Glock 19L

[alvais]

Inspired by a thread on LF.net where people where chopping their Glock 17's to accept Glock 19 and 26 magazines and after drooling over the pictures of peoples' handiwork, I decided that my Glock 17 was going to have to undergo some surgery because I wanted a Glock 19L!

Here's my stock OD Gen 3 Glock 17 with a pinned 33 round mag:

And here's a picture of my brand new Glock 19L:

All it took to make this badboy was a Glock 17, a Glock 19 magazine, a china marker (grease pen), ruler, rotary tool with a fine sanding drum and a cutting head, a few hours, a lot of patience, and a lot of testicular fortitude.

Here are a few work-in-progress pictures:

Here's the almost-finished product with and without a G19 mag:

And here's one with a G17 mag inserted (this was a work-in-progress pic and the the bottom still needed some leveling out and the G26-type step-down on the backstrap needed touching up).

I've yet to range test my chopped G17 but can't wait to do so 'cause there may still be some fine-tuning left to do. I also need to make a half-moon cut in bottom of the frontstrap and bevel the inside of the mag well a bit more but I'm pretty satisfied with my first try at a chop mod.

 

[metcalfe]

Nice work. Looks like it work just fine.
You get the short grip for concealment, and the full slide for a better sight picture.

I think you're nuts for chopping the rare OD frame, but still much smarter than me.
I paid a lot more for a 19.

 

[TDC]

Wow, so you mangled a stock G17 for a shorter grip and gained nothing in performance. Sight radius is a myth and the increase of a mere .48 inches will translate into huge reductions in ones groups Hey whatever floats your boat I guess....

TDC

 

[alvais]

Nice work. Looks like it work just fine.
You get the short grip for concealment, and the full slide for a better sight picture.

I think you're nuts for chopping the rare OD frame, but still much smarter than me.
I paid a lot more for a 19.

Thanks metcalfe. I wouldn't say the chop was smarter than getting a G19 but it cost me around $7 and a few hours of my time to accomplish. Chopping the OD frame vs a regular black frame was a natural choice for me simply because it's my "never sell" gun so consequently I wouldn't mind the hit in resale value.

Wow, so you mangled a stock G17 for a shorter grip and gained nothing in performance. Sight radius is a myth and the increase of a mere .48 inches will translate into huge reductions in ones groups Hey whatever floats your boat I guess....

TDC

Mangled is a bit harsh.. I thought I did a pretty clean job . While I don't imagine the chop is going to result in huge gains in performance, my Glock now feels subjectively better in hand so yes, it does float my boat. Besides, Glocks are relatively cheap haha.

 

[avocado]

Looks good. Arts and crafts are what glocks are made for. If you like the 19mags then rockfeller that ****. I did the sand and chop on my front strap grip grooves. Not a fan of those dumb things. Feels way better in my hands now when building a grip. Might carve it out for 19mags too.

As if you can 'mangle' a glock. They already look goofy. The ones with paint, stipling and **** all over look well loved. Its a tool not a princess. But then again id mangle a princess too so im a bad reference.

-chris

 

[alvais]

But then again id mangle a princess too so im a bad reference.

HAHA! Too funny, Chris.

Thanks for the kind words. I don't mind the finger grooves because my hand seems to fit right into 'em so there's no discomfort. Then again, I had smaller hands so everyone's different.

I think a new model of Glock that reintroduces the Gen 2 flat frontstrap right out of the box would be pretty popular.

 

[Non-phixion]

At first I thought it would be an abomination when I first started reading, but it turned out really nice alvais. I've seen some horrid glock grip reductions and chops on some forums before, and yours is far from it. I also lol'd really hard at the testicular fortitude part. I don't know if i'd be willing to do that on my frame.

 

[TDC]

Thanks metcalfe. I wouldn't say the chop was smarter than getting a G19 but it cost me around $7 and a few hours of my time to accomplish. Chopping the OD frame vs a regular black frame was a natural choice for me simply because it's my "never sell" gun so consequently I wouldn't mind the hit in resale value.




Mangled is a bit harsh.. I thought I did a pretty clean job . While I don't imagine the chop is going to result in huge gains in performance, my Glock now feels subjectively better in hand so yes, it does float my boat. Besides, Glocks are relatively cheap haha.

Fair enough, mangle isn't referring to the finished product, just the nature of the project. And you're right, Glocks are relatively cheap and it still works so its not the worst bubba job.

TDC

 

[misanthropist]

I have a chopped 17...I like it for a couple of reasons:

1) G17s are way cheaper up here than G19s, and you can use a regular, factory, no-frills Glock barrel

2) Once they're cut up they have no resale value, so if you can find someone else's, you can get it cheap. The least I paid for one was something like $400.

Is a G19 better? Maybe, although I don't really think so. But it's definitely not twice as good, and I've paid less than half of the price of a new 19 for a cut 17. And probably a third the price of a used one on the EE.

 

[8 ball]

I have to admit I kind of like it. Especially the way the rear of the grip comes down flush with the bottom of the mag. Something else for me to ponder!

 

[alvais]

At first I thought it would be an abomination when I first started reading, but it turned out really nice alvais. I've seen some horrid glock grip reductions and chops on some forums before, and yours is far from it. I also lol'd really hard at the testicular fortitude part. I don't know if i'd be willing to do that on my frame.

Thanks Non-phixion!

Fair enough, mangle isn't referring to the finished product, just the nature of the project. And you're right, Glocks are relatively cheap it still works so its not the worst bubba job.

TDC

Why thank you . As far as the nature of the project goes, as long as there isn't a degradation of mechanical performance, any perceived advantages of having a shorter grip that doesn't affect the end-user's comfort or shooting performance is well worth it in my opinion. Now I'm not 100% sure that my chop mod hasn't affected my comfort/performance when shooting since I haven't taken it to the range yet, but my hand fits the modified grip with room to spare still so I don't foresee any problems in that department.

Something else for me to ponder!

Think long and hard 'cause you might just have a DIY project on your hands haha.

 

[avocado]

See I would chop down my 17 but I primarily use 17 mags even in my G19. I kinda like the appearance of the mag hanging out after my first reload. Also I have an RTF2 so I find that when doing ECQC it's easier for me to hold onto the slightly longer grip if the other guy has his hand on my gun. In contrast my 19 is a bit harder to hold on to. Maybe I should bubba stipple it..... hmmm.

-chris

 

[alvais]

See I would chop down my 17 but I primarily use 17 mags even in my G19. I kinda like the appearance of the mag hanging out after my first reload. Also I have an RTF2 so I find that when doing ECQC it's easier for me to hold onto the slightly longer grip if the other guy has his hand on my gun. In contrast my 19 is a bit harder to hold on to. Maybe I should bubba stipple it..... hmmm.

-chris

The RTF2 stippling isn't aggressive enough for you?