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Modifying your handgun can be tricky and it’s not easy to do without compromising reliability. In this episode I’ll discuss what types of modifications I do to my carry pistols and competition pistols. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not a gunsmith, but I have learned a few things through trial and error and that’s what I’ll share with you.
Highlights:
- No one handgun fits every person or shooter. Like height and waist size, hand size and individual finger length vary greatly. What to do about that.
- Changing the grips.
- Changing the magazine release button.
- Changing the slide release lever.
- Magazine wells.
- Recommended gunsmiths.
- Trigger jobs (after the 1,000 round trigger job.)
- Does all of this help you shoot better?
- How not to compromise reliability.
Don’t forget to check out my YouTube Channel and also financially support the show if you can.
Resources:
Enhancing your service pistol, Dave Spaulding (Police One)
McKenzie, 11 year old girl at Tactical Response handling a full size Glock (YouTube)
Hey Bob. Good topic choice. It seems the first thing people want to do to a new gun is start modifying it. I must confess when I returned to shooting and started building my collection, my first inclination was to start modifying the parts you discussed. However, after much researching and thought, I came to the conclusion that with the exception of some trigger mods, the others should be left to competition guns. Manufacturers such as Glock and Smith and Wesson have been at this game for years and have put a good deal of their resources towards R&D. I figure the resulting designs provide the optimum in ergonomics, functionality and reliability or they wouldn’t be designed that way. Interestingly though, Glock did increase the size of the mag release on the Gen 4’s. Who says Glock doesn’t listen to their customers?
I was also glad to hear you endorse gripreductions.com as I was considering trying a reduction on my G23. I had stumbled upon their web site and was impressed with the prices and what I saw but wasn’t sure how good they really were. If you say their good then that’s good enough for me.
You also solved a problem for me. In one of your other episodes you used skateboard tape under a slip on grip. That was a great idea. I put a Hogue on my M&P 9mm and was having slippage problems. I tried golf grip tape but it wouldn’t stick well to the polymer or to the grip. Skateboard tape applied and problem solved. Thanks.