Awhile back there was a thread on here discussing the issues with Glock inaccuracy due to poor barrel fit which got me thinking about the old school method used in the 1970’s to help with making 1911’s more accurate. Basically the issue with Glock is the lock up is loose, to the point its sad. Its almost upsetting that Glock figures 4-5" groups at 25 yards is an acceptable thing. Back to my earlier comment on refitting the barrel to reduce this issue, back in the day it was accustom to lengthen the barrel hood by welding it then refitting it to the slide on 1911’s to help with lock up (tho on 1911’s there is more to it than just the hood length)
Here are the results of my experiment on my personal Gen4 G19 and a friends Gen3 G26. The results speak for themselves. I did not save my before target from my G19 so I made sure to document the G26 before and after to show the results that I was seeing. On the G19 test target you will note that there are a few stragglers in the 8 ring, this was due to finding the best way to bench the gun as i did not have a good rest at the time (that has since changed) The first time I shot the G19 at 20 yards it was 4" high and 3" right and after the refit there was less than 1" difference between 7 and 20 yards. I have put 1,650 rds through my G19 with no change in the results, including a 250 round abuse run, firing 50 rds as fast as I could drop a mag and load another one. Here are the results of the refits-
Every gun is an individual. My stock except 10-8 sights glock 19 and 26 give me sub three inch groups at 25 yards, so I do not see they would be helped much by such efforts but clearly there are some out there that may.
People have done this in the past (for competition guns) but I think it fell out of popularity as aftermarket barrels became available since the Glock rifling isn’t optimal for lead bullets
I’ve never seen a Gen4 19 that locked up anything less than ‘tight as a drum’.
I’ve personally owned three of 'em and have shot many more in the past five years and accuracy was never once an issue. I’ve taken several back to 100 yards on a 1/3 IDPA steel and had no trouble making hits.
There is a Gunsmith down in Texas that makes a Slide Lock lever that the locking channel is not as wide as Glocks. I have two of them and they helped my G-35 and G-19 get tighter accuracy as the barrel has less distance in that locking channel to put it back closer to where it was before. As I recall (from 5 years ago) the price was $12-15 each. Don’t recall who but google may be your friend.
Interesting experiment. The Bar-Sto barrel I installed on my Glock 22 required some fitting in the same area. Perhaps that is one reason it improved accuracy.
Do you believe that a tighter fit between the locking block and barrel would produce better accuracy?
Yes, there is a lot of slop in that connecting point and the smaller channel helped my G-35. I did not have many fliers after installing it. At 67 I am not as good a shot that I was at 62 but I did notice a difference. I have tried google and have not found the gunsmith that made them yet.
A member on here was kind enough to send me a few of them that I have run in my carry gun and a few other guns consistently for thousands of rounds.
I have not seen an actual increase in accuracy solely from that piece alone. I have, however, seen an increase in accuracy after I added a barsto barrel to my g19 which already had the match grade slide lock.
Just reiterating, a lot of this stuff has been done to squeeze accuracy out of Glocks, people have messed with frame rails to get a similar effect. I think it was either peening or bending frame rails to get the barrel tighter to the locking block and the older guys on the Brian Enos forum say it worked
I know I keep bringing up the Brian Enos forum but if you are interested in this type of stuff it would be worth checking out
At the end of the day it is still a Glock and I think accuracy is ultimately limited by other factors so I am not sure if it is worth it. If you are that interested in accuracy it may be time to get a revolver or a 1911/2011.
Trust me I’m a 1911 man first and foremost and rarely without on of my Wilson Combat’s on my side. This was more for fun than anything else. Its the same concept as having a fitted barrel in an M&P. The fit between the barrel hood and slide is partly what slows down the unlock time, so holding the barrel “fixed in position” for a millisecond longer will allow for better accuracy.
From what I have found its not the block in the frame that is the issue but rather the hood length, hence why I tried this. Your right in the end its a just a Glock and people want a $500 mass produced pistol to shoot like a custom built 1911. Factor in that with my own curiosity with the issue of unlock time I figured why not give this a try?
samuse-I checked the hardness of the barrel and found a donor material that was within the same Rockwell range, but I too am curious about the longevity of this. I don’t think a tighter hood would cause it to crack as I have it to the same specs as what I have fit Storm Lake barrels into Glock’s and they have been shot to Hell and back with no issues.
He was talking about the slide itself being fragile.
As to finding an equal filler, the hardness of the starting filler is fairly irrelevant to the finished weld hardness. The entire weld as well as the heat affected zone of the base material will be changed. Depending on conditions of the welding process as well as the materials involved you can get softer, harder, more brittle, less ductile, more susceptible to fractures or peening and a whole host of other property changes. Some changes may be more beneficial and some may be detrimental. Even the simple techniques used to weld it can make a huge difference, especially when welding harder and/or dissimilar metals (a little of both going on here). Any sort of inclusions in the weld or diffused gasses will also change the properties as well as president, post and interpass weld temps and processes.
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