3rd gen slide to frame fit tolerances?

[boomer1983]

I very recently bought a 4506-1 to go with my 1006. I noticed that the slide on the 4506 was machined with much looser tolerances. i even swaped the slides to see how they fit on each others frames and the 1006's slide fits just as snug on the 4506's frame as it does it own and the 4506's slide fits just as loose as it does on its frame as it does on the 1006. is this a common thing with 3rd gen smiths? from what im seeing it looks like they didnt do a very good job of holding uniform tolerences when machining the slides well at least not with this particular 4506

 

[grif684]

That's typical, they're not target pistols, reliability was the most important thing.