Upgrading your pistol with Glock aftermarket slides can give you the features and utility you need for a better shooting experience. Glock pistols are some of the most popular handguns in the world, but their distinctive boxy and minimalist design leaves plenty of room for improvement. Thanks to the modular design, you can improve your gun’s aesthetics, upgrade your sight picture, and make room for the top handgun accessories. The best Glock slides do more than just replace your OEM version. They take your gun to the next level.
Beginner-Friendly Gun Customizations
Glock aftermarket slides are a popular starting place for those new to gun modification and experienced home gunsmiths alike. You can often buy the best Glock slide for your needs pre-assembled and ready for “drop-in” installation. Some slides, however, may come as stripped slides with the internal parts included (but not installed) or available as an additional purchase, allowing you to get more familiar with your gun’s inner workings.
The Impact of Aftermarket Glock Slides
If you think the slide on your gun doesn’t matter, think again. The slide does more than just move back and forth as you fire, chambering a round. It balances the speed and amount of recoil mitigation in conjunction with your weapon’s recoil spring. The slide provides a secure mount for your sights and may provide additional connection points for aftermarket optics or accessories. It gives you the control surfaces you need for racking the slide and handling the weapon. Finally, your slide provides most of your gun’s visible aesthetics since your hands cover most of the frame.
What Are You Looking for With an Aftermarket Glock Slide?
There are a lot of Glock-compatible aftermarket slides on the market, each offering different features and benefits. If you plan on buying a certain slide just because your buddy did, you’re likely throwing away money. If it’s more slide than you’ll use or less slide than you need, then it isn’t the best Glock slide for you. You may even be throwing away hard-earned money on a slide you’ll replace for a better fit sooner rather than later.
Key Features of Aftermarket Slides
When choosing your slide, you need to think about what your shooting experience needs. What does shooting better or carrying better mean to you? The slide you get should have features that support those purposes. If they cover a few more bases, that’s fine as long as you aren’t paying extra when there’s a choice that ticks all your boxes for a more cost-effective price that saves you ammunition money.
Let’s review a few key features of popular Glock aftermarket slides and what they can do for your gun.
Deeper Serrations
While you may think of a knife blade when serrations are mentioned, they’re just as important on the best Glock slides. Like knife serrations help the blade find a grip, slide serrations make it easier for you to grip and manipulate your weapon’s slide. The OEM serrations are relatively shallow, and when your hands are wet or covered in thick gloves, racking the slide may be a challenge. Deeper slide serrations allow more surface area for a better grip under almost any conditions.
Cut-Outs
Glock aftermarket slides can use cut-outs to change the lines and aesthetics of your pistol, show off a custom barrel, or lower the weight for easier carry. Cut-outs also provide more airflow for better heat dispersal, which can help extend the life of your barrel. When choosing an aftermarket Glock slide with cut-outs, be sure you’re not also adding a beefier recoil spring, as the lighter slide may not have the weight needed for correct cycling.
Optics-Ready
Glock aftermarket slides that are pre-milled with an optic footprint are increasingly popular because they let you securely mount a red dot sight directly to your slide. This replaces the traditional iron sights with a modern optic that gives you faster target acquisition, better accuracy, and increased proficiency for tighter groups. Be sure your slide and optic are compatible. Otherwise, you’ll need a compatible adapter plate to bridge the gap between the two.
Bull Nose
OEM Glock slides have a precisely squared and spartan aesthetic that suits their Austrian heritage, but that doesn’t always translate to the best look or utility. The squared-off nose of OEM slides can easily hang on the edge of a holster. This makes even the most basic functional movements–the draw and the one-handed holstering–potentially dangerous. Many Glock aftermarket slides have a bull-nose design, with rounded corners and edges that help you clear the holster and return it cleanly.
Porting
Ported aftermarket Glock slides have special cutouts along the top near the muzzle that match up with holes milled into the barrel underneath. When a bullet is fired, some of the gasses pushing it are vented through these ports to provide a force that counteracts muzzle-flip. This lets you get back on target faster for more accurate follow-up shots. Because a ported barrel is required, the two are often sold as a package deal.
Materials and Finish
Make sure the Glock aftermarket slides you’re considering are built to last. Choose slides made from heat-treated stainless steel or comparable material. Stainless steel is strong enough to withstand the pressures of controlling the small explosion that propels the bullet, and it’s heavy enough to allow for effective cycling when balanced with a compatible recoil spring. A nitride finish can help protect the metal from corrosion, the elements, and rugged handling while also offering the perfect base layer for custom finishes, like Cerakote, if desired.
Choosing Your Best Glock Slide
What do you want from your gun? Lighter weight for concealed carry and improved accuracy may point to lightning cut-outs and optics-ready milling. If you want a Glock aftermarket slide that helps you get back on target for follow-up shots, then porting supported by a beefier recoil rod assembly in your slide could be a good choice. Think about what performance your gun is missing, and target your customization to correct the problem.
Balancing Aftermarket Glock Slide Cost and Performance
Our Glock aftermarket slides are engineered for precise fitment and built from materials you can count on with the features you’re looking for. We’re proud to offer these practical slide upgrades for a fair price that saves you more money for ammunition. Order the best Glock slide for your custom pistol from Patmos Arms today.