Having my 40V slide warranty replaced with a 40VE slide, I thought it would be interesting to do sort of a detailed comparison of the two assemblies.



The front sight of the V is two hundredths of an inch taller than that of the VE. The V sight measures .1915 in. and the VE .1715 in. I wonder if the notches in the sight are indicative of height. I would think a sight post with two notches would be the taller one. May not mean anything at all, though.





The striker hole in the breechface of the VE is round, whereas that of the V is rectangular. The VE slide also has a larger ejection port. From the bottom of the slide to the bottom edge of the port the VE measures .290 in. and the V measures .385 in., a difference of ninety-five hundredths.





The rear sights are fairly similar, with the VE sight shaped to better match the contour of the slide. The notch of the V sight is slightly deeper than the VE's notch. From the bottom of the notch to the top of the sight ears, the V notch is about twelve thousandths deeper (taller?) than the VE. I imagine this is related to the V's front sight being taller.





A particularly interesting difference is the raised rectangular section of the VE slide. I'm curious as to its' significance.





The hump that disconnects the trigger bar from the sear is quite a bit larger on the VE than on the V.





The VE's feed ramp lug is more angled on the bottom edges. The locking lugs are essentially the same.





The VE's feed ramp is about two hundredths longer than the V's feed ramp.





I found the most interesting difference to be the rifling of the barrels. The VE barrel has 5 lands & grooves with a right-hand twist. The V barrel has 6 lands & grooves with a left-hand twist.





As indicated earlier the tip of the VE's striker is round, while the V's is rectangular. The VE striker also has a white spacer and spring cups.

You may notice the leading edge of the lug on the V striker has been filed slightly. Sometime within the first couple of years after it was purchased, the gun developed a problem where it wouldn't fire even when the trigger was pulled fully rearward. It was fixed by a local gunsmith who performed the repair under warranty.





The striker safety plunger on the VE has a rounded head and is more polished than that of the V.





The VE's extractor spring assembly is four hundredths longer than the V's spring assembly. The rods themselves are identical as are the plastic bearings. The difference in length is found in the springs. Some of that may be due to compression of the V spring from age and use. However, The VE spring actually is longer by about 3/4 of a coil.






The extractors are fairly similar. Differences can be found on the bearing lugs and the claws. The VE's extractor claw is much sharper than the V's claw. The edge of the VE claw has also has a slight taper, while the V claw is uniform from top to bottom.


I don't have a means to accurately weigh the two slides, but I believe the VE slide is a bit lighter; my friend that owns the 40V also felt so. The contour of the top of the VE slide and the larger ejection port are the likely causes. The overall length, width, and height of the slides are virtually identical.

The barrels are exchangeable between the slides and will fit and lock up equally well in either.

Lastly, the finish of the slides is obviously different with the VE being smooth and the V having a rougher texture.


And that's about it, folks. My apologies for the length. I do hope y'all find this interesting, amusing, or maybe even helpful.