After witnessing a few Glock DIY projects here and even being able to experience the outcome of one by a good friend (thejanitor), I decided to take the leap.
Grip was cut to G19 length, backstrap reduction performed, removed finger grooves and factory texturing, and re-textured by stippling.
The grip reduction was done by first heating up the plastic and then setting the backstrap against my workbench, and applying downward pressure to flatten the curve. Once re-shaped, took a Dremel and grinded down the factory texturing. Cleaned up the new surface and then stippled.
Interesting! I’m getting ready to buy my first Glock, a 17 and plan to cut the grip down to accommodate G19 mags. I’ll probably pay to have the work done by a pro but I’m not sure who just yet.
Thank you for the compliments everyone! I will definitely try to get more pics up.
My intention was to send it out to be done by a pro. But being most of my money is being allocated to an upcoming wedding, financially a DIY was my best option, so I improvised. Naturally, the single thought that went through my mind through the entire process was, “I hope I don’t F*ck this up to bad.”
i’m sure we’d all love glock even if they weren’t the modeling clay of handguns… but that sure does help. what an amazing pistol platform, that the end user can so drastically modify it and have it still work just as well.
good job, OP… if i didn’t have a bunch of other things higher up on the priority list, i’d be grabbing another g17 and doing very similar things.
one question, though- why’d you chose the heat-n-smoosh method (which i’ve never seen anyone do) over the better known fill-n-file method?
plastic resin or epoxy, for the most part… brownells sells a nice black resin that blends in really well with the black glock polymer- cant remember what it’s called.
With a candle. Would you believe it? I found this method on another forum while doing a google search on glock grips reductions. The trick is to go slow, holding to close to the flame could burn the grip and melt to an unmanagable state. Heat it, push down, repeat until it bends slow.
I agree about your comment about the Glock being an amazing platform. As an answer to your question, I chose the heat method being that I felt it would have been easier. With the fill method, you need to tape of sections, and be careful how far up the epoxy goes into the grip. Also, the fill method usually requires you to mix in a dye as most materials come in white milky color. Not to mention, I wasn’t sure how consistent the epoxy would be to stipple if i got down to it. A good point to note is, if using the melt method, be sure to have a wet rag in the mag chute so that the rear section does not warp hindering mag insertion. This was a great suggestion and point made from a good friend and I believe was greatly beneficial. Be careful, as this could end badly and be challenging to fix.
ThirdWatcher, I saw some threads about using the G17 as a base gun having its advantage for people who wanted a concealable package that retained the sight radius of a full size variant. Although this does not pertain to me, as Hawaii does not allow CCW unless you are LE, I thought of it as being advantageous because of how the gun fits in my hands. The grip of a 19 fits better for me and I was just thinking of trying to duplicate it for a 17. The project grew into a monster and decided to go for a custom look in the end. Another point to make is, being in Hawaii, again unless you are LE, we are restricted to 10 rnd mags anyway. Because of this, mag capacity difference between a 17 and 19 is a non-issue.
Ryan, Ive seen people use various types of epoxy or bedding material. A friend of mine who used epoxy did inform me that he did notice that the epoxy melted differently, thus making the stippling more of a challenge.
Hope this helps, and thank you all for the complements.
That gun looks amazing … very professional. I think it’s the best “amateur” job I’ve seen and better than most of the professional jobs I’ve seen.
I have a G17 that’s been chopped and stippled by Boresight Solutions and it’s probably my favorite GLOCK. I like it so much I’m going to send Ben another one to do for me.
I don’t like the fill and file grip reduction method. I had a G19 that had been done in this manner by a professional and I thought the bottom looked like a turd. I know it had ZERO effect on function but it bothered me to the point I sold the pistol.
