http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ViI2UWFKg&t=9m35s&utm_source=Wilson+Combat+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e253369c36-Glocktober_10_29_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7e19171a14-e253369c36-296462441

I really like the factory-issue sights on my new Glock 19. They are not, however, night sights. So I’m swapping them out for TRUGLO Bright Sights. OMG I’d forgotten just how graunchy and heavy a standard-issue Glock trigger can be. It smoothes out after a couple of thousand rounds but why wait? I’ve ordered a Ghost Rocket 3.5 Trigger Connector. It takes some of the safety out of Glock’s Safe Action trigger but my trigger discipline is up to snuff and it reduced group size by 30 percent in my Glock 30SF. Enlarged slide lock? Hello? It’s a lock not a release. Grip tape? Gen4 fixed that. Wilson Combat match grade barrel? Absolutely! Why? Because guns! What’d I miss?

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106 COMMENTS

  3. I like the TruGlo TFO sights better. They are so bright in daylight! Have them on my G19 right now 🙂

    My first Glock got so upgraded and raced out (with hardly any Glock remaining) it became a range toy only due to reliability issues.

    Now I only add new sights to them and leave everything else alone. They work just fine out of the box.

        • Fall out from where? Isn’t just an enclosed tube inside the backstrap?

          By that I mean isn’t the magwell a continuous rectangle bottom to top, and that hole is just a semicircular area grafted onto the back of that rectangle?

        • There is a little slot at the top of the hole, but it appears to be blocked by the trigger housing pin. Ingress of dirt only appears to be possible from the bottom.

          I thought the area behind the magazine well was kept open to slip in a shoulder stock, but perhaps that’s just an opportunistic use of the hole left by Glock.

      • It’s how the mold form works when they’re injecting the compressed cheese wiz into the mold. Gotta leave a gap for the nozzle.

        • Great, now guys are going to start swiss cheesing their grips for a quicker draw.

          Kinda like those idiot kids who put a park bench sized spoiler on the back of a honda civic for more downforce on a front wheel drive economy rice burner.

        • SD3, discarding the 2A as written, there are several legal methods for obtaining, possessing and using a shoulder thingy that goes up on your Glock 🙂

        • The purpose of the empty cavity in the grip, as I understand it, is reduce recoil. Something about the mechanics of the air pocket control muzzle rise. It can be plugged up just fine with no detriment to the functioning of the pistol, but it’s also nice to have extra room to strip out magazines during a double feed.

  5. Ironic.

    No disrespect to the hundreds of thousands of rounds of experience between the hosts of the video, but they’ve arrived at the modifications they need BECAUSE of that extensive experience.For us mere mortals-myself included-we are better served going to a pistol class, and hitting the square range to reinforce the fundamentals.

  6. I appreciate Glock and recommend them but I need more character. It cost a lot more but I love my P226 MK25 for EDC.

  7. Glock, generic combat tupperware that works for it’s purpose right out of the box. Except for the sights, meh. It’s not like it’s a classy steel revolver or anything of real value.

  8. I’m a younger guy and when I got into handguns I really tried to like the glocks as a defensive weapon but I just couldn’t.

    The second I shot a 1911 I was hooked.

    I can certainly see the merits of the trigger pull for a carry gun, but the grip angle was my number one turnoff. I would love to get some range time on a glock with the grip force adapter and see how it feels.

    • 1911s really should not be used as a potentially life saving ccw. The reliability concerns with hollow point ammo are troubling. Take a look as some of the durability tests runs by pistol-training.

      • Polish the feed ramp and throat the barrel maybe enlarge the ejection port… although most new 1911s come with a throated barrel and enlarged ejection port. the feed ramp though is all you lil bit of sand paper on a dowel and some simi chrome on a felt bob and voila polished feed ramp.

        I have my grand dad’s WW2 issued 1911a1 I’ve done the work on it (polishing feed ramp throatin the barrel and enlarging the ejection port) as yet the only failures it’s had were due to a bad magazine, a bad recoil spring, and bad ammo. oh and me pansy wristing it when I first started shooting.

    • I was he same way, until I shot a Glock. The grip angle feels funny until you pick up a more “comfortable” handgun and notice the huge muzzle rise. That goofy grip angle turns your wrist in such a fashion as to reduce muzzle flip and prevent limp-wristing.

      I reluctantly picked up a used glock and now I can’t shoot anything else. Literally sold all my other handguns.

      With all that said, $500 for a glock is highway robbery. It’s a piece of damn plastic with a few crude metal parts sprinkled in.

