Glocks are popular and this has a good reason, but it does not mean that we cannot make them even better. Glocks are the go to gun if you like upgrades and customization. They have one of the best aftermarket support for gadgets, upgrades and mods.
Let’s be honest. Glocks are cool guns, well thought through, well-engineered, and they bring all the essentials with them right from the factory. This means, none of the upgrades are necessary to be able to use them, but they are fun to put on. Also, they make your Glock easier to use, more reliable, and more precise. You can hit with a factory version, but you might hit just a tad better with your custom gun and this also faster.
Table of Contents
The Glock Extended Slide Stop Lever
One weakness of the Glock, yes, something like this exists, is the slide stop lever. Not every shooter finds them comfortable to use. OK, there are ways around it. An empty magazine keeps the slide from going forward. Once reloaded, racking the slide will overcome the stop. However, there are shooters like me who like to just activate the lever to chamber the first rounds. In that case, the rather small lever that comes with the gun does not always allow to do so consistently. The extended Slide Stop Lever solves this problem quite easily.
Glock Extended Magazine Release
Hitting the magazine release does go smoothly for many shooters, but some have to shift the grip a little bit to just reach it. This means for these shooters they have to loosen the grip every time they want to reload. On the range, that might be fine, but in a real self-defense situation, this might cost you the fight. With the Extended Magazine Release, these problems will be history. You might also use some sandpaper to adjust the size and edge right to your specific needs.
The Ghost 3.5 lb Trigger Connector
The Glock trigger is not the worst that you can get but also not the best. There are better once out there especially for precision shooting or for people with weaker hands. There are a lot of nice solutions out there, but one of the most reliable ones is the Ghost 3.5 lb Trigger Connector. However, it does not really get the trigger pull down to 3.5 lbs. It is more like 4 lbs, but it is still so much easier pulling that trigger and consistently hitting the target with it.
Glock 3-Dot Night Sights
No sights, no hits, it is that easy. Now, the sights on your factory Glock are pretty decent, no doubt here, but there is still some room left for improvements. This comes into play especially when the light conditions are less then optimal. In such a moment, you would still like to see which way your little projectiles go, and therefore you need sights that are still visible.
The solution to this are the Glock 3-Dot Night Sights. They do give you just enough light to make them out clearly without compromising your position. You can engage the target even when it is hardly visible.
Talon Grips
Another annoying weakness of the Glock, at least from my experience, is the grip. It just does not lend itself to a nice sliding in there and holding the gun steadily. There are some self-made solutions that include soldering irons and polymer grips. However, I do not like to roughen up the grip of my gun that way. Maybe that is just me. However, there are alternatives. These come in the form of Talon Grips. With rubber, they are much more grippy and allow you to steady the gun when the recoil of a +P round reaches your hand. Even on a hot summer day after a lot of work and super sweaty hands, you can hold that gun.
Pierce Grips
We all like our Glocks so much, that we even buy the smaller ones as a backup, for our wives, or just to complete our collection. However, our Babyglocks, like the G26 and G43, do not offer much real estate when it comes to holding the gun. That makes sense, as it is supposed to be small. However, less real estate means leas surface to hold on. That affects accuracy. Here too, there is a solution. There are extended basepads out there, especially the pierce grips, that give you the grip surface you need. They might be contra-productive when you carry the gun, but even for this there is a solution. Carry the gun with one mag without basepads, and have your reload mags ready with these little extensions. This way, you can have more precision after a tactical reload.
SureFire X300 Ultra
Let’s come to a part that I quite frankly consider that important that it comes pretty close to the word “essential”. When you use your Glock for self-defense, there are three most probably usages. First, your carry gun, concealed or not. Second, it can be your gun for car- or third for home-defense.
For the home-defense situation, I highly recommend the following item. For car-defense, it is quite useful too. For a carry gun, it is nice to have, but you can easily live without. So, what am I talking about? A really good light.
When we take a look at the home-defense situation, when will it happen most commonly? In the night. Equally common is that you will not be the only friendly person in the house. There are roommates, family members, neighbors with keys who you have asked to take care of your home. Neither one of them, you want to great with a fast flying and potentially life ending projectile. You want to see who you shoot at without switching on the main light, hence the pistol light. At the same time, it gives you 2 more advantages. Whatever is in the center of the light once you switch it on will also be in the center of the flightpath of your bullet. Also, whoever is entering your house without a permission might do so straining his eyes to see something in the dark. He will not be prepared to stare right into the center of a very bright light followed by a loud bang and even brighter flash. In other words, for a short moment you can identify your target, aim, and slow its reaction down sufficiently to be in less danger of getting shot yourself, and all of this with your pistol light.
A carry gun or car-defense gun might be used equally easily in bright daylight or within an artificial light situation. However, you might also need your car-defense gun at night and in low light conditions, so it makes sense here. Although this applies to your carry gun as well, the fact that you carry it around with you might rather tell you to keep it light instead of adding the weight of a light.
Truglo TFX Fiber Optic + Tritium Sights
An upgrade for the range and competitions are some nice Truglo TFX Fiber Optic + Tritium Sights. They give you the edge when it comes to a fast target acquisition. 3 green glowing points help you day and night to align your sights correctly for precision under the pressure of time. Try them, train with them, and see how much you improve.
Apex Glock Trigger
Another great help on the range is the Apex Glock Trigger. It is actually a whole system that includes a trigger, trigger bar, and a disconnector. Just take out the standard trigger and drop in the Apex. Then you have a quick stop that shows you when the ease and squeeze begins, followed by a clean breck and a very short reset. You can hit much better and place follow ups much more precisely.
Grey Ghost Precision Glock Slides
Another nice to have upgrade is the Grey Ghost Precision Glock Slide. This is more for customization, but it also comes with its advantages. One of them is the really cool look. More importantly, however, is the tight fit. That allows you to shoot with much more accuracy.
Brownells Glock Slide
An alternative is the Brownells Glock Slide that offers you a better look and better accuracy as well, but at a lower price. At the end, it is a question of your personal taste which look appeals the most to you and which slide gives you the greater precision.
Lone Wolf Glock Barrel
The Lone Wolf Glock Barrel allows you another step in the customization process of your gun. With it comes the option of having a threaded. This allows you to mount a suppressor if you feel the need for that. It comes with a more traditional rifling that allows you to also shoot lead bullets without having to worry too much about lead building up inside. Furthermore, with it you can have a caliber conversion quite easily. You can change your 9mm to a .40 Cal or a .357 SiG in no time.
Red Dot Sights
Yeah, we had a night sight and a fiber optic sight, but now we arrive at the best you can use when it comes to aiming, the red dot sights for your Glock. One of the best to use is the Trijicon RMR. It offers you a clear sight picture with a nice little dot that is not to small to see but also not so big that it covers the target. With it, you can acquire the target very fast and shoot with an unparalleled precision. However, this comes at a price, but with a 4 year battery life you have the comfort to just change the battery every presidential election. A great plus is that it is not too bright for night vision goggles. With them, you still see the red dot flawlessly and the target as well. Also, it is waterproof.
If you just want to shoot very well, but do have some kind of limit on your budget, you get the best deal or rather the best bang for your buck with the Vortex Venom 3 MOA. Here you also get out a very well-placed shot in no-time. However, it does not go well with night vision as it is too bright. It is light and also waterproof.
