5.1 barrel/slide in a 4.3?

[shadow_matter]

Has anyone tried to drop a 5.1" Hicapa outer barrel/slide into a 4.3" Hicapa?

The biggest issue I could see arising is if the recoil spring housing on the 5.1 slide isn't long enough to fit into the 4.3 lower when the slide is seated in the forward position.

I needed the 4.3 originally, but now I would like to stretch it out a bit.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated.

[Endymion]

If you're thinking about taking the entire 5.1 slide et al and dropping it onto a 4.3 lower, it's a straight replacement. No mods or fiddling should be required. This is the case with the TM models - YMMV with other makes.

[Shirley]

It's going to look ugly because of the 4.3's longer dust cover [mid-frame]

[Endymion]

If you take a file to the 4.3's mid frame and file back to the scallop on the 5.1 slide, you could get a Kimber look out of it.

[Shirley]

Originally Posted by Endymion

If you take a file to the 4.3's mid frame and file back to the scallop on the 5.1 slide, you could get a Kimber look out of it.

Cool, didn't know of that.

[shadow_matter]

Thanks guys, I wasn't sure if the recoil housing would reach the front of the shorter frame.

[ILLusion]

If you're looking for something that matches better without modifications, I'm going to be producing custom 5.1 slides with scalloping to match the 4.3 dust cover and vice versa.