. I bet they flipped the weight between this and the 508T on accident, but can't weigh mine at the moment.)
• Aimpoint Acro P1 - 2.1oz
• FCD OPF-G MOS RMR adapter plate (steel) - 0.83oz
• FCD / TangoDown MOS Acro adapter plate (steel) - Unknown, but probably 0.8-1.2oz I would think. I have one buried in my gear box and will weigh it if I can find it.

Moral of the story, we're talking about a difference of possibly 1-2oz in weight over say a stock gen5 Glock with MOS cover plate. A lot of the slide cuts I've seen on the market, just my personal opinion, but I feel like they do little except potentially affect the long term integrity of the slide. If you want front slide serrations because you don't already have them, that's at least a functional improvement.