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Gunsmithing A Slide For Installation of A Red Dot Sight

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  • Charlie

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    Just curious as to what's involved financially and the practicality regarding purchasing the sight and then modifying the slide to accept the sight. Would it be less expensive to buy a new slide already designed for the red dot sights? What's the consensus on these guns and sights mounted on the top of the slide?
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    DK Firearms
     

    toddnjoyce

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    Wilson charges $200 to mill the slide given you provide the slide. A new Glock MOS slide is about $400.

    Were I looking at doing this, I’d probably purchase a Canick TP9FSX elite or a P365 ready to accept a an RMR. Kimber has a 1911 option already milled, with or without the RMR starting around $1300.

    ETA: Charley, I’d recommend you shoot one before making a decision one way or the other. Keep in mind the glass on the RMR isn’t real well protected by most holsters. But they can sure get you on target fast.
     

    etmo

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    Well, you know the price of the optic you want. For the cost of milling, I only have 1 data point here, so hopefully others will chime in with more.

    I spoke to the gunsmith who does all the slide milling for the Henning group about milling my CZ Custom AccuShadow to accept an SRO, and he said it would cost 200 dollars. From what I've heard, that's not out of the ordinary, but again, not sure.

    Buying a slide (for the Shadow 2, they don't offer one for my model) pre-milled is ~760 bucks from CGW, IIRC.

    Not sure what you mean when you ask, "What's the consensus on these guns" -- what guns?

    As for slide-top red dots, they're pretty much the new norm. They're (eventually, not when you first start) faster and more accurate for almost all shooting scenarios, and this is borne out in competitions every day. They're much easier for people whose eyesight isn't what it once was, and they're easier to learn for beginners than iron sights. They're also very reliable, but you can and imo should have iron sights set up in your favorite co-witness flavor for when they do eventually die.

    My understanding of the RMR you have pictured is that it's pretty much the standard for reliability, but not considered quite that good from a usability standpoint. Go to a well-stocked gun store and look through a few of them to get an idea. If you do switch over, understand it will actually make you slower until you put in the dry fire time to become a natural at indexing to the dot.

    Milling to accept the RMR footprint is probably the best option, because there are a number of other optics which conform to that footprint, so you'll have some choice if you want to change optics down the road.
     

    Charlie

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    Not sure what you mean when you ask, "What's the consensus on these guns" -- "what guns?"
    Sorry, didn't make it clear. The consensus should have really been directed toward the "sights" I was talking about. Are they accurate enough to justify the costs?, are they able to withstand the recoil, etc.? Etc. I'm starting from zero regarding being familiar with them. I have several 1911s and am very familiar with them, just not with those type of sights. Why wouldn't you put it on an EDC gun
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    bbbass

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    I'm looking at having my G34 slide cut for one, since I can't see for spit anymore. I dorked up that slide with heat getting the rear sight off to try Big Dot sight, which was a FAIL tho I do like the express rear sight on those. So maybe a slide cut and some Cerakote to fix the blemish.

    And I do understand it takes some time put into training to get used to finding the dot, but since I have never shot one, I don't have the experience to determine if it would help me. Gotta go do that... it's all the rage at IDPA now.
     

    SURVIVOR619

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    Not clear what gun you'd be interested in, but if a glock, these often pop up on sale from Brownells. A bit above the $200 price cited by others; however, convenient through avoidance of mailing your slide out as the initial step in the process.

    Also, I was recently in Academy and they had a bunch of these mounted for anyone to try out.
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    Charlie

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    'Top of the hill, Kerr County!
    Not clear what gun you'd be interested in, but if a glock, these often pop up on sale from Brownells. A bit above the $200 price cited by others; however, convenient through avoidance of mailing your slide out as the initial step in the process.

    Also, I was recently in Academy and they had a bunch of these mounted for anyone to try out.
    04dd7e92c105bf422729d7d2744669ba.jpg
    Thanks but I do not own a Glock (had some in the past but not now). I'd be interested in putting on on one of my 1911s, (preferably my Defender).
     

    BuzzinSATX

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    I just dropped off a Glock 43X slide to be milled for a mini red dot (Swamp Fox Sentinel) at Empire in San Antonio.

    They told me it would be ready around mid November. I’ll post a review on both their machine work as well as the red dot when I get it back and shoot it a bit.




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    Axxe55

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    One option that might be the lesser expensive option is to buy a pistol already configured from the factory for that type of sight or optic. I think more and more are becoming available from the factory already configured with that option as it seems to becoming more and more popular among many pistol shooters in competition and informal shooting.

    Other that one pistol, (my Ruger MK III 22/45.) that I installed the factory scope rail on and mounted a cheap Pentax holographic sight on, is the only one I have any experience with. I do at some point plan on upgrading it to something a but better.

    That is the extent of what I can offer to the discussion.
     
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