The question above is asked a lot and I can understand why – drill presses can make accurate holes. Surprisingly though – DO NOT USE A DRILL PRESS WITH YOUR POLYMER80 JIG! How’s that for an emphatic answer – now let me explain why this is so.
The cool jig that Polymer80 came up with is designed to be clamped from the bottom and three holes on each side to be hand drilled. All of the stresses and what not on the jig were planned so the holes would go in the right place. Laying the jig on its side to use a drill press has led to alignment problems and frames that don’t work so don’t use a drill press.
The jig is clamped standing up and a hand drill is used to make the holes. The smaller holes use a 3mm drill bit and the larger hole requires 4mm.
While we are talking about drilling – do a hole at a time and do NOT drill straight through. The reason you do a hole at a time is that you can afford the angle to be slightly wrong on one side but if you go straight through and the angle isn’t perfectly true then the hole on the other side will be way off. Trust me, do a hole at a time. Yes, do take your time and try to drill a hole that is perpendicular to the frame – meaning not at an angle one way or another off the center of where you need the hole.
Any 3/8 or 1/2″ hand drill will work just fine. A cool perk with the old Ryobi drills is that they have a level built into the tool holder.
Use 3 & 4mm Drill Bits
The frame needs 3 and 4mm drill bits and the jig is labeled for what size goes in what hole. If you need the bits, we sell nice drill bits that are perfect for this. Click here to go to our Polymer80 tool page.
I’d definitely recommend you use a vise to clamp the bottom of the jig. That’s what the jig was designed for.
So, you don’t need a drill press but I would recommend a vise to hold it vertically nice and steady. You can get pretty good deal on little 3-4″ removable vises that will work just fine or you can use any woodworking or metalworking vise if you already have one.
In Conclusion
No, you don’t need a drill press and for that matter you should not use a drill press because the jig was not designed for it. However, you do need at least a 3-4″ vise, hand drill and the right size bits to do a good job drilling. From there, you still need to trim your top tabs, remove the barrel block, clean things up and then you can install the parts of your choice.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
I recently built a Polymer80 PF940CL – their compact long model. This is an interesting variant because it is a their Glock 19 grip but built to use the longer Glock 17 barrel. I had a threaded barrel I could have used but opted to get one of the Storm Lake model 34000 barrels after doing some digging around on their quality. I’m impressed and figured it made since to share a quick review with you.
Storm Lake barrels are made in Tennessee. While not everyone may know their name, they’ve been around since 1983 and sell barrels for 1911s, Glock, Springfield XLs and S&W M&Ps.
Their barrels are made from 416 stainless steel, are hardened to 40-42 HRC and rifling is 1:16LH. The rifling is broach cut to support both jacketed and lead bullets.
My Glock 17 Barrel
The 34000 is a 9mm 4.49″ long barrel with no ports that weights 0.30 pounds. I don’t plan on running a suppressor or a compensator so there was no real reason to have threading especially if I ever carry it.
Here’s my 4.49″ 9mm barrel. The black stuff is carbon from shooting. It’s an accurate and reliable barrel.The feed ramp is nicely done. I don’t shoot unjacketed bullets but it worked great with S&B 124gr FMJ , 115 grain FMJ – not sure of the maker – and 124gr Hornady Critical Defense HP rounds.There is a slight crown to protect the muzzle and rifling.Here it is in the PF940CL
All in all, I have nothing negative to say. I am not some super duper target shooter. It’s accurate enough for me under 25 yards and I’ve not had any problems. Now part of that is the build and the magazines too but again, no problems!
I have no hesitation recommending Stormlake barrels. Best of all, I think they are very affordable and show that you don’t always have to spend a fortune to get good quality.
The best selection and prices are actually on eBay. The following are items live on eBay for the G17, 19 and 34 plus other models so just scroll down:
Conclusion
I hope this helps you out!
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
The factory sights on Glocks leave a lot to be desired in my opinion. I like fiber optic sights but also want sights that generate their own light at night. Fortunitely, TruGlo has upgrade sights for Glocks that can do just that. They are the TFX Pro model sights.
