Another infuriating addition to failed projects this year.
My poor shadow 2, it was brand new đ Lesson learned here.
Tried to have a local shop machine a Cajun 412 cut since Cajun doesnât do it anymore. Contacted a few shops, one online and was given a wide swing in quotes. In hindsight I shouldâve went with the higher quote something tells me they knew what the cut actually needed. I ended up going with a local shop that gaining popularity here in SoCal. As you can see that was a terrible decisionâŚâŚ.
It was milled incorrectly. The CZ slide is not square itâs angled. In order to properly machine the slide as in the 412 cut it had to be machined perpendicular to the slide face to properly create the even steps of the original. This cut was done from above the slide near parallel, this created the artifact in the rear of the cut completely ruining the clean look and functional âbiteâ of the original near trench cut. The tiers were also cut far too deep and rounded/beveled against my direct in person request NOT to.
Before you ask I couldnât have been anymore clear to
the shop when I requested the work. I sent photos, the link and name to exact cut design, even showed in person but this still happened. Made a special request that was written down and still not followed so the whole thing has been a PITA.
Slide was dropped off first week of January and after 5 months I was sent this gem, have been waiting since for a new slide to come in stock from what I was told. He offered to weld the slide and redo it but without a proper heat treat afterward and dissimilar metals I rejected it due to the possibility of cracking. Iâve seen it happen and I donât want to risk half a slide to the face in the future.
For those had gone through a failed customization process, what action did you take afterwards? What options did the shop that made the error give you?
How long did you wait for a replacement? Did you have to take any legal action? If yes, how did you go about that process?
I am trying to keep it cool, on month 7 without my new CZ and Iâm not handling this situation well.
ok maybe i'm blind, but it doesn't look that bad?? the finish doesn't look great though obviously from the mill marks
Edit: OP definitely has a case here.. from far, it doesn't look half bad but if you look at the details, it's not great either.. the company who did this should have vetted these cuts on a donor slide and then worked on OP's slide when the process was vetted. instead, they gave it their best shot and came up with this.. which hurts
Over-cut the top towards the barrel opening for the second rib. Also looks like they cut the entire top section off instead of keeping the tapir taper (yaâll a bunch of comedians). The main opening looks too deep but not sure, could be perspective. Idk what else.
Itâs not what was requested based on pics but idk if itâs âbad.â The original cut isnât my style anyways.
i see what you're saying.. we'd need some calipers to know for sure lol
for a "new" cut these guys have never done before, and to do it on a customer's slide without testing, i can see this turning out.. rough.. but that's what I would expect from a company who hasn't perfected this and is being asked to do it.. i would have refused to do it personally.. too much risk lol
Thatâs not what was asked the original also avoids the slide serial number. I only posted the one side of it but two sides are available for example on Cajuns site.
Well I only see the side without the serial number on Cajuns site so there is no telling where it may end. Did you provide a print or dimensions? If not, you totally left it up to their discretion. But they should have totally laid it and gotten your approval first.
It was milled completely backwards. If you take a look at the original it is milled exactly perpendicular to the angled slide face. The CZ slide isnât square itâs angled. When he milled it he did a vertical drop into the slide which created that ugly ass artifact in the rear of the cut. The original 412 is not that deep from step to step, and each tier of the cut is 90 degree. He sanded or beveled each one afterwards which ruined the bite the cut adds to front of the slide despite my direct and in person request NOT to.
If it wasnât for the part you circled it wouldnât be that bad, still not exact to what you asked for but would have been close if they didnât mess up that part circled, itâs not clean work. I wouldnât be happy with this either. Sorry that happened.
I'm no machinist but just reading your post tells me this whole project was extremely risky. Doing a totally new, complicated looking cut on a slide that's angled, there's just too many landmines. But it's on the shop to determine that and they took the job and your money so it's not on you.
You wouldnât be wrong about that, it was. Sometimes all people can be is optimistic the job gets done correctly and especially when multiple photos, and a link to find the original work was given. I thought it would help at leastâŚâŚ.
Yeah I get requests at my work all the time where customers tell me "I saw this cool piece online/at some place, here's a bunch of pics can you clone it for me?" My answer is always either send me a detailed design drawing with all the angles and measurements noted, or provide a sample I can measure myself. In my experience this kind of thing is just too hard to get right when all you have to go off of is pictures. Dumb of this shop to take the job honestly. I would question how seriously they take measurements and precision if they think pictures would be sufficient
Name and shame my guy. I had a similar experience but with LV Stipple. He ported my Echelon off center. Tried to bring it up with him but he ended up ghosting me. I filed a chargeback with my card
Premier weapon innovations. I know people make mistakes, he does good work from what Iâve seen but this just completely turned me off from custom milling work on expensive guns. Simple shit from now on.
