Cracked Slide 41 Not Mine!

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:19 pm

On RFC there is a post with pictures of a cracked slide on a weekend gun show purchase. He has posted good pictures, and it appears to be a late model slide from the etched S&W. Not good, and terrible to see. Regards

Post by **Bullseye** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:25 pm

Saw it. Too bad, that slide was abused and needs replaced. There's not a whole lot to replacing the slide on a M-41. The bolt assy. is already head-spaced and is just swapped out from one slide to another. Gil Hebards is another place to get a good price on M-41 parts. Gil doesn't have a website, so one would have to call for price availability.

R,
Bullseye

Contact info:
Gill Hebard Guns,
125 Public Square,
Knoxville, IL. 61448

Ph. # 309-289-2700

[Edited to add contact info for Gil Hebard's]

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:19 am

So, Bullseye you have seen many high mileage 41s in the competition world. How many cracked slides have you seen? Was I correct that this was a newer model slide? None of mine have the etched logo. I feel that the 41 is one of the strongest designs going in a world of alloy/plastic/zinc materials being commonplace. Now, I would never shoot Stingers,etc in mine, I do shoot Federal Automatch from time to time which may be more than my usual CCI SV fodder.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:54 am

I've seen plenty of high mileage M-41s but very few cracked slides. There's been plenty of these with peened faces but not many cracks. That one appeared to be a newer style slide from the pictures of the laser etched logo. An older slide would have the roll marked S&W Logo. The front of the cracked slide shows some severe battering on the recoil guide face from the trigger guard stop block. Most of the weight of a M-41 slide is in the rear section, so the weak point is where the breech face meets the rails. The buyer got taken advantage of by the seller.

R,
Bullseye

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:53 am

I did install the buffer. Not as a license to shoot HV which I do not,but as a simple piece of mind thing that does no harm.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:18 pm

A buffer would have greatly reduced the chances that the broken slide would have cracked by insulating the slide from the shock of striking the trigger guard stop block.

R,
Bullseye

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:47 pm

I used to own a SIG Trailside that while I never had any problems with mine some of them suffered from cracks in the cast trigger guard itself. Take down was the same as the 41 in that you rotated the guard down. Some of them cracked right at the stop. I still have an extra trigger guard that I never had to use.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:54 pm

The Trailside was a good idea built into a cheap platform. Poorly cast parts and plastic trigger parts that wore out quickly were just some of the problems encountered with that pistol. They shot real nice but didn't have the durability of a finer made target pistol.

R,
Bullseye