The fiber optics use daylight and are very nicely visible. I know there is a trend for red dot optics on pistols but I would rather opt for simplicity. The other really nice thing about these sights is that they use tritium to generate their own light at night – some sights make you charge them with a flashlight but not these. The only issue to bear in mind is that the Tritium isotopes with flouresce for about 10 years and then be dead. My thinking is that is a loooonnnngggg time from now plus it just would affect the night use at that time.
So, let’s get to it, Installation has two discrete steps – replacing the back sight and then the front sight. Both of these can be done by most home gunsmiths because the Glock design is pretty forgiving. Some pistols require a top notch MGW sight pusher to be removed but not the Glocks. The below is based on my experience installing these sights both on my Polymer 80 based Glock 17 and 34 Gen 3 compatible pistols.
Tools & Supplies
I’m kind of like Tim The Toolman Taylor, if you remember the show Home Improvement. I like tools and don”t need much an excuse to buy one in order to try and do the job the right way. When it comes to the rear sight, some guys use a 3/9″ piece of Delrin or wood dowel to tap the old sight out. Because of my hand tremor, that’s risky for me so I looked into sight pushers and decided to go with the Wheeler Engineering Armorer’s Handgun Sight Tool.
For the front sight, a dedicated Glock front sight tool can make the job a ton easier because they are shallow and have a magnet that will hold the tiny screw in position while you get it started. A regular nut driver is too deep and the tiny screw will fall into it vs. being held nicely in position.
Tape to wrap the slide and protect it is a recommended. I use painter’s tape.
Getting Started
Make sure the weapon is unloaded and clear – no magazine and nothing in the chamber.
Remove the slide
Remove the spring and the barrel to get them out of the way – you don’t need to remove anything else.
Wrap slide with painters tape to protect it from scratches leaving the two sights exposed.
I did my back sight first and then my front sight.
Procedure – Back Sight
To remove the back sight. I followed the instructions with the Wheeler unit and flipped the pusher over to use the angled face. Mine was set for straight-edged sights from the factory.
I also oiled all of the threads on the Wheeler.
I secured the slide in the Wheeler unit taking care to make sure the slide was the right height so the pusher would engage the sight and not bind on the slide.
The factory Glock rear sight pushed out incredibly easily. I can see why some guys just drive them out. However, I really liked the control the Wheeler gave me.
I then lined up the replacement sight and pushed it into place – checking over and over and making minor adjustments to ensure it was in the center.
The Truglo has secured by a set screw that I backed out, put a dab of blue/medium Loc-Tite on and then tightened down.
That was it for the back now on to the front.
Procedure – Front Sight
Turn the slide upside down and you will see a small hex head screw that must be removed. I used my Glock Front Sight tool for that.
Push or tap out the original sight.
The replacement TruGlo unit is a tight fit I had to firmly press it into position. It is an interference fit so don’t remove a ton of material so it just falls into the slot cut in the slide. It needs to be pressed in as this helps with alignment and retention.
Put blue/medium Loc-Tite on the screw before reassembly. This is mandatory. If you do not, it will shoot loose over time and you will lose your front sight.
Use the Front Sight tool to reinstall the screw with the Loc-tite and tighten it down.
Done.
Conclusion
I really like the TruGlo TFX Pro sights. They are very visible both during the day due to the fiber optics and at night due to the Tritium. They were well worth the investment. I hope this helps you out.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
I am learning a great deal about Glocks via the Polymer80 frame based Gen 3 model 17 and 34 pistols I built. In working with the pistols, I found there are three upgrades that were required immediately for me to more readily operate the pistols. Anybody can do these three – replace the slide stop, slide release lever and the magazine release. Fortunately they are relatively inexpensive so let’s step through each in this post.
