Good Morning Ted,
Karl and I wanted to use nothing but the best materials available for the R9 pistols; hence the original 17-4PH slides, barrels and ALL of the small parts were also cut from 17-4PH Stainless solid billets to include the trigger, extractor, ejector, hammer, magazine release and plunger. The frames were made from 7075-T6 through the entire production of our firearms. Besides the few cracked slides we had issue with, which as stated before was heat treat related and not a bad mill run of stainless, we had experienced excessive galling at the barrel to slide lockup area. Asking our “insiders” what was the problem; they suggested that due to the dissimilar metals, i.e., 416 barrels and 17-4PH slides, that was an issue. They mentioned most manufacturers were using the 416 stainless for both their barrels and their slides. We changed to what seemed to be the industry standard and made the decision, after much testing, to remain with that change in metal choices to the 416 for both the slides and the barrels. We had no more problems with galling after that change, so we stayed with it.
Yes, the black slides on our “Stealth” models was a Ferritic Nitro carburizing treatment called BlackNitride® by H&M Metal Processing out of Akron, Ohio. We had tried a few different companies through the years, but H&M did the treatment on most of our black slides and they were extremely nice to work with.
Regards,
Eric R.