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Thread: The Unity Tactical ATOM Slide

  1. #1
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    The Unity Tactical ATOM Slide

    Surprised there isn't a dedicated thread to this yet. A few months ago I started considering one but there really isn't a ton of info out there on them. Within the last few weeks several retailers have gotten some in and I finally got one so I figured I'd post some initial thoughts here.

    The good:

    1. Very aesthetically pleasing, better than most custom Glocks in my opinion because the front serrations not only match the rear, but also aren't awkwardly surrounding the G19 Gen 4 branding. The FDE is also very sharp and closely matches my X300U.

    2. Glock channel liner comes installed (a plus that I recommended they included on their sight because I expected to have to install one) and everything else was the simple drop in that it should be.

    3. The price isn't cheap, especially compared to an MOS, but it is very competitive with custom milling and refinishing. Plus it has the all the benefits of a second slide. This one will be my fauxland special and my factory slide is an easy swap. This is especially important for those of us in commie states that make it harder to just get a whole new gun.

    4. Customer service was responsive and very helpful (on the second attempt to contact). My email was passed along to someone a little higher in the company and he offered to go beyond what I'd expect in CS. Note that me reaching out to them was not really a product issue. The Vortex Venom and Viper are stated to have the same lug pattern as the DR. I assumed that meant same dimensions. After a few weeks, I had tried both Vortex dots (huge shout out to Vortex CS here) on the DR/FFII mounting plate and realized that neither would work. In the same conversation mentioned when discussing the channel liner from number 2, I also suggested they edit the description of the DR plate to specify it doesn't work with either Vortex dot, which they did. Apparently a specific plate for those is on the way soon, as it has been heavily requested.

    4. The versatility of the ATOM system itself, but that leads us to the bad...

    The bad:

    1. They don't advertise it as such, but it seems that Unity Tactical expects the need for the end user to fit the optic plate to his slide. This wouldn't be a huge deal to me, if I had known that going in. The instruction card that it comes with notes that each plate will likely have to sanded down slightly. Again, wouldn't be as bad if I had known that but after months of looking, waiting, and trying but failing to get various dots to work, I was already pretty frustrated. So once I finally had my Deltapoint Pro and the corresponding adaptor plate, I sat down with a few beers and went to work. It had already been a long day at work and the frustration and alcohol didn't help, so after maybe two swipes on each side of the plate with very fine sandpaper, I took a nylon hammer to it. While extremely secure, its not going to be super easy to remove.

    2. It comes with BUIS, but of course not all optics sit the same. The slide may be universal because of the different plates, but the BUIS are not. I can barely see them through my DP Pro. Again, maybe mention in the website description which optics they work best with. Even with the DP rear iron sight addition, I don't think the front sight is high enough to have any type of co-witness.

    3. Closely related to number 2, the front sight is crooked. I'm not even going to discuss that further.

    4. Maybe it's the finish, but it appears that the slide is just slightly wider than a stock Glock slide because it really doesn't like my preferred holster, the Safariland ALS. The DP is obviously as issue with the DO model and front serrations are known to not play well, but I do believe that the slide as a whole is slightly wider too. Can't confirm this one though since I don't have calipers.

    Overall, I'm torn with how I feel about it. It looks damn good, but it has been a significant pain in the ass to make work. And I still need to straighten the front sight and figure out how to get some type of cowitness. The biggest benefit is that it is a separate slide, so I can switch back to my stock slide in a few seconds. If Glock releases an MOS version of their FS model though, I'm not sure how relevant this thing will be.








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    Last edited by Wake27; 10-10-17 at 17:17.
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  2. #2
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    Nice review - a shooter at SF has been using one on a 17 and now 19 for awhile.

    http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc...6950043004/p/1

    The DP Pro is too tall to be used with most types of sights when mounted on a pistol. I see it as the downfall of the sight.

    I have considered trying this slide with a RMR, but I just don't want to shell out $1200+ to do it.

    ETA - alcohol and gunsmiffing don't mix well.
    Last edited by RHINOWSO; 05-06-17 at 22:55.

  3. #3
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    Yeah I didn't get my hopes up about the BUIS working with the DP Pro. I knew that one going in, but it had a lot of potential strengths over the RMR including a better price so I figured I'd try it. I just don't see the RMR being worth its price and as this was my first go with a pistol red dot, I didn't want to dump a ton of money into the dot itself. Going with a cheaper sight was part of the reason I wanted the ATOM in the first place. I did order the Ameriglo stupid tall sights, hopefully I can get a decent cowitness with them and ditch the DP rear iron.


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    I like the ATOM mounting system better than the MOS. FYI Mark Housel at L&M Precision now cuts factory slides for the ATOM stayed in addition to custom milling.

    I have a 17MOS with a DP Pro. I like the optic much better than the RMR but it sits high. Dawson makes BUIS which will clear the DP Pro on the MOS - they are the MOS BUIS listed for "C-More" height.

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    I have my Gen 3 19 at L&M right now having him cut it for the ATOM system and RMR mounting plate. This will me my first trip into the RMR pistol world.

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    Good review. Something you did not mention, and I experienced on my Gen 4 Atom slide, was it shucked the brass out vigorously, by Glock standards.

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    Quote Originally Posted by GJM View Post
    Good review. Something you did not mention, and I experienced on my Gen 4 Atom slide, was it shucked the brass out vigorously, by Glock standards.
    Not sure how much this would be due to the slide since it comes stripped.


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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wake27 View Post
    Not sure how much this would be due to the slide since it comes stripped.


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    Didn't Randy Lee, discuss at length circa 2011, right here on M4, how the Glock slide design contributes to problems with ejection/extraction?

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    He was talking about lowering the ejection port. Does this slide do that?
    And he discussed extractor designs over the years that are not a factor anymore.

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    Quote Originally Posted by nml View Post
    He was talking about lowering the ejection port. Does this slide do that?
    And he discussed extractor designs over the years that are not a factor anymore.

    Not sure. I do know this -- I took a complete Gen 4 17, pulled the guts out of the top end, installed those same parts in the Atom Gen 4 17 slide, installed it on the same OEM lower, and it hucks the brass out much more vigorously than the same parts installed in the OEM slide. Also, my wife has an Atom Gen 3 19 slide with a T1, and that flings the brass out vigorously. Just two data points, but good ones in my experience.

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