Slide Lock Lever
Okay, when I started the Glock 34 compatible pistol using the Polymer80 PF940v2 frame, I had never really stripped a Glock before. As soon as I was working with the slide I absolutely hated the barely protruding OEM Glock slide lock lever. Because of my carpal tunnel and years of abusing my hands, I could barely feel the blasted thing let along get enough grip to easily pull it down. Seriously – I hate that little part. It turns out that I’m not alone. A ton of groups make a replacement unit and they just make the slide stop a hair longer and it makes all the difference in the world.
This will take about five minutes. Procedure:
Ensure the weapon is clear, meaning unloaded and no cartridge in the chamber.
Remove the slide
Before you remove the slide stop, note which way the depression is oriented at the top of the slide stop – the new one will need to face the same way. The hooked face should face rearward.
Use a Glock takedown tool or a small screw driver to reach in and depress the spring that pushes the slide stop up.
When you push the spring down, the existing slide stop can slide right out
While continuing to press the spring down, slide the new one in.
Confirm the orientation is correct – the hooked surface should face rearward.
Test by pressing down on the release – it should spring back up. If not, look to see if the spring fell out or there is debris in the spring channel preventing it from pushing the release back up.
Re-assemble and test your pistol.
Slide Release Lever
The Glock 17 has one of the worst slide releases I have ever felt. It’s a vertical tab that gives you virtually no surface to really push down on. Now, the 34 came with an extended release and that’s where I learned that it is a way better design than what the 17 has. A ton of vendors make and sell their versions. I just bought and installed a Glock 34 slide release on my 17. If you’re keeping count, this means the 34 really on has two upgrades I would recommend as it already has the improved slide release.
The first slide release I tried to do was a pain and took probably 15-30 minutes as I tried to figure things out I’d not seen a Glock’s insides before first hand. The second one took about 10-15 minutes and the third time (when I actually replaced the 17’s slide release lever with the 34 model), it probably took me about 5-10 minutes. In short, there is a learning curve.
Procedure:
Ensure the weapon is clear, meaning unloaded and no cartridge in the chamber.
Remove the slide.
Use the first punch to push the trigger pin almost all the way out from right to left when you are looking down at the pistol with the front facing away from you. This should not take a ton of force. I find some light taps with a small hammer help me but some guys do it entirely by hand.
I said stop short of pushing the pin all the way out because you just need to get it out of the slide release. You thin pull your pin punch back out of the release also but still capturing the trigger.
The slide release lever will lift right out.
Put the new slide release lever in its place.
Push the pin punch back into the release lever to orient it. This worked for me vs. trying to get the pin itself back in. Keeping it all aligned was the trickiest part when I first started.
Push or lightly tap the trigger pin back into place while driving the old pin punch out. Again, the punch is there keeping everything aligned so it’s acting like a slave pin. As you tap the real trigger pin in, the punch backs out.
Re-assemble and test your pistol.
Magazine Release
The other issue I found was that the OEM Glock magazine release was too short for me to easily reach forward with my thumb and drop the mag. Again, found I was in good company because a ton of other people feel the same way. Now, I opted for the Tango Down Vickers extended magazine release because it just sticks out maybe an extra millimeter or so and it makes a huge difference. Some other magazine releases are really only suited for competition because they are easily bumped and the mag released.
This is another quick and easy one. I did it one with a screw driver, once with needle nosed pliers and once with curved hemostats. All three work but I think the curved hemostat is easiest.
This will take about five minutes. Procedure:
Ensure the weapon is clear, meaning unloaded and no cartridge in the chamber.
Remove the slide so you have a clear view down into the magwell
Remove the spring wire from the magazine release by working it out of the groove cut in the side of the mag catch. Look at the replacement unit and you will see the slot I am referring to in the middle of the magazine release that is just big enough for the wire to slide into.
Remove the old unit and slide in the new unit
Move the wire back into the slot and test – it should spring back out when you depress it,
Conclusion
I hope this helps you out. I find my two pistols a lot more manageable with the above upgrades and well worth it.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Folks, Polymer80 is making some solid 80% frames that you can easily machine into a lower receiver that accepts Glock parts. The design of the frame and jig are elegantly simple and the quality of the end product is really up to you. The great news is that you don’t need to be a machinist to do the work. You just need to be patient, follow instructions and pay attention to details.
