Background. Removed carb, noticed bolts holding it to reed block were barely past finger tight. Cleaned carb in Berryman, replaced tiny o-ring, gasket, and corrected float height. Fair amount of debris in carb, Berryman removed it nicely. Reinstalled carb and noticed slide appeared stuck. Removed cap and tried to pull it out, but it was jammed tight. After some effort decided to remove carb and slide released when I unbolted it. After playing with it I discovered that slide binds unless bolts are barely past finger tight as when I removed it. Thought maybe carb was having an interference fit with drain plug hose at bottom of motor which may be putting torque on float bowl, but there's sufficient clearance. Fired bike up and it runs fine, but was hoping someone would have an explanation on this situation. Googled away, but no hits, only for slides stuck in the wfo position.Thanks!

Not unheard of. 

Flange was probably overtightened  in the past.  Take carb off and check flange for warping with a straight edge.

Too thick of an o-ring on the mounting flange can also cause an issue.

 

Yes as Mark says.
I used to file mine flat & if you're running an Oring in the groove only fit one big enough for the job, not oversize as then pulls the flange ears & sends carb body out of shape trying to compress the Oring.

Yep,.just what MarkT said, over tighten and slide sticks, use some gasoline proof sealant on the oring tighten untill sticks and back off untill it frees up, is s what it is