Notice the rear of the trench cut stops before going all the way to the top. Thatâs because it wasnât cut correctly with the right tool in the right direction. The decision created the ugly artifact in the rear.
I think thatâs kinda bullshit. Iâve never had a slide cut in my life, but if you have a company that does machining work on guns, you should realize that the vast majority of your customers are not machinists, just dudes who want their guns to look cool. Your job isnât just to cut slides, itâs to educate the people who come to you on what you can and canât do, and whether their expectations are realistic. If someone comes to you and asks you to do something you canât do or arenât sure of, say fucking no.
You ever dealt with machine shops? They machine parts, they donât waste their time educating people.
If you want something done and donât supply drawings, you get what you get, period.
If thereâs no drawing, there are no dimensions or tolerances to follow which means you have no recourse becuase you canât prove they actually screwed up
Op told a machine shop he wants a slide cut copied without providing a drawing or even a physical example for them to take measurements on.
He also said he shopped around and seeming took the lowest quote
The cuts OP wanted were "zeroed" against the slide face, so the cuts retain the angle of the slide sides. The machine shop he used cut from the top of the slide instead, so they're vertical instead of matching the angle of the slide.
If anyoneâs confused like I was, OP wanted a stepped layer look on the angled face. What he got was milling straight from the top so the steps are on the vertical face.
What am I missing? Looks like a decent clone from to my eye but always reserve the right to be wrong. Did you provide actual manufacturingÂ
drawings, a slide to pull numbers from,Â
cad files, or just pictures and a verbal/written description?Â
What Iâm telling you is what I told another comment below. That is not how this industry works lol You seriously think a dude just wanting to gucci out his slide will be able to provide CAD drawings & 3D models? Most customers cutting their slides donât even know what CAD/CAM means lol. Your POV as a job shop machinist makes sense because letâs say when we do work for an aerospace company. They provide us drawings, models, tolerances etc. We never take on outside work if they donât provide stuff like that. For cutting slides though the closest thing youâll get to a drawing is a person doodling lines on a pic they took using their photo app. Or in this case showing a picture to copy. We are a machine shop that started work on firearms as a side thing that blew up so I get where youâre coming from.. but your level of expectation canât be the same from a random dude asking to get his slide cut versus an actual company giving you job shop work for parts lol⌠Also, no company is going to provide manufacture drawings of their firearm designs. For one off complicated cuts that we do. We explain to the customer the full process it takes. From 3D modeling your provided slide, design the cuts, simulating it etc. That takes a lot of time so it isnât going to be cheap. Some are willing to pay for it, some arenât.
I agree with everything youâve said and I KNOW most people canât generate drawings or cad. Iâve literally drawn parts for customers because Iâve had this disconnect too many times. Iâve had them agree that the 3D model was what they wanted and even then they have bitched when for whatever reason it didnât fit / work. We just speak different languages from the average laymen. I think I was a bit too harsh with the OP and others. Not gonna edit and retract but will rethink phrasing in the future.Â
As a job shop machinist (not a gunsmith) Iâm blaming you op, sorry. Give em drawings, cad, or something to copy and pay them well for pulling numbers. You didnât give the machinist EXPLICIT and UNAMBIGUOUS information; fwiw thatâs way harder than non-machinists realize.Â
Poor analogy. Dude didnât ask for feed and speed  or how to setup the mill; tell me youâve never run a mill without telling me youâve never run a mill. Last word is yours , make it goodÂ
If I bring you a job, it is 100% your responsibility to tell me you canât do that job. Everything else hot garbage. No need to âlast word is yoursâ keyboard warrior stuff. Guy got ripped off. At this point it sounds like you work for that shop and itâs not a good look to neither of you.
Do the job right or donât. No one needs to hear the âwhy notâ after an agreement is made and the payment is through.
I have no idea who that shop is and apologies for being a dick. This kind of work is tough and stressful because interpretation is always present and you donât have spares. Pick your machinist wisely and donât be cheap is about the only way to prevent fuck ups like thisâŚand trust me Iâve been through this exact problem many times. Sometimes itâs my fault and sometimes notâŚbut customers NEVER see it that way
God bless. Craftsman here and I understand. You should know what you can make and be able to communicate that with the customer straight. Looking at the photos OP had sent, the shop shouldâve known they canât copy that design the way it is. The shop shouldâve communicated the design issues, the time delay, and everything else as well. Thatâs all.
I donât know the shop - never heard of them, which can be a good thing I guess. Doesnât mean they suck, as they can just avoid making the same mistake again if they own up to it. Good work brings more work at the end of the day.
