handgun facelift -...

www.gunworld.com | JULY 2016 | GUN WORLD 9190 GUN WORLD | JULY 2016 | www.gunworld.com

HandgunFaceliftGET YOUR GLOCK READY TO ROCKWITH THIS DIY PROJECT

OME PEOPLE LOVE ‘EM;some people hate ’em.Either way, the Glock hassome very good features thatmake it a very effective hand-

gun for self-defense, offensive tactical operations and competition. Nevertheless,you can add a few items to enhance thepistol and make it more personal.

Before we begin, I have one note of caution: If the gun is to be used for self-defense, be careful about installing aftermar-ket parts that affect the feeding, firing, andextraction and ejection of cartridges. In addition, any time these parts are added, always test the gun with a large quantity ofammunition before trusting the gun withyour life … or someone else’s.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY STEVE SIEBERTS

S

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PROJECT 1: BAR-STO BARRELStart by making sure the gun is unloaded.

Remove the slide from the frame, and thenremove the recoil spring and guide. Finally,remove the old barrel. The pistol is now field-stripped, and we can begin fitting the barrel.

Measure the length of the hood of theBar-Sto barrel, and then measure theGlock’s ejection port opening. Subtract thelength of the Glock port from the length ofthe barrel hood; this is the difference youneed to remove from the front edge of theBar-Sto barrel.

Use a #4 Swiss pillar file to file down the

edge. I always take a stroke or two and thentry putting the barrel into the slide. Whenit’s ready, press hard to get the barrel to gointo lockup. If necessary, you can use a softnylon hammer to tap it into place.

Use a blue marker to make sure you arefiling the surface square; mark where yourhigh spots are. If you are unsure of yourselfwith a file, use a soft India stone. With thestone, you don’t have a safe edge, unlike thepillar file, so you have to be careful not totake off material from two surfaces of thebarrel at the same time. Only the materialfrom the front edge of the barrel hood

should be removed. I like to fit the barrel until I can push it

up into battery and it will stay locked butwill drop out of battery with slight downwardpressure on the barrel's hood by using justthe tip of my finger.

Once the barrel is fitted to the slide,remove the material on the bottom flat ofthe barrel where the flat sits on the barrelblock. Again, use a colored marker to showthe high spots and where you need toremove material.

You are finished with the barrel/slideassembly when the assembly will install on

GUNSMITHING

This is the fitting area on the Bar-Sto barrel. The hood length is made a little long, so this edge is what needs to be removed. The barrelneeds to go up into the slide with a slight press fit.


ADthe frame. As long as it won’t go onto theframe, that means there is still material to beremoved from the barrel flat.

Once these two fitting points are takendown to the point that the barrel locks upfully into the slide and the slide assemblywill install onto the frame, you are done.

PROJECT 2: SIGHTSBecause I still want the night visibility

that tritium sights have, as well as thebright glow of the fiber optic for day use, Iwent with Tru-Glo sights, available fromBrownell’s, Inc. This sight combines thebest of both worlds: Tritium and fiber-opticinserts give me 24-hour visibility.

First, the old front sight comes off.Remove the 3⁄16-inch nut that holds the frontsight in place. It takes a special nut driver toget in there, but once it’s out, you can installthe new sight.

Degrease the threads of the new sightscrew. With a toothpick, place a tiny drop ofblue Loc-tite onto the screw threads. Placethe sight into the slide, and secure it withthe screw. Do not overtighten it, because youwill strip the threads. Just run it up snug.

With the thread-locker in place, that sightisn’t going anywhere. This is how I installedmy Trijicon sight, and it’s had more than40,000 rounds through it without any issues.

The rear sight is a little different. It ismounted in a dovetail; because of this, thereare certain “best practices” to use wheninstalling any part into a cross dovetail.

The main point is that the part—anypart—is always installed from right to leftinto the dovetail (when looking from the rear

of the gun). Because the Tru-Glo sight is an aftermarket

sight, I could have just driven it out withoutthe Glock rear sight tool; however, if you areinstalling or removing Glock sights, youmust use this Glock sight tool, becauseGlock rear sights require downward, as wellas sideways, pressure to remove them. Again,Brownell’s came to the rescue with the officialGlock rear sight tool.

The Tru-Glo rear sight was a perfect fit

BEFORE YOU SHOOT THAT GLOCK

1. Cycle dummy cartridges through it.

2. With the slide off the gun, depress the firing pin block, and shake the slide. You should hear the firing pinmove back and forth. If it doesn't, you've assembled it incorrectly.

3. Once the pistol is reassembled, cycle the slide and press the trigger. The gun should fire.

4. Hold the trigger in the depressed mode, cycle the slide, and release the trigger; it should reset. Then, pressthe trigger. It should fire.

5. Cock the gun and try to press the trigger without deactivating the safety lever in the center of the trigger.The gun should not fire.

6. Cock the gun again. Push the slide back, using the flat palm of the nonfiring hand against the muzzle, untilthe barrel drops out of battery. Try to press the trigger. The pistol should not fire. Hold the trigger back and release the slide, release the trigger, then press the trigger. The gun should fire.

The new sight isbeing installedwith a nylon drift.The sight goes infrom right to left.

AD INDEX

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ADCO 59

Alien Gear 97

Benelli USA 63

Blackhawk 7

Browning 93

Burris Company 3

Colt 2

Cor-Bon 35

Country Home Products 95

CZ-USA 29

Davidson's 99

Dillon Precision 73

European American Armoury 87

GTUL 67

Guncrafter Industries 47

Heritage Mfg. 37

Hogue Grips 75

Jantz Supply 38-39

Les Baer Custom 11

Navy Arms 79

North American Arms 65

Redding Reloading Equipment 19

Rio Grande Custom Grips 67

Rock River Arms 81

Savage Arms 55

Secure Medical 89

Springfield Armory 53

SSK Industries 83

Sturm, Ruger & Company 13, 100

Taurus - Curve 21

TruGlo 17

UM tactical 15


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PROJECT 4: GRIPThe last step is to remove the old grip and

install the new Brooks Tactical grip. This isthe same grip I originally installed, but theold one has worn out with age.

Installation is really straightforward: Re-move the old grip, degrease the grip areawith brake cleaner and wipe it down withthe alcohol pads supplied with the new grip.

The mag button on both sides needs to thatthe grip doesn’t adhere to the magrelease.

Wrap the new grip onto the pistol’sframe, per the instructions. If the grip isn’tapplied exactly correctly, you can lift it andmove it. However, try not to do that toomany times. The grip overwraps itself, so ifyou wrap it together, it’s difficult to removeit.

If you are lifting it off the gun’s frame,that’s usually not a problem, so you havesome time to get it right and make adjust-ments.

READY TO ROCKI have a pistol that is extremely accurate

with the Bar-Sto barrel, has excellent sightwith 24/7 visibility, a light, crisp trigger andexcellent textured grips that work in all environments and even work better with wetor sweaty hands.

Now, I just need to take it out to the nextIDPA match and run it through its paces.Stay tuned! (To see additional photos, go towww.GunWorldMag.com). GW

CONTACTBar-Sto Precision Machine(605) 720-4000www.Bar-Sto.com

Brooks Tactical Systems(253) 549-2866www.BrooksTactical.com

Brownell's, Inc.(800) 741-0015www.Brownells.com

Ghost Inc.305-252-7422www.ghostinc.com

Glock, Inc.(770) 432-1202www.Glock.com

GUNSMITHING

going into the Glock M17 dovetail. All ittook was a few good raps with a nylon driftpunch and a brass hammer to set it in thecenter of the dovetail with a nice, lightdrive fit.

I ran the sight set screw up snug, but Ididn’t use any thread-locker; I’ll do thatonce the gun has been zeroed.

PROJECT 3: TRIGGERUp next is the 3.5-pound trigger con-

nector install, which will give me a nice,light trigger. However, if you are using thegun for purely defensive work, leave theoriginal factory trigger connector andsprings installed.

The Glock is a great service pistol, butit has a service pistol-grade trigger, whichis fine for 90 percent of the situations forwhich the pistol will be used (such as lawenforcement, personal defense and militaryapplications). If you don’t mind the heavytrigger, it can even be used in competitionand informal plinking.

If you want to use the gun strictly tocompete in the various types of practicalpistol competitions, the service-grade trig-ger is not ideal—that’s where the 3.5-poundtrigger connector comes in.

There are a number of lightweightGlock trigger connectors available in theBrownell’s catalog. I chose the Ghost trig-ger from Ghost Inc. The trigger comeswith a 3.5 trigger connector, but it alsocomes with a variety of springs to set theactual weight of the trigger.

I installed the 3.5 connector, but Iopted for the heavier, 6-pound triggerspring, as well as the firing pin spring,which will give a little heavier trigger

pull in case I do want to carry the gunout and about. The result is a triggerthat breaks at slightly more than 4.5pounds.

The trigger connector is a directreplacement, and removing the old connectorwill allow for the replacement with the newGhost Inc. trigger. The Ghost trigger connec-tor comes with a small tab on the connectorthat requires minor fitting. This tab acts as atrigger stop, which is a nice feature to haveon a competition gun.

The kit also comes with a clear slidebackplate to view the sear and firing pinengagement when fitting the trigger connector.

The Brooks Grip is basically a wrap-around type of grip that is very easy to install, lasts forever and works great in all types of weather. Plus, itactually works better with wet/sweaty hands.

“ … YOU CAN ADD A FEW ITEMS TO ENHANCE THE PISTOL AND MAKE IT

MORE PERSONAL. “

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