Sorry to hear the baits did not swim well for you. Out of the dozen or so Slammers I have, I do have one that for some reason doesn't swim with much side to side action. The peculiarities of a hand made bait are hard to quantify sometimes. Each bait swims a little different and the reasons for that are many.

Here's a few mods you can try to make baits swim more or less.

1. Length of the tail. The tail acts as a deadening force on the bait. If you take the tail off of a Slammer it will kick back and forth as hard as it can kick. If you fish a tail at full length, it will deaden the action. I typically cut about 3/8" off of the stock Slammer tail to give it more action. That's a personal preference totally. Some guys like a more subtle action.

2. Weight of the hooks. You might not notice this, but the weight of the hooks has an important impact on the motion of the bait. I like a light hook like the gammie hooks to give the baits more action. If you use a heavier hook or a larger hook than the bait is meant to fish with, it will deaden the action.

3. Shape and size of the bill. The wider the bill in relation to the bait, the more side to side action you get. The narrower the bill, the less side to side action. If you compare for example the action of a castaic hardbait with a narrow bill vs. the castaic softbait with it's very rounded bill, they have totally opposite action. My castaic hardbait barely moves side to side at all. The castaic rubber trout though rolls back and forth quite a bit.

If you don't like the baits, I understand completely. I have no shortage of swimbaits in my closet that didn't do what I thought they would do when I bought them :) Hope you find some that work for you.