Cracked Marvel Slide

First topic message reminder :

Doing my final pre-match inspection before a 2700 tomorrow and saw this. No idea how long it had been there, the whole setup is second hand. I DID notice the dinged slide stop notch when I bought it.

Basic question is: how many rounds can I get through it before I need to shelve it (aka will it make it through the rest of the season)?

Second question is: who can I send it to for a quick turn around repair/replacement? 

Cheers

Jon Eulette wrote:No fitting required. Drop in parts; breech block (1 screw) and extractor (1 roll pin).
Jon

Well, I think I'm beginning to understand what you've said about business model, I talked to Ben and Travis and in my most convincing voice said that I hoped I could just give them money and have them send me a slide.  As it was explained, they want to see the trends of round counts for this type of failure and look at possible modifications for future versions, to which I responded that being at least the second owner, I don't know what the round count is for this slide so the forensic analysis might be of limited value, and that I'd like to keep the slide to send to the welding and machining folks to play with. 

Travis told me that to the best of his knowledge, Marvel has never sent out a bare slide.  He also mentioned an "agreement" which I presume is between him and the previous company leadership.

He did offer next day turnaround which I appreciated, but I really thought that I could, you know, buy a part from a parts company.

Are there other sources for these parts?  Obviously I would have liked the conversation to go a different way, but if there is only one place for slides and other parts (I intended to order a new recoil spring and at least one backup firing pin) then I'm really becoming limited on options.

I bought and replaced 2 slides from old Marvel management. No questions asked. Bare slides were about $125ish I believe. Immediate shipment. I know many other shooters who have bought bare slides. A friend currently is not able to buy an extra slide for his extra barrel.
That's just poor customer service. Sell the darn slides alone!
Jon

have to ask based on the slide Serial number,  is that a small extractor slide?? I would think so being a D #..

Andrew,

Your experience parallels mine. Exchange price, plus reusing parts which were reusable. As stated previously, I think it was about $150 +/-

jglenn21 wrote:have to ask based on the slide Serial number,  is that a small extractor slide?? I would think so being a D #..

Unfortunately I don't know the answer to this question.  How do I check?

Picture will do or measure it's thickness

jglenn21 wrote:Picture will do or measure it's thickness

Yep, it's the thinner extractor, backup Marvel conversion has steel slide and thicker extractor. 

Have to keep an eye on the barrel extractor groove on those as they had a habit of wearing the cutout through to the bore..

If the cracked slide had the narrow extractor, will you need a new barrel? I don't recall if the cut in the barrel is a different width for the narrow vs the newer, wider extractor. I think the radius or extractor groove is cut different, just don't know if it is wider too.

jglenn21 wrote:Have to keep an eye on the barrel extractor groove on those as they had a habit of wearing the cutout through to the bore..

How can you tell?

I can see differences between the two barrels. Wasn't concerned until you mentioned it.

Really  not much you can do.  If it wears thru the slot it's time for a new setup. The newer extractor also have a different nose on them.. less rounded and the cut is a bit different.. if you notice the little second cut near the chamber on the thin extractor slot that is the area that will start to be worn first..

Your barrel looks fine so far...

When I sent mine for the steel slide, they recut the bbl for the wider extractor of the new slide..

10sandxs wrote:When I sent mine for the steel slide, they recut the bbl for the wider extractor of the new slide..

Do you know how much they had to womp off? Even the other barrel seems to clear perfectly.  I don't know if it was part of the original slide/barrel combo from Marvel in the early 2000s.

jglenn21 wrote:...if you notice the little second cut near the chamber on the thin extractor slot that is the area that will start to be worn first..

I've been looking and can't locate what you're talking about, can you circle it if it's not too much trouble?

Cheers

adminbot1911 wrote:

jglenn21 wrote:...if you notice the little second cut near the chamber on the thin extractor slot that is the area that will start to be worn first..

I've been looking and can't locate what you're talking about, can you circle it if it's not too much trouble?

Cheers

Maybe this will help. Imagine the extractor as a saw blade. Where the extractor meets the barrel, the narrow "extractor" would actually cut into the grove into the barrel's chamber right at 3 o'clock. If you dropped a piece of brass into the barrel, you could actually see some of the wall of the brass forward of the rim.

The pics shown, do not show this condition badly. The upper photo is beginning. It would be very obvious. Almost like a missing tooth.

Allgoodhits wrote:
The pics shown, do not show this condition badly. The upper photo is beginning. It would be very obvious. Almost like a missing tooth.

The upper portion looks clean like it's been cut. And that's the barrel mated to the slide with the larger extractor, not the smaller one.

But what I really want to know is why you're not registered to shoot the revolver championship tomorrow!!

adminbot1911 wrote:

Allgoodhits wrote:
The pics shown, do not show this condition badly. The upper photo is beginning. It would be very obvious. Almost like a missing tooth.

The upper portion looks clean like it's been cut. And that's the barrel mated to the slide with the larger extractor, not the smaller one.

But what I really want to know is why you're not registered to shoot the revolver championship tomorrow!!

Haven't been back to AAFG since the first match of this year. Maybe next year, I will shoot AAFG again. I know, I should be shooting the revo matches. Those wheel guns come easier to me than shooting these bottom feeders! Hold 'em hard tomorrow.

Martin

adminbot1911 wrote:

10sandxs wrote:When I sent mine for the steel slide, they recut the bbl for the wider extractor of the new slide..

Do you know how much they had to womp off? Even the other barrel seems to clear perfectly.  I don't know if it was part of the original slide/barrel combo from Marvel in the early 2000s.

It was original, started as a small extractor, when they fit the new slide, they recut the extractor groove for the wider extractor that was in the new slide. The scope rail wasn't cut for extractor clearance initially... at least I don't think it was... long time, bad memory...

FCW (Frerking)  has never welded up an aluminum conversion slide nor would we.  You can weld 7075 with the right filler rod but it produces micro cracks when done.  This will just move the area at which it will crack again.  We replace the slide.  We do charge a small labor charge which covers us cleaning and inspecting all pieces for the conversion and test firing.  We do offer Cerakote services if a customer would like their Marvel or other things done. 

FCW was extremely reasonable when they fixed my latest oops.
First the firing pin failed (no I have not been gentle with my dry firing regime).
Then I broke the retaining screw for the breach block.
Mailed to them, fixed, & returned in less than a week at a cost that wouldn't cover my time to set up the mill.