Ordered this over Memorial Day weekend from Brownells during their sale. 2 days after ordering it went on backorder because apparently they didn't actually have them yet. Finally shipped last week and after having to make a trip to the post office to retrieve it it's time to build a gun. Color and texture are apparently Brownells exclusives. I dig the texture a lot. I'll update this today as I go
I actually bought one of the purple gen 1 frames too when MidwayUSA put them on sale for 60 bucks. No idea when I'll complete it as my shoulder is too jacked up for me to entertain the idea of using a rotary tool right now.
You got the compact version with metal rail inserts right?
Ordered this over Memorial Day weekend from Brownells during their sale. 2 days after ordering it went on backorder because apparently they didn't actually have them yet. Finally shipped last week and after having to make a trip to the post office to retrieve it it's time to build a gun. Color and texture are apparently Brownells exclusives. I dig the texture a lot. I'll update this today as I go
The Gen 2 frame looks much better than the one I got though. The beaver tail has squared off edges for some retarded reason. I'll have to sand them down whenever I get around to messing with it.
Total completion time approx 4 hours.
I didn't use a drill press. Just a Dremel, files and some sandpaper. If I had to do it again I'd go the same route. At a point you've got to abandon the press for files or a Dremel anyways.
I bought some medical scalpels and scored the rails and barrel recess just so I didn't remove too much material. I had planned on using both my multi speed and 2 speed cordless Dremel but ended up just using the cordless on low most of the time. On high it started melting the plastic. I went on low with a small sanding drum and milled down to my scalpel lines.
After they were all knocked down to that point I opted for files and sandpaper. They make it easy to tell how much needs to come off. I put my calipers on each side just to make sure they were even. I did the rails first and once they were pretty smooth I hit them with 600,800,1200 and 2000 grit sandpaper and got them really slick. Periodically I would put a stripped slide on just to check fitment.
The barrel recess was the hardest part and probably would've been easier with a press and X Y jig. I used a small drum and a skinny elongated chainsaw stone. After the bulk of material was removed I used a small round file and sandpaper.
After milling it was time to drill the pin holes and this is where I started to get annoyed. Glock pins are metric but the drill bits they provide are standard and slightly undersized. I also had to tape the jig they provided because it wasn't snug on one end. Drilling was straight forward and they advise you to not use a press which I didn't. Instead of drilling straight through you're supposed to drill each end which is how I went about it. After drilling I tried to fit the pins sans parts and there was no way they were going in. I taped some 800 grit sandpaper to small wooden swab stick and opened them up ever so slightly. Went to work last night and figured I'd fight with them after a long night of fighting with drunks.
Cleaning the holes out helped and with the help of an armorers hammer and some elbow grease they went in. This is where I ran into my biggest issue. The rear rails they provide were different heights on each side. When I tried fitting the slide it wouldn't go past the rear rails. I put it in the jig and tightened it into my vise. Got out a wide brass punch and beat the one side down. This was mildly time consuming because I kept putting the calipers on it to make sure I didn't go to far. Every time I needed to measure I had to take it out of the vice and jig.
Finally got it evened out and started putting parts in. I opted for OEM parts because I've read people having issues with aftermarket stuff (with the exception of triggers)
Things were extremely tight and it took some doing to get the slide on. Once on it racked pretty easily. One side note it I polished the locking block they provided. The nitride finish was really gritty. After I got it together I racked it about 200 times and it felt great. Like a new Glock.
I didn't have much time to shoot so I only ran a few mags through. Started with 1 round for the first 15 and it locked back every time. Didn't have a single malfunction. All in all I really dig it.
I have to order a slide for mine. I think I'm von a get a 35 slide and out a .357 barrel in it. Preferably a lone wolf stainless whenever they show up again.
Going slow and repeated fitment takes patience, but also shows your experience with working with your hands. Congrats, you've done well with this project.
The only Gen 3 mag release I had on hand is this ridiculous Glock 34 extended job.
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