need a bit of assistance with choosing a milled slide/barrel for a Gen3 G17

[rathos]

I have had brownells RMR and Acro slides, no issues with either of them. I have an SI slide for a Gen 4, I had to fit the rear sight but no reliability issues. But by far my favorite slide is a grey ghost precision. I waited until they had a sale, but it accepts direct fit Delta Point Pro or RMR which I liked as I had a delta point laying around, but is also gives me more options. Going forward, any slide I purchase will either be a brownells or the grey ghost. If Grey Ghost had an acro slide I would have just stuck with those, they seem to be the most well made out of any I have used.

[DacoRoman]

A couple other options worth considering.

Norsso. Their slides are 17-4 stainless, so a bit nicer and theoretically more durable than typical 416R of most aftermarket slides. If it was me, I'd avoid all the cool guy unnecessary slide cut BS and stick to the Gripper or Spec Ops models since those are fairly conventional and Gen5-like with simply having front cocking serrations.

Remsport. Best bang for the buck by far ($140). It's 416R stainless, melonited, so pretty typical. They are very nicely machined and finished (much more so than the Brownells slides), like impressively so for the price. In fairness, I've heard a few people say they had some issues with them. I haven't had any issues across multiple slides. I do wonder if any issues people have had is due to the off-brand internals they might be using?

I stick to OEM slide internals except for a few components where there are quality aftermarket options (e.g. Overwatch Precision NP3'd OEM striker and firing pin safety, Apex extractor only if addressing extraction issues, White Sound H.R.E.D. for addressing weak extraction, etc). Regardless, I always stick to OEM for the striker channel sleeve, striker housing, striker spring, striker spring cups, end plate, firing pin safety spring, RSA. With those cheap and small parts, I have seen wide variations in specs and reliability issues from the sheer number of aftermarket options. So, I see no reason to deviate from OEM for those small components. Also, when in doubt, try an OEM barrel if assessing any issues before entirely writing off a slide that might have problems.

Both of the above have separate optic recoil bosses (preferred IMO) as opposed to the weaker design of raised screw hole bosses of many others on the market. As an aside, I wouldn't give SI a penny, but that's just me. Reasons why have been discussed ad nauseam elsewhere and don't need to pollute this thread but, suffice to say there are reasons.

The Norsso slides look great, especially the straight ahead ones as you describe. I am also a fan of simple design with just forward serrations. I see they don't have a Gen 3 slide in stock at the moment.

Thanks for the suggestions on the internals. I have a few full Gen3 OEM kits I bought years ago, so I'm gtg there.

Also thanks for confirming my lack of confidence in raised screw hole bosses.

I understand that some people are very upset with SI and that they are very polarizing. I have never delved into the controversy so I prefer to remain neutral and agnostic regarding SI. As such I'm not opposed to getting a slide from them. A local high level USPSA shooter buddy recommended them, as they are local here to North AZ., which is another reason I'm tempted to go with them. BTW the Suarez Intl. slides are also 17-4 stainless incidentally. But I respect your not wanting to deal with them, fair enough.

Would you get an aftermarket "match" barrel to put into the new slide, or would you put an OEM Gen 3 barrel in there (which I have).

[DacoRoman]

How about a Centurion Arms Gen 3 Glock 17 slide? Does anyone have experience with these?

Mind blown, I had no idea that they made Glock slides. I have a couple of their rails and I love em.

I see that their slides are 416 stainless, and supposedly 17-4 stainless is better?

[DacoRoman]

Im running mostly gen3 Glock OEM barrels. I have run a Lone Wolf match barrel also in my G19 for practice shooting and a few high round classes without any issues.

good to know...I may take the Wilson Combat barrel out of my G17 slide, replace the OEM barrel in there, and try the WC in whatever new slide I get. I'm just concerned that the original G17 slide will be looser due to it wearing in to the WC barrel when I put the OEM barrel back in... but that may be ignorant paranoia on my part. Thoughts?

[DacoRoman]

I've had bad luck with SI and Brownells. I bought the SI slide for a G19 over a decade ago. The Brownells slide is from last year--also a 19.3 slide. I'm considering a PSA Dagger slide now. Centurion is also interesting.

What sort of bad luck have you had with SI and Brownells?

I'll check out PSA Dagger.

[DacoRoman]

I have had brownells RMR and Acro slides, no issues with either of them. I have an SI slide for a Gen 4, I had to fit the rear sight but no reliability issues. But by far my favorite slide is a grey ghost precision. I waited until they had a sale, but it accepts direct fit Delta Point Pro or RMR which I liked as I had a delta point laying around, but is also gives me more options. Going forward, any slide I purchase will either be a brownells or the grey ghost. If Grey Ghost had an acro slide I would have just stuck with those, they seem to be the most well made out of any I have used.

Thanks for reminding me about Grey Ghost, I'll have to look at their stuff again!

[pangloss]

What sort of bad luck have you had with SI and Brownells?

I'll check out PSA Dagger.

Sub-optimal ejection with both slides. Now that I think about it, I also had that problem with a LoneWolf G34 slide. The LoneWolf slide and the SI slide both had the extractor sitting too far out from the breech face. If you looked down from the top of the slide, it was obvious that the distance between the contact surface of the extractor and the breech face was significantly greater with these two slides. I don't know what the problem is with the Brownell's slide, but it doesn't eject well either. I've tried an Apex extractor and the White Sound Defense HRED, but no combination of parts that I've tried has resulted in good enough ejection. I've detailed those problems in a thread here somewhere. I ran out of attention span before I solved the problem. On the other hand, I don't recall any actually failures of pistols to completely cycle with any of these slides, so maybe I'm just and ejection snob. However, brass dribbling out of the gun, popping out on the top of the slide, left side ejection, and brass to the face are just not acceptable to me. I need to sell that Brownell's slide and roll the money into something else. Honestly, I wish I'd never bought that cheap, stripped G19.3 frame.

[Sig_Fiend]

The Norsso slides look great, especially the straight ahead ones as you describe. I am also a fan of simple design with just forward serrations. I see they don't have a Gen 3 slide in stock at the moment.

Thanks for the suggestions on the internals. I have a few full Gen3 OEM kits I bought years ago, so I'm gtg there.

Also thanks for confirming my lack of confidence in raised screw hole bosses.

I understand that some people are very upset with SI and that they are very polarizing. I have never delved into the controversy so I prefer to remain neutral and agnostic regarding SI. As such I'm not opposed to getting a slide from them. A local high level USPSA shooter buddy recommended them, as they are local here to North AZ., which is another reason I'm tempted to go with them. BTW the Suarez Intl. slides are also 17-4 stainless incidentally. But I respect your not wanting to deal with them, fair enough.

Would you get an aftermarket "match" barrel to put into the new slide, or would you put an OEM Gen 3 barrel in there (which I have).

Vetting an aftermarket slide can be a pain sometimes. This is just my opinion and take my words with a grain as I overthink everything. That said, for a new aftermarket slide I'd consider using 100% OEM internals to start with, including the barrel.
If that runs just fine for awhile, like at least a few hundred rounds without a single malfunction using known good ammo (e.g. Speer Lawman, Blazer Brass, etc just not cheapo steel case stuff), then try swapping in whatever "upgrade" parts you're wanting to use. For example, an aftermarket barrel.

For aftermarket Glock barrels, personally I tend to prefer KKM since they've been consistent for a long time, but WC is okay too. Just be aware of the difference between a drop-in barrel and one that requires fitting.

I would avoid Lone Wolf. In my experience, their slides, frames, and barrels have consistently had problems or at least been very inconsistent (like percentage of the time you receive a problematic part) for at least the last ~14-15yrs that I've had some of their parts.

[DacoRoman]

Sub-optimal ejection with both slides. Now that I think about it, I also had that problem with a LoneWolf G34 slide. The LoneWolf slide and the SI slide both had the extractor sitting too far out from the breech face. If you looked down from the top of the slide, it was obvious that the distance between the contact surface of the extractor and the breech face was significantly greater with these two slides. I don't know what the problem is with the Brownell's slide, but it doesn't eject well either. I've tried an Apex extractor and the White Sound Defense HRED, but no combination of parts that I've tried has resulted in good enough ejection. I've detailed those problems in a thread here somewhere. I ran out of attention span before I solved the problem. On the other hand, I don't recall any actually failures of pistols to completely cycle with any of these slides, so maybe I'm just and ejection snob. However, brass dribbling out of the gun, popping out on the top of the slide, left side ejection, and brass to the face are just not acceptable to me. I need to sell that Brownell's slide and roll the money into something else. Honestly, I wish I'd never bought that cheap, stripped G19.3 frame.

Thank you for the detailed explanation, I really appreciate it. And I hear you...the whole BTF/sucky ejection thing really sucks...I would also not like brass to the optic either. Yeah that cheap G19.3 frame proved to be an expensive temptress...but a man's gotta try sometimes!

Well your post really gets me thinking that maybe I should just have my G17 slide milled for an optic and call it a day!

[DacoRoman]

Vetting an aftermarket slide can be a pain sometimes. This is just my opinion and take my words with a grain as I overthink everything. That said, for a new aftermarket slide I'd consider using 100% OEM internals to start with, including the barrel.
If that runs just fine for awhile, like at least a few hundred rounds without a single malfunction using known good ammo (e.g. Speer Lawman, Blazer Brass, etc just not cheapo steel case stuff), then try swapping in whatever "upgrade" parts you're wanting to use. For example, an aftermarket barrel.

For aftermarket Glock barrels, personally I tend to prefer KKM since they've been consistent for a long time, but WC is okay too. Just be aware of the difference between a drop-in barrel and one that requires fitting.

I would avoid Lone Wolf. In my experience, their slides, frames, and barrels have consistently had problems or at least been very inconsistent (like percentage of the time you receive a problematic part) for at least the last ~14-15yrs that I've had some of their parts.

I really appreciate your comments for sure.

I like your reasoning regarding just going all OEM to begin with, and then adding wild cards one at a time .

For barrels, KKM seems like the most universally vetted. I'd get a drop in I think.

I've avoided Lone Wolf stuff like the plague so no worries there.

But....like I commented above, I'm starting to think that I should just mill my G17 and call it a day. Cheaper, simpler, and more reliable most probably.