Product Review Combat Armory slide and barrel

bkbrno

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I needed a spare, plainish slide and barrel. I was never happy with my other spare upper I had. It would not work correctly on all of my frames. Fine on some, too tight on others.

Combat Armory (CA) had a $15 barrel sale so I bought that and tossed in their stripped RMR cut slide on a whim. They say is is 17-4 stainless which is a notch better than 416 stainless. It says nitride finished. I swapped the internals from the old spare slide. All the parts dropped in with no issues. The CA slide fits a P80, GST-9, and Dagger with no issues. The old budget slide had machining burrs the length of the rails and burrs in the holes that prevented a quick and smooth build. The CA showed no burrs or edges that needed to be dressed. I tossed it around my bench enough to test that the finish is indeed tough like nitride should be. The old slide is showing chips and scratches in the Cerakote from the same abuse.

The barrel. Well, it's a $15 barrel. Functional but not pretty. The grooves are exceptionally smooth. The lands are rough as a corn cob. We will see it these smooth out with shooting. The barrel to slide fit is a little on the loose side. I would say the slide is a little on the loose side also. Other barrels fit loose also but not as loose as the $15 barrel. The feed ramp needed a little polish also. Does this make it a good combo for working in all conditions? Will it be accurate enough? We will see.

The slide has some style cuts that make it more interesting than an OEM Glock slide. No windows or ports cut in it. The edges look like a larger radius cut than Glock. I used some cheesy plastic Amazon grade sights on it, I have some PSA Dagger sights on order. Those are metal and look a lot better. Overall, it has a quality feel to it. The lack of machining burrs tells me that some effort was expended there.

All up, their $89 stripped slide is as good as any premium slide I have looked at. Definitely much better than the budget slide it is replacing. The CA slide is on sale now for $64 but the RMR cut is sold out. Flash! Combat Armory Slide Fits Glock 19 Gen3 Rounded Edges Black Nitride

I'll update with a range report.
 
All up, their $89 stripped slide is as good as any premium slide I have looked at. Definitely much better than the budget slide it is replacing. The CA slide is on sale now for $64 but the RMR cut is sold out.
I was eyeing that sale RMR slide @$70. I was too slow and missed it. Their sales often repeat though.
 
I was eyeing that sale RMR slide @$70. I was too slow and missed it. Their sales often repeat though.
Do they send sale notices by email?
I was not on their list and I just signed up.
 
The barrel. Well, it's a $15 barrel. Functional but not pretty. The grooves are exceptionally smooth. The lands are rough as a corn cob.
I bought a couple of the CA $15 barrels too. The exterior machining was rough, but the lands in the rifling were the worst I've ever seen. They were all chopped up/ the machining so deep it almost looks like threading for bolts to go in. I'll try to get some pictures of the rifling tomorrow.
 
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This is the best picture I could get of the Combat Armory rifling. The machine groves on the lands are deeper than the picture shows. It's pretty badly chopped up.
 
Mine is about the same. Seems like that skipped the last bore finishing step once it went into the blem pile. For $15 not complaining, just be aware that when you buy a $15 barrel, you get a $15 barrel.

The crown is descent with no burrs. The burrs are what throw the bullet off more than anything.
 
just be aware that when you buy a $15 barrel, you get a $15 barrel.
So, then... what is the point of buying it? Will you actually use it? If so, what are the risks or potential problems with using such a barrel?
 
So, then... what is the point of buying it? Will you actually use it? If so, what are the risks or potential problems with using such a barrel?
I think the biggest issue will be the heavy copper fouling that the sharp machine grooves on the lands is going to cause.
 
I think the biggest issue will be the heavy copper fouling that the sharp machine grooves on the lands is going to cause.
That occurred to me, as well.
 
I had an Olympic .223 barrel that was arguably worse than these. I did the first two steps of the 5 step Tubbs fire lapping. It cleaned it up nicely but took over an hour at the range to get that far and I ran out of time. On the way home from the range I stopped at my favorite Fun shop and they had a take-off barrel that was very nice. Swappy swap and I never worried about it again or finished the process. The two steps did knock down the roughness to the point that copper remover bore cleaner was coming out almost clean and patches passed through normally. Before, it would absolutely shred patches. It works, just labor intensive.

If it fouls out badly, I will reload a few rounds with grit embedded bullets and smooth it out. It may smooth out after a few rounds of normal ammo. Why bother? Got nothing better to do and I have all the stuff to do it.
 
Shoot it and don't clean the barrel until you start to lose accuracy. Just clean the ramp and chamber with a q-tip.
 
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My thought is the rough external machining will cause increased wear in the slide hole... :unsure: Plus what you'all said about the internal scuzziness.
 
Got the blemish 26 barrel today. Thoughts?
 

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Got the blemish 26 barrel today. Thoughts?
Par. Maybe a few burrs on the crown than my 19 barrel.

Still haven't had a chance to go to the range.
 
Got the blemish 26 barrel today. Thoughts?
Looks about the same as mine.
I think bkbrno got it right when he posted that once the manufacture decided the barrels weren't going to pass, that they probably just threw them in reject bin and never finished the rifling.
 
Looks about the same as mine.
I think bkbrno got it right when he posted that once the manufacture decided the barrels weren't going to pass, that they probably just threw them in reject bin and never finished the rifling.
I bought a standard non blemish barrel, I’ll post what the rifling looks like in it when it arrives.
 
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