      • I’ve shot a Glock 30 I liked it… even though I’m a 1911 guy I’d own a Glock if I found a deal on one. However, if my 1911 wasn’t my grand dad’s issued 1911 and I wouldn’t have to worry bout it being taken if I used it I’d carry it… but it is and I do and can’t afford a Glock or even a RIA so I carry a s&w new model 3 repro.

      • Vermont’s record on gun rights puts the entire South and Midwest to shame. Constitutional Carry decades (maybe a century or more, not sure) before it was cool.

        Wow, Vermont is hipster on so many levels.

  10. Get a mag release from a wide body 20 or 21 and replace the one in the 19.
    It’s a pretty easy swap. It projects just a bit more an allows a mag dump without shifting the gat in the hand.

    • I got excited there for a minute, but after using my google-fu it appears that the magazine release for the G20 or 21 does not fit the Gen 4 Glocks. Sad face.

      • The gen 4 mag release is already pretty damned big. True it doesn’t stick out very much, but I find it very easy to release. It’s sort of a tossup between the smaller but longer Gen3 G34 and Gen4 G19 for mag release ease for me.

  11. Why YES! As long as the safety mechanism’s are not disabled, then why not make a great firearm work for you. All Glocks may be created the same. But not all shooter are the same.

  12. I’d replace every part, piece by piece, with a CZ-75 part*. Do that, and you’ll have the best Glock ever!

    *You might have to replace at a rate other than 1:1, depending on which design has more parts.

      • I wanted to ease him into the world of quality firearms, with something priced comparably to a Glock.

    • +1, as anyone who has ever seen me carrying can attest. I do own a couple of Glocks (including a G20 (Full size 10 millimeter) with night sights I will happily demonstrate to 3AM visitors who don’t do the courtesy of making an appointment); I certainly won’t turn my nose up at one. But the love connection simply ain’t there with them.

  14. I owned my G-17 for 10 years before the 1st mod, now most of the moving parts have been replaced and have improved it’s performance. I hate the sights but can still hit a 5 gallon can @ 50 yards with them so they are safe for now.

  15. Depending on the depth of your wallet, you can mod the crap out of a Glock — or you can just buy a better gun, shoot it as is and pocket the difference.

  16. take a class. buy better ammo. practice practice practice. unless you are trying to be on the national shooting team or on top shot, upgrade the sights to night sights (Tru glo or Trijicon), maybe add an extended slide lock, and move on. I buy guns for the purpose of self-defense and what makes concealed carry work better not to spend so much to improve how many I can get on the x-ring as opposed to the 9. In the tactical pistol class I took at Asymetric Solutions, our instructor Grady Powell said it best, “if your holes on the target look nice, pretty and neat, you are trying to0 hard. Make that mothefucker look like swiss cheese”

  17. My G21SF is lightly modified (tritium sights, stainless pins, and extended slide release) Everything else runs well for me stock. I look at the grip plug every few months. But not being a manly Teutonic operator, I don’t see myself getting a handful of sand into the grip of my home defense gun.

  18. The best investment if you have a stock Glock is a few good holsters that work for your needs and reloading components so you can make a ton of ammo for it.

    One minor thing that is worth doing after you’ve shot your Glock for a while is mirror-polishing all of the metal-on-metal contact points in the trigger bar and connector with something fairly idiot proof like Flitz.

    An inexpensive spare barrel with a tighter chamber like a Wolf for when you are practicing will extend brass life if you reload (less stretching/resizing), though it is not as reliable as the stock barrel (I use the stock barrel for defense and competition).

    Night sights are nice if you need/like them.

    Other than these things I can’t convince myself of any of the other modifications or accessories. I’ve tried.

    -D

  19. We like to talk about defense use around these parts. I would like to point out that if you are making those mods for fun and gun games, knock yourself out and play to your hearts content. If you will be using this as a defensive gun pistol, you should think twice or find something that is what you want from the factory. The safety issue true or imagined will be used by the persecutor to make it look like you had been planning for a kill from day one when you purchased your gun. Even if not true, you will have to defend yourself from the BS!

    • Not in most free states. Most prosecutors are too stupid to know the difference. Especially if you keep your improvements… Subtle.

        • I think the improvements are more likely to save my life than to cause me to spend the rest of it in prison. It’s called a calculated risk. Since the carcass would be in MY house… I think I’ll be fine. (Plus IL has great castle doctrine and SYG provisions.)

