I’ve got a couple gouges I’m looking into getting fixed. I really like my stainless finish but will cerakote it if I have to if there’s no way to fix it and reblast it and have it looking as good as new.
Anyone know of a good place to fix this? If possible, someone in the DFW Texas area, but I’ll send it out if needed. I’m also open to milling top slide serrations too.
Any clue on how they happened or on how deep they are? If you can catch them with a finger nail they will not just blast out. Depending on how deep they are they could be buffed out with emry paper and re blasted or coated. If the gouge is to deep they cant be buffed out because it will change the contour of the slide. They could be filled by welding or J B weld, buffed, and then coated too. Nice TRP. Hope this helps.
When the previous owner replaced the sight, he hit the slide with a punch on accident. They are deep enough that sanding won’t fix it, I’m sure of that.
Why he would use a punch from that angle is beyond me. As I see it you have 3 options.
I hope that helped. All in all its still a nice gun and I’m sure you want to make it right.
You know its like a scar, it gives a gun like that more personality.
Is it impedeing function of the weapon? Is it messing with your sight picture? Is it just bugging you?
Blast and coat if you want, but if its not bothering you sight picture my .02 is shoot it till the slide falls off. Then do some cosmetic work to it. More dings and ditches are probably in the near future the more you run it.
personally, I would leave it. if you HAVE to get it fixed, add Bruce Gray to the short list of true metalsmiths
Yeah, it doesn’t bother me THAT much, and i would feel a little better about it adding character to it if I had done it myself, but I didn’t. And no it doesn’t hinder anything, and if it becomes to costly to fix it then I’ll leave it, but I just wanted to know what my options are. I mean obviously it’s not affecting function, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting your 1500 dollar pistol to look good either. I’m sure if I were to cerakote it, the gouge would fill in a little but not much. I’m that stuff isn’t thick enough. My other idea was milling slide serrations, since you have to flatten the top of the slide, i might be able to just take it out that way. But if not, then well there it stays.
How do you feel about flat-topped slides? 
You could just have that shit ground off, and have a bit of a unique TRP while you’re at it.
Personally, though, my feeling is that any pistol that gets shot is going to get worn and beat up.
I’m with crazymoose. I’ve never seen a better justification to get a pistol with a flattened, serrated top of the slide, though if you’re willing to just live with it, that’s obviously the more affordable option.
Well, if it will make you feel a little better, grab a punch and give it a couple of whacks to even things out. Then yell at it for a couple of minutes before taking it to the range and showing it who’s boss!
I say live with it. Make that your SHTF gun, carry everywhere, more scuffs will be added to it and it will look better with wear character.
remove the rear sight. It the slide is coated you will need to sand the area to be repaired. Then you can fill the cracks with silver soder. Then file and sand to shape. Then you will need to prep the slide and re coat or paint it.
Jon