Mfree,
The breechface, even in blowback autos, takes a considerable amount of force. It wouldn't if the slide had minimal mass, but the very heavy slide of the Hipoint means that breechface must resist that force for a period at least long enough for chamber pressures to fall below the failure point of the brass casing BEFORE the case has extracted itself very far.
So saying that the slide is simply a locator for internal parts complete ignores the physics of blowback operation in high pressure calibers.
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