    • This is true of your carry/home defense piece. If you need to use your gun, you can be sure it will be dissected in a lab and every mod will be touted by the prosecutor as an attempt to build a bigger, badder, more efficient child killing machine.
      I agree inpart with pwrserge, the prosecutor will be gun-ignorant–but so is the jury. The prosecutor uses his ignorance to an advantage.

      • of course, you could take the $$ you would spend on mods and make a rendering unto ceasar, ie, donate to the local prosecutor’s campaign . . . . wouldn’t be a good look for them to charge their donors.. . . . .

    • Now you sound like Massad Ayoob! (Only he gets paid for saying things like that.)

      Only on the Internet, my friend! If your Glock usually works on the range; and in competition, it’s going to work on the street too. If you’ve owned your modified Glock for a period of years, and suddenly have to use it in order to ward off an armed attacker in the same way one of my neighbors did in our local Wal-Mart parking lot, what can any DA say?

      Millions of Glock pistol owners have, to some degree, modified their cheap plastic pistols. So what!

  20. Why modify a Glock? Because we can. It is a personal possession. Why are ARs so popular? Because you can transform and modify and take away and add to until your bank account is depleted or desire is spent.

  21. I had the Ghost 3.5 trigger bar in my gen 4 G23 for a while. I ride the trigger reset when I shoot my Glock, and I found that during matches (IDPA) I squeezed off a few unintentional shots. Of course, my finger was only on the trigger when the gun was on target, so no one else noticed.

    I can only imagine that under the stress of an actual defensive gun use that the lighter trigger would be a real liability. I went back to the stock trigger bar and there was a much more distinct difference between the first stage take up and the pull required for a shot – and haven’t had an unintentional shot since.

    My other mods are as follows: 1) Tru Dot night sights, 2) factory extended slide release, and 3) lightly polished trigger parts (per The Complete Glock Reference Guide). I’m happy with all the mods, except for the sights. The XS Big Dots are what I want to try next.

    • So, if I understand correctly, ‘You squeezed off a few unintentional shots.’

      Let me be the first to say it: It’s NOT the Ghost connector. You aren’t properly trained and don’t really know how to handle your Glock. (Sorry, but something like that would never happen to me, or anyone else I’ve trained.)

  22. All my Glocks get night sights extended slide and mag releases, and that’s it. I like that trigger because it’s so consistent between different models. The 26 shoots like the 19 which shoots like the 23 which shoots like the 27. I don’t really need more accuracy…..as long as I can shoot a group under 1 minute of bad guy, I’m happy.

    • Yeah, my G19 is retardedly pimped out and is much more comfortable to shoot at the range.. I did keep all the stock parts though.

      * Fulcrum fixed trigger black/red safety
      * Tungsten guide rod
      * Ti striker and plunger
      * 3.5# spring
      * marine spring cups

      It was a traded-in police weapon that had hardly been used, and has stock night sights that are a bit dim at this point. I’m wondering if I want to go to retard-11 and dovetail in a red dot sight.

      • If you do in fact go for the Red Dot sight, there is no better service than Mark Housel @ L&M Precision. I was very apprehensive about sending my beloved G17 to have front serrations and a RMR milled into the slide, but it returned a masterpiece… the serrations especially look as if they are (and should be) Glock factory.

      • Lots of Glock-haters… I was one, until the Gen 4. I choose a smith & wesson 357 snub nose, a Sig p220 carry, even a walther ppk/s. Then a client of mine (retired navy & BadMF’er) leaned on me hard enough for me to run one. I hated the way the Gen 3 felt in my hand and I wasn’t into sanding off areas to ‘get a better grip’… enter the Gen 4. Just to appease my client/ shooting buddy I rented one, 50 rounds in and I went back and purchased another 100 rounds…grinned ear to ear the whole drive home. By Sunday I had 400 rounds through mine.

        Ghost rocket 3.5 trigger, grip plug, extended slide lock, Trijicon serrated black rear sight and that bold safety cone orange Trij up front… and I have perfection, ‘personal’ perfection. Its all a matter of personal preference, so you boys can hate on the ole ‘block’, but there is one thing for certain. It runs, and runs, and runs. I don’t have to polish a feed ramp or throat anything, I’m nop. It’s just plain reliable.

        When things go ‘bump’ in the night and my wife and baby daughter are sleeping, I’m not ‘thinking’ about the condition of my 19, I’m not ‘thinking’ about my training, I am simply reacting to circumstances… because I trust my side arm and I have done my training. But what it really comes down to is what are you comfortable with? My system of strategy is defined by my likes/ dislikes and experiences. Find what works for you and run with it.