If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to check out Polymer80’s own How To page. I definitely recommend watching the videos and reading the relevant PDF before you begin.
In my last post, I linked to a number of resources you can use to guide you through your build. My aim is to give you a bunch of tips that can help you turn out a quality receiver. Let’s hit the four categories of things you will need to do.
Drill Six Short Holes As Labeled On The Jig
If you are concerned that this will take a ton of work, Polymer80 has designed a frame (what will ultimately become your pistol’s lower receiver). Folks, you drill six holes – the jig is marked with the exact spot and which size drill bit they supply that you should use.
The jig is clamped standing up and a hand drill is used to make the holes. Polymer80 supplies the drill bits for you. Note, my Ryobi cordless has a level indicator and it made it a lot easier to get things square.
Tips:
Stand the clamp on its side and secure it in a vise. It was not designed to be drilled laying on its side.
You want the jig to be held firmly at its bottom by the vise but do not crush/deform the plastic.
Using a drill with level indicators can greatly aid you in making a hole at right angles to the receiver.
Do not drill the holes straight through. Because the frame is relatively thin, it is forgiving if you drill a short hole slight off square, meaning not perpendicular. If you go straight through then you are way more likely to be way off, ruin the geometry and have just ruined the receiver, So, drill three holes on each side, six holes in total, being careful to line them up as best you can.
Take the time to read the jig markings – the M3 holes are for the pins that hold the blocks in place. The larger M4 bit is for the trigger pin.
After drilling, blow out your frame to get all the little pieces of plastic debris out. A common problem guys run into is having a small piece of plastic down in the slide stop spring channel that the recoil spring can hang up on. So, blow it out. I use compressed air in my shop but do what you can even if it means blowing with your mouth and visually inspecting the frame to make sure all the plastic scraps from drilling are gone.
Use a deburring tool or razor to carefully remove any waste plastic sticking out from either side of the plastic surface that you drill.
Remove the Tabs From The Top Of The Frame
This seems to freak people out because they think they are going to need a milling machine. You definitely do not need a milling machine – you can use a Dremel or file to remove the tabs. The trick here is to remove the tabs and have the end result look decent and not like a hack with a file went crazy and turned out something fugly.
My dad’s nail nippers – this tool is probably almost as old as me so maybe 40-50 years old. I’m using it to “nip” off each tab to reduce the amount of plastic I need to file or Dremel down.
Tips:
The first step is to get rid of as much of the tabs as you can with nail nippers. The idea is simple, snip off a bunch of the material so when you either Dremel or file the remainder down, you have less to deal with. On my Glock 34 build,I used an old pair of nail nippers (in the photo above) that belonged to my dad – my way of remembering him. On the second one, I took a cheap set of nippers and ground the head down so they would cut the tabs off even closer to flush. Either way works.
Leave the jig on if you want to play it safe. When you see red filings or dust from sanding, you know you are going to deep and need to stop,
You can either Dremel or file the balance down but when you get down near the surface start using a sanding block. Just take a piece of wood, wrap a strip of sand paper on it and then sand the receiver using even pressure. Start with 100-120 grit sandpaper and then go to 220, 440, and then 800. If you want to go higher, go right ahead but at some point your plastic is as smooth as it needs to be.
I use the little rubberized abrasive Dremel bits to smooth things out. You then apply a drop of oil and you will never know the tabs were there.
Clear Out the Barrel Channel
Again, the dreaded need for a milling machine seems to exist and again, you don’t need one. It is really important you do a nice clean job with a smooth finish or you will have seemingly random jams as the operating spring catches on some part of the frame that is still in the way.
Tips:
You want to only remove the designated slot they show in the instructions plus what needs to be removed is marked in the casting. Like I said, they put some thought into this.
DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE