M14 Forum

SOCOM42 · February 11th, 2012, 07:43 AM

It appears from the photo that the slide cracked during heat treat.

You can see the bluing penetration of the fracture and the gray coloring where it finally failed.

Had nothing to do with springs, ammo or dropping, just poor heat treating.

Single Six · February 13th, 2012, 10:09 PM

Subscribed to see what happens.

jmoore · February 13th, 2012, 11:44 PM

Y'all DID notice that it's an Offficer's Model, yes? Not nearly as much support on the front end as either a Gov't model or Commander. Spring life is shorter as well.
Persnickety, problematic and failure prone from day one. Oy!

BTW, frame cracking through the slide stop pivot hole is greatly accellerated by "dropping the slide" with no rounds in the mag. If it's empty- ease the slide forward. May not fracture today, but Gov't Models seem to keep being utilized for decades!

Single Six · February 13th, 2012, 11:55 PM

The Defender is supposed to be much improved and I agree, based on my experience with and study of mine.

Mindfield · February 14th, 2012, 05:43 AM

I dont like cut down 1911s, they are problematic to say the least. Hope all ends well

willriskit · February 14th, 2012, 06:21 AM

The shortening of the lower forward end of the slide as part of the re-design would certainly weaken this critical area due to loss of mass. As Wolf wrote, the rearward motion of the slide was extremely dangerous to the shooter once its forward end failed. The only comparable damage I can recall seeing is fissuring radiating out from the forward end of the ejection port on an early GI 1911, probably due to use of a tired or wadcutter recoil spring.