Sidearms & Scatterguns Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

[TitaniumBlue]

Put pretty simply, I'm doing some info gathering on manufacturing aftermarket slides for the XD/XDM lines. My questions for you guys are:

Would you buy one?

If so, what options would you be looking for?

How much would you pay for one?(slide only)

These would be available in stainless steel at first.

Give me any input you can.

 

[TitaniumBlue]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

Again, looking for any input what so ever. Anything is helpful, whether it be criticisms or suggestions.

 

[G-31]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

Just thinking about giving another option or a specific demographic(I.E. race gun or conversion caliber)? Something different would be nice though, are you going to be adding anything or just offering another style? I guess for a bare slide I'd look for around $250, I could see you pairing with an aftermarket barrel as well though. Maybe give some different template design options would be a cool idea too.

 

[TitaniumBlue]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

Some options that we were thinking of would be the following:

Various lengths(potentially partnering with barrel manufacturer for longer options)
Serration choices
Factory sights and Optics ready slides
Generally engraving
Porting options

 

[G-31]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

Sounds like everything I'd look for. It would be nice if people could build their own, let us custom build those options on a slide, for a few more bucks of course. Good luck.

 

[TitaniumBlue]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

Yes, in the end we are hoping it would be similar to how things are set up. You choose the length and caliber and we provide a list of available options for a nominal fee. Otherwise we will provide "off the shelf" versions.

 

[Thunderin300]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

6" long slide with hybrid style porting as far down the slide as possible would be awesome!!

 

[GunKnowledge]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

I don't think there's much of a market at all.

XDs already come in 5" slides and XDMs in 5 and quarter.

The only market potential you have is ridiculously long 6" slides (no good for most comp shooters or holsters). These would require custom barrels and recoil spring assemblies, in a package deal. Bare slides would be worthless and useless with factory length parts.


I would be amazed to see people pay more than $175 for a standard length slide compatible with stock barrels and RSAs, just to get a "kuztom" look. And you'd need to be pretty radical looking, which means catering to a small segment of buyers.

 

[GunKnowledge]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: WILongRange</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Some options that we were thinking of would be the following:

Various lengths(potentially partnering with barrel manufacturer for longer options)
<span style="color: #FF0000">Longer slides with barrels AND recoil spring assemblies packaged would be a few people</span>
Serration choices
<span style="color: #FF0000">Not too many buyers there, why not offer to serrate factory slides for a much lower fee? People do that successfully now with 1911s, Glocks, M&Ps, etc. People won't pay for a whole new slide just to get better serrations, especially when the XD line already has front and back ones factory.</span>
Factory sights and Optics ready slides
<span style="color: #FF0000">Optics ready might be cute, sell the slide with Fastfires and RMRs already melted in in place of the rear sight.</span>
Generally engraving
<span style="color: #FF0000">Again, can be done to factory slides for much less than a whole new one.</span>
Porting options
<span style="color: #FF0000">Vertical porting is worthless without matching barrel porting. Slide compensaters (a completely different concept), are highly inferior compared to barrel mounted compensators.</span>
</div></div>

 

[TitaniumBlue]

Re: Interested in aftermarket XD/XDM slides?

I can see where you are coming from but all of those things are succesfully done with aftermarket glock slides.

You could also feasibly, safely convert from a 40 S&W to a 9mm, and vice versa. As it sits now the diameter of the cases at the base are fairly different and can cause feeding issues.

There would also be the option of other calibers, assuming barrels can be manufactured and included in a package deal.

Also, these slides would be held to different tolerances.

Also, on a 5.25" slide, you can't mount a comp on the barrel and have it look good as the way the slide is slanted. The porting options wouldn't necessarily have to be functional, as most that I have seen are not, these have also been succesfully integrated into the glock slides.

I appreciate your input!