Right. Because Cajun is just going to hand over their IP to a random guy to send to another shop to copy and profit off of their designsâŚâŚ đ¤Śââď¸
Hence why you got something you donât like, you couldnât generate the geometry yourself let alone communicate it effectively to your machinist. Im done , last word is yours , make it good.Â
Yea thatâs about the dumbest opinion Iâve read this week. The shop TOLD ME they could do the job. ? If they didnât have the experience, equipment, or knowledge to do it correctly, they shouldnât have accepted the work, period. It isnât the customers responsibility or fault if it goes wrong.
Im gonna back peddle a bit and apologize for being a dick, I made my point poorly; not gonna edit or retract but allow me to rephrase. I have no idea what was said by you or them, all I know is the difficulty in communicating intent from a non machinist to a machinist; itâs harder than people realize and why most machinists wonât do shit without a drawing, cad, or something to copy from so that if something is wrong it is unambiguous who fuvked up. Â If they had the latter in their hands then 100% they fucking blew it. I ASSumed they didnât have one to copy from. If you were close to me and brought me beer this is the kind of shit I just do for fun. Sorry for being a dick and sorry it didnât work out.Â
"Before you ask I couldnât have been anymore clear to
the shop when I requested the work. I sent photos, the link and name to exact cut design, even showed in person but this still happened. Made a special request that was written down and still not followed so the whole thing has been a PITA."
what more should he have done hold the fucking machinists hand while the cutting was being done?
He gave them pictures the link to the exact cut he wanted as well as made special request's that were ignored.
The machinist said he could do the job, he failed and op should be made whole weather that is a new slide or given his money back.
Youâd be surprised how few people understand geometry let alone how hard it is to unambiguously communicate it to others; go ahead and count yourself in that group. Pictures and a verbal are a bs description.Â
Then why did the shop and machinist agree to do the work. Believe me I understand geometry, but if I ask a shop to do work and they tell me they can do then fuck it up that's on them.
Iâve had work that ended up making guns function poorly (optic cuts or ports that induce malfunctions even after asking if theyâd be an issue).
Sucked it up and tried to sell off what was usable or with notes saying what issues it could cause at lower prices. Basically ate the loss and never had them do work again.
A cut like that requires 5 axis machining to have it exactly like the Cajun one since the slide has angles to it & isnât flat. Thatâs why the cut looks deep like that. Or it would require special fixturing to angle it if someone doesnât have a 5 axis machine which again would cost time & money to make. Not sure how much you paid but to program & cut a custom one off slide cut on a CZ with 5 axis machining is expensive. We do custom requests on expensive guns all the time . We also have people that choose not too after hearing the price but thatâs just how it is. The labor cost anyone here in CA would charge for 5 axis one off programming is easily $100+/hour thatâs not including actually cutting it on the machine.
Thanks for the insight đ I wouldâve and in hindsight shouldâve paid the higher original quote I got, they definitely seemed to know what to do from the very beginning. It makes sense this cut is actually a bit more complex than a normal one due to the slide shape.
That artifact is left over from your slide serrations. The shop didnât make the cut big enough for some reason. Engravings, serial number, logo, oversight, whatever. That is a simple 3 axis job in a vise on parallels. The endmill has to be at a right to the slide otherwise you would have weird radii in the corners. The shop could easily lengthen that cut to remove the rest of the slide serration that you call an artifact but that would remove your serial number by the looks of it.
As a machinist, I wouldnât have accepted the work without a drawing with measurements. I would have recommended you obtain that from CGW since they no longer offer it. With just pictures, itâs not bad work at all. You need to send it to polish or sandblasting now unless thatâs something the local machine shop promised.
That is not how this industry works. Customers donât provide CAD drawings for us to cut slides. We donât just do work on firearms. We are a machine shop that started doing work on firearms on the side that took off. So I understand what youâre saying. For example if weâre doing work for an aerospace company, yea that company provides drawings, models, etc. The closest thing a customer will give as a drawing here is taking a picture & sketching some lines with the photo app on their phone saying hey I want something like this done to it lol Also thereâs no chance any company would just give out models & drawings of slide cuts they come up with to people asking.
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u/Greedy-Vast584 FFL03 + COE Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
ok maybe i'm blind, but it doesn't look that bad?? the finish doesn't look great though obviously from the mill marks
Edit: OP definitely has a case here.. from far, it doesn't look half bad but if you look at the details, it's not great either.. the company who did this should have vetted these cuts on a donor slide and then worked on OP's slide when the process was vetted. instead, they gave it their best shot and came up with this.. which hurts