  25. The only thing I put on my primary carry guns, which are both Glocks, is night sights.

    In self defense cases that go to trail the DA can ANY modifications to make the defendant seems like some trigger-happy cowboy.

    During the GZ trail the prosecutor was using the fact that Zimmerman carried with a round in chamber against him. Now, to gun people that’s no big deal, but can you guarantee all the people on your jury will be gun people?

    External mods you may get away with, but internal mods are just going to make your lawyer’s job harder.

    No mods, nights sights are OK, factory night sights are even better.

    • Agreed 100 percent. I have no idea why people modified self defense weapons in any way. You are asking for both legal and possibly reliability trouble.

  27. Google T R Graham and get one of his barrel locks. Or catch him at the next gun show. He probably comes down to Austin.

    Easy swap too, no gunsmith needed.

  29. My Glocks are the only guns I own that I haven’t modified. Makes them a little boring but the warrenty/customer service is not something I want to mess with. My 20 year old G21 has gone back to Glock a few times, the last was for a new barrel which they replaced at no charge.

    • Agreed! Glock factory service and their inimitable customer support personnel are things that I don’t want to mess around with, either. (I had to learn this lesson the hard way!) After going around the carousel with Glock tech support several times I decided my Glock pistols would be better off staying at home. That’s, ‘Why’ I do ALL of my own Glock repairs myself.

      Then I take the finished Glock out and field test it for awhile before carrying it for SD. So far I’m still testing the very first Glock I ever repaired at home. It’s presently pushing 50,000 flawlessly fired rounds; and hasn’t needed anything more than a recoil spring change. (Which I get from Wolff Gunsprings.)

  30. Yes to modding for fun and profit. No to modding for defensive use. All of mine work just fine outta the box. If they didnt, they would go back to GA for a repair. Have seen several “modded” Glocks puke on the range. And oh by the way, what is up with LAV and BC? Thought he was shilling for DD.

  31. I’ll change the sights, and stipple the grip, but that’s it. If I were to buy a new Glock, I’d consider polishing the trigger group, but it would most likely smooth out after I put a bunch of rounds through it (which is what I’d do before carrying it anyhow)

    I’d never alter the factory trigger pull. Even if I’m 100% in the right to defend myself, I want to eliminate any chance of a “hair trigger” being presented to a judge or jury.

    I carry the same ammunition as the local police, so as to not hear about extra deadly hollow points. Agencies don’t allow officers to alter their duty weapons for the same reason, it’s a liability. The Glock trigger isn’t that bad, and for a combat tool it is better than a lot. If someone finds that it is unmanageable, they either need a lot more range time working on fundamentals, or choose a defensive weapon.

    None of that applies to range toys…I’m all for going crazy with the mods for that. But for training and carry/duty use, keep it stock.

    • Agencies’ primary liabilities are the officers they hire, not the equipment the officers carry. But I would like to see NYC sued because a bystander got shot because of NY’s infamous 11 pound trigger.

  32. I had a certified Glock Armorer to install a custom Gost Inc’s Ghost maker trigger package etc. in my G20. It minimized pretravel, eliminated over travel and gave it a nice short reset getting it as close as possible to the trigger feel of my 1911 pistols. Other than a tiny engraving on the slide end piece, it looks completely stock.

    • Sorry to hear! You should have that gunsmith remove the 4# striker spring, and replace it with a 6# striker spring. (I don’t know, ‘Why’ Ghost, Inc. uses those 4# springs?) All serious Glock trigger work (shooting) is done from the trigger’s reset position; and this position is best served by a 6#, and NOT a 4# spring. On onsie-twosie trigger pulls, the trigger will feel lighter when it’s pulled from the full forward position; but, THAT is not how you should really operate a Glock trigger.

  33. I’ve put some similar “custom” things on Glocks. Got a Ghost 3.5# connector. Got some other gee-gaws. Night sights. Blah, blah, blah.

    And, to not put too fine a point on it… when I was done festooning that piece of compressed cheez-whiz with these little baubles, I felt a little like I’d been caught leaving a whorehouse in broad daylight.

  34. I buy new sights, a barrel to shoot lead with, and enough mags to bring total to ten. Then I’m done.

  35. I’d throw the barrel in. Most of that stuff is just fluff, though. Guys gun is chewing him up because he’s gripping it weird. Same thing for throwing his aim north. I’d probably stick a laser in mine though. Not gonna hurt you to have extra options for sighting your gun.

