Well, it started out simply enough. I found a good deal on a 457 blued slide, wanted the barrel. So, naturally I bought it.
So, what pops up next? A pretty good deal on a 457 bare frame.
Hmmm, what to do? Buy it of course!
To my surprise up pops a 457 parts kit! Holy cow! Are you kidding me!
What’s a S&W junkie in the making to do?
Buy it at a stupid low price of course!
But wait, that slide in the 457 kit is awful shiny and it’s got round shoulders and Trijicons on it? Uh, that’s a 4516 slide! And a set of Hogues too.
Now comes the question.
Blued slide or stainless slide? Frame will be refinished in some fashion and it will be more of carry pistol.
Will use the thinner S&W grips.
What do you all think?
The slides are slipped on the bare frame for pics.

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Very nice!

As a carry pistol, and living in a "sweaty" climate, stainless 4516 slide, hands down.

But mix and match as you see fit and enjoy your good fortune.

John

That's a nice project to have. Congrats on your good fortune! I concur with John, go with the stainless slide.

If you want some ideas on what to do with your 457 , do a search . Look for the one Quizztaco did for me earlier this year . It's not exactly a carry gun , more like a BBQ gun , but you might get some ideas .

Definitely the ss slide . Speaking from experience , the black finish does NOT stand up . Thankfully the one I wrote about above he blued the slide . It originally was a sad looking Zander special so the frame wasn't done in the black finish .

Don't you live near guzzitaco? He does some amazing customizing work.

If it were me, I would take a case of his favorite beer, a tray of Filets, maybe a pound of shrimp and a box with those parts in it and go visit him.

I betcha he could come up with some nice ideas for you. Might even be able to throw something spectacular together. Dunno. Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

Is Quizztaco someone new? Also I thought BBQ gun was a term just used in Texas? It's made its way to Florida now?

guzzitaco is an incredibly talented member here who makes custom 3rd gen pistols. He "takes us along" as he crafts them, in VERY interesting and entertaining threads. Check them out if you get a chance.

If he ever puts out a shingle, the wait will be as long as that of well known custom shops. But the work will be better. Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

Everyone likes "duo-tone" pistols, aka "pintos" in some quarters. Factor in better wear from the stainless slide and the choice is easy.

Actually, I thought it was just a western term, not used only here in Texas, but making its way to Florida is a good thing!!!

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Come and take it!!

Yes, I’m not far from the temple of Guizzitaco and have seen the work that he does. Truly amazing!
He’s going to freshen some parts up and share his wisdom.
We’ve batted some ideas around. Just looking for some other ideas or opinions.😎

I thought it was a Texas term also . But after he did that 457 for me , that was the only term that did it justice . Now I just need to get a cowboy rig and I can visit my brother in Dallas and show them Texans up .

I see everyone missed why I wrote what I did. His name was totally off and this by someone who'd had work done by him. I'm quite familiar with his work, I enjoy watching his custom creations.

I would keep the 457 slide and have it refinished in a durable black like Melonite or Nitrided. The carbon steel slide will be slightly lighter in weight than the stainless 4516 top end.

Then I would get either a Big Dot front sight (the smaller Big Dot) or a Trijicon SA26 front night sight and a Novak blacked out rear sight. The one with the slightly larger aperature notch cut.

Last, I would get a set of TercGen curved backstrap Delrin grips. They really keep the muzzle up when the 457 sits in the hand. Done. That would be it, for me.

The real beauty of the 457 is its reliability. Accuracy is good enough for Government work out to 10 yards with quality defensive ammo. And it will eat anything. But it is designed for in close defensive use. And in that mission it excells. As the m&p crowd often chants "...its not a target pistol!".

Anyways thats what I would do. The 457s only weak spot is the cheap plastic OEM sights. And after much use - +8K rounds, the nylon mag catch. Other than that, it isTHE MOST underated carry 45 out there. Good luck! Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

Melonite is next for my 3913 slide, so I would say Melonite, just to make sure I agree with myself.
Seriously, cannot go wrong regardless of your choice. Great pistol!

First step, frame refinished.

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Step 2:Clean up all the bits from the parts kit.
Watch bluebelly’s assembly video several times😁 Many, many thanks for those videos!
Never gone farther than a field strip and clean, but hey, it’s already in pieces. It can’t possibly get any worse, right?
About 30 minutes later with nary a bad word said (out loud).
It’s together and actually works! First frame assembled!
Still waiting on the mag disconnect parts and new grips.

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Couple of 457 questions.
Is the mag well opening normally bevelled? Seems that would be an extra machining step on the value line series.I hadn’t noticed it on any of my other third gens, all non value line.
18dai, can you share a pic of the curved back grips from tercgen?

My 1996 457 with forged hammer/trigger and roll marks on the slide has a beveled magwell.

I just checked the pics on the late production LE Special order 457 I have inbound, 2006 production, MIM parts, cheesy laser etched markings and its magwell is beveled as well.

Heres some TercGen curved backstrap grips mounted on my early production 457. Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

Does TercGen take 4506 grips and cut them down to fit the 457? That's pretty neat.

Both my 457S (BDK) and 457 (BAY) have beveled mag wells. In fact, other than my very early (1989) 5906 they all have some degree of bevel on them.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

Yes. Curved backstrap 45XX full size grip tailored to fit the compact frame.

The fit is PERFECT! Better than factory. Makes the gun sit nicely in the hand. Curtails that muzzle heavy feel when the gun is running low on rounds. Great product that should have been a factory option. Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

There are a lot of things that should have been options on the 3rd Gens.

Then again, we ae fortunate that the 457 is as good a firearm as it is.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

My TDR 457 also has the beveled mag well.

Step 3
Slide on, waiting for mag catch parts and factory delrin grip. Slide sits a little forward on the frame. Is that correctable?
Getting closer to a final decision on the special touches from some forum members😎

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Step 4. Decisions finalized. Results to follow��

So, while waiting for the work to be finished, here’s what the plan was.
Bead blast the slide and barrel to remove the polished look and get rid of some light scratches.
Polish the barrel bushing and guide rod tip.
Shave the ambi safety and slide stop to thin it down while still retaining the ambi safety.
Single side safety is still an option if I want it.
Blast the ambi safety back to bare stainless.
Smooth out the trigger action.
Leave the MIM hammer for now, have a flash chrome if I change my mind.
Order up a set of Tercgen grips to finish it off.

[QUOTE=18DAI;141171261The 457s only weak spot is the cheap plastic OEM sights. And after much use - +8K rounds, the nylon mag catch. Other than that, it isTHE MOST underated carry 45 out there. Good luck! Regards 18DAI[/QUOTE]

I’ve found two setups for the mag catch, both are metal with the plastic button and tornado spring. You’re saying the actual catch was nylon?

Yes Heymatt. On some 457s the mag catch was a nylon part. Just like the disconnector. There isn't really a problem with it, till it wears from VERY heavy use.

Mine wore out and mags started dropping while firing. So, I replaced it with a metal catch. No problems since.

IIRC, S&W was aware of this and on LE ordered guns - like the CPD 457D - the catch was metal. The LE Special order 457 I just bought off the big auction site has a metal catch too. Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

Well, here it is. The frame finish didn’t hold up as well as expected, but hey. It’s gonna get used. Other finish options are available if it bothers me. For now it’s just fine

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That looks awesome! Nicely done

Beautiful! Congrats!

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

Sweet, congrats.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

Well, finally got to the range with this one. It’s been almost two months now since final assembly.
Haven’t been to the range in 5 months, so I was a little off on the first mag. First two a little right at 7 yds. After that, if I did my job, it was literally point and shoot
Discovered one of my mags wouldn’t hold open on last round. So some mag springs will be in order. The other 5 mags ran like champs. 125 rounds of 230g S&B and no FTF or FTE. Looks like it’ll be a keeper.
Many thanks again to Guzzitaco and all who offered their support and opinions.

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Updated pics. Had the frame redone, put on the Tercgen grips and added a Don Hume holster. Which should fit the 4513TSW just fine also!

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Just out of curiosity, I pulled out my scale and checked the weights on the three different .45 slides.
All have dual recoil springs and metal guide rods, with barrel.
457 blued complete, single sided safety, 1.05#
4516 stainless complete, ambi safety, 1.1#
4513TSW stainless complete, ambi safety, 1.1#
Pretty darn close!

the plastic sights is probably the reason the M457 is a bit lighter...

Your 457 is cool. Love the 457. Carried one as EDC for a long time. Lost count of rounds years ago with never A hickup. I knew the sites were plastc but was unaware of the nylon mag catch. Can you point me to where or what I would need to get a metal one?

Thanks for a great thread.

Steve

Thanks, it was my first project!
Midway has the metal mag catch from time to time. Another option is to use the mag catch and nut from a 4516 with the “tornado” spring from a 457, add a drop of blue loctite to keep the nut in place once you get it adjusted.

Just took a look, Midway has the metal mag catch, spring and plastic nut in stock.

Ooops, it’s 4513 mag catch listed at Midway

Can they be swapped over to the metal Novak's?

I think BMCM recut the notches to fit Novak sights on a 457. There's a thread here somewhere that contains that info and probably has pictures.

As I recall, he had to weld some metal in and then recut from there.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

you can use a M4516 rear metal sight

you can use a set of trijicon night sights (hard to find right now)

you can use a front only trijicon night sight with a M4516 rear sight...

XSsights has discontinued the 3rd gen sights, perhaps they have some left, you may want to give them a call...

I prefer the rear Novak to any other option. Over the past 2 years with some sights experimentation, I have concluded the the best built rear sights are the Novak. The steel is hard, very hard and it is almost impossible to ding them when you remove them using a brass punch...very well build IMHO

hope this helps

Alright, both slides are finished. Both look great, but which one looks better?

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I like the black one...you should sell the stainless one...

...to me