Filled, chopped, bobbed, gripped, and stippled...

[DIESEL326]

Nope, it's not a new style of Waffle House hash browns, it's my Glock 23!!!
When I was on patrol I carried a Glock 35, and you could typically bet I would a 96-100 shooter with it. But when I became a secret squirrel, I picked up a 23 as it is more concealable and wears a little better than the 35. I quickly learned that I was not nearly as good with the 23 as I am with a 35 or 22 even, and my scores started taking a Southward path and the last few times I've qualled I've been in the 92-96 range, and the last time I shot it was a 90! That is where I drew the line, and I began investigating what in the heck the problem was.
Other than I don't have time to shoot quite as much as I used to, there has been no difference in how I shoot from one gun to the next, so I was really at a loss. So one day I just sat down and looked at the gun in my hand. That is when I realized that the "hump" that is found on the backstrap of Glocks was the ONLY part of the backstrap that was contacting my hand. I have pretty big (and meaty) hands, and the pistol was just kind of floating off of that one point of contact.
It just so happens that I had recently talked to a local guy (also a LEO) who does alterations to plastic guns, and I was telling him the problems I had with getting bit by the slide, and that I had beavertailed all of my guns to combat that issue. But he told me that I didn't need to do that, but that I just needed to change the grip angle, and it would solve my woes. Now this gentleman does EXCELLENT work, and it does not come cheap (and nor should it) but I am cheap. Since I've tinkered with Glocks a bit in the past (and I've gotten pretty good with working on plastic through my holster biz) I decided to dive in...

First, I filled the hollow area behind the magazine well with steel putty and let that set over night. Then, I came back and sketched out the alterations I wanted to make with a Sharpie and fired up the belt sander. I straightened out the hump and then just knocked down the backstrap in general until I was happy with the feel.
Then, I decided that since I was committed to the experiment, that I would "bobtail" the grip since there was little bit frame hanging out of the bottom of my grip that wasn't doing any good anyway. The added benefit was that by bobtailing it, there was less of "print" when wearing the gun.
Next, I Dremeled the "checkered" area in the finger grooves as I generally don't care for the squarish checkering on Glocks anyway, and then plugged up the soldering iron.
I've done a little bit of soldering iron stippling before, and though it provides an excellent grip it looks like pure hell. So I studied some of the aforementioned gentleman's work and tried to replicate it to the best of my abilities. Again, I laid everything out in Sharpie and went to work, one dot at the time. Stippled the whole backstrap and grip panel area, and then got the finger grooves and the "finger off of the trigger area" just under the slide.
When all was said and done I was EXTREMELY pleased with the finished product, both aesthitically as well as functionally. So I decided that I would share it with you guys!
(Disclaimer: I will not do this to your gun... But I can certainly get you in touch with the man who can!)

[Car 4]

Looks like a good idea and a great job....is there any chance that it might weaken the frame. I understand that some Glocks have suffered frame cracks and I was wondering how much material you removed.

Kudos to you for taking a chance on messing up a great weapon....but looks like a good job to me.


Car 4

[DIESEL326]

Looks like a good idea and a great job....is there any chance that it might weaken the frame. I understand that some Glocks have suffered frame cracks and I was wondering how much material you removed.

Kudos to you for taking a chance on messing up a great weapon....but looks like a good job to me.


Car 4

Thanks for your compliments!
The only place that any material was removed was the backstrap, and that area was filled with steel putty before anything was removed so if anything, it should actually be much stronger. Otherwise the material is just displaced by the soldering iron instead of removed. Also, nothing is taken from the area where the slide is operating which is where I would think all of the stress is, so I don't foresee any issues.

The first time I started grinding and sanding on a Glock I was pucker'd up something fierce, and was really scared. It is very much a "point of no return" job to do once you get started. On this one, though I just jumped in head first and didn't worry too much. All in all it was about a 1 hour job, not counting the cure time on the steel putty of course.

[DIESEL326]

I failed to include the very dramatic results of all of this too... The day after I got it done I hit the range for a few minutes. I proceeded to put three mags through it from 25 yards with NO misses on an FBI "Q". That was quite a change considering that I had been averaging 3-5 misses from that distances prior to making the changes. Needless to say I am very happy with this pistol now (finally!).

[MacLean]

Looks as nice or better than the Robar job we did for our small handed officer.

Nice job!

[DIESEL326]

Thanks Mac!
Several guys at work questioned why I needed to remove material if "big hands" were the issue. And I can't fully grasp why that helps either, but it definitely made a HUGE difference for me.

[Five-0]

Bring that to the meeting tonight please. I want to hold that thing and see how it feels. I'll bring my new toy for you to check out.

[DIESEL326]

Will do...

[Bob Loblaw]

I want to hold that thing and see how it feels.

Really? Tell me more!

[Five-0]

Really? Tell me more!

It's all fun and games until you start discussing my piece.

[lewisipso]

Hahahaha!!