  36. I hate the Glock sights.I swapped out the slide release for a larger one on both my 30 and my 19. I know, I know, the prevailing wisdom suggests that you should slingshot the slide, but if I am going to manually release it, I would like something better.

  37. I’m continually amazed that people will spend over a hundred bucks for an aftermarket trigger when they could get an excellent carry trigger for less than $20. It takes only 3 things.

    1. Glock 4.5 lb connector from the Glock. Its the same one thats in the G34 or G35.
    2. Wolff increased strength trigger spring. This spring actually pulls the trigger to the rear so an increased strength spring lightens trigger pull.
    3. 20 minutes with a dremel polishing the bearing surfaces including the striker face. If you want to get fancy, you can remove the striker safety plunger and chamfer the edge a bit more.

    Putting it all back together, you will find you have a genuine 4.5 lb trigger. I’m talking not a calibrated finger 4.5 lb trigger, which is invariably closer to 6 lbs. I’m talking 4.5 lbs as measured on a Lyman digital trigger gauge. The trigger will be slicker than bat snot and will still posses the excellent Glock reset “click” which doesn’t need any improving.

    If the gun will not be used for defensive purposes or stored/carried loaded, then you can further improve the pull by installing a reduced power 4.5 lb striker spring, also from Wolff. I’ve used one of these in my target only Glock for over 10 years and have never had a single misfire. Wolff also makes a reduced power striker safety plunger spring, but I’ve never noticed an improvement with its use.

    Don

    • Yup! I fully agree with you on points #1 through #3. The only thing I do different from you is to use both 6# striker and trigger (return) springs, (also from Wolff Gunsprings).

      It is, however, very difficult to get an entirely consistent trigger pull from Glock’s trigger bar system. What you, probably, get is actually a range of trigger pull weights. On my Glocks, and after taking 3 separate measurements, all from the middle of the trigger’s face, I’m getting a range of 4.9 to 5.2 lbs.; and, for me and what I do with my Glocks, that’s perfect!

  38. 1. TruGlo, ‘Bright Sights’ have a terrible guarantee, and even worse customer service.

    2. In and of itself a Ghost, ‘Rocket’ 3.5 lbs. connector doesn’t make a Glock anything anymore dangerous than, say, a standard Glock Model 34, or Model 35. Don’t use that stupid 4 lbs. striker spring; and you’ll be fine.

    3. Yes, use an enlarged slide lock. The one that comes standard is a, ‘bear’ for many older shooters to use (including me). ‘Extended locks’ increase the size of the factory part by so very little that they will easily fit into ANY holster without leaving a single mark; and, when it comes time to takedown your Glock that silly little 1/16” will actually make it twice as easy to get your fingers on.

    What part of a Glock frame usually causes the most trouble? It’s a seldom mentioned and little known fact that it’s Glock’s standard magazine release button-head. Lots of different things from seat belts to shooting your Glock left-handed can – and occasionally do – cause that button to release the magazine. When will you know you’re out ‘a ammo? When you either feel the magazine hit your shoe, or kick your mag. across the floor with your foot! How often does this happen? I don’t know about others; but it’s happened to me 4 times in 11 years.

    4. Grip tape? The really well made Glock pistols are, all, older third generation pistols. (Yes, these Glocks are so much better built than the pistols the factory’s producing, today, that I don’t even want to start the parts or manufacturing changes list. We can save that for another time.

    Older third generation Glocks are well served by, either, skateboard tape, (Which is fun to shape and cutout at home) or by some judicious stippling, done with a soldering iron in the privacy of your own garage. You don’t have to do the whole grip. Mine are done underneath my thumbs, along the top of the backstrap, and underneath the rear of the trigger guard – It’s a BIG improvement!

    5. Wilson match grade barrels? (Are you encouraging Wilson to advertise?) Most of the custom-fit, really accurate aftermarket barrels come from Bar-Sto Precision Machine; and they’ve been coming from Bar-Sto for many years. Wilson might make a fine Glock barrel; but they’re the, ‘new kids’ on the block. With Bar-Sto you get highly detailed instructions and a barrel fitting DVD to assist any reasonably competent mechanic to precisely fit his new Bar-Sto barrel at home. (So far I’ve done three of them; and my typical Glock accuracy has changed from just inside two inches to just inside 1.75 inches. Considering how inherently sloppy: Glock frames, slides, and their tilting (Browning modified) barrel lockups are, I think the improvement is pretty darn good!

    6. The above is what you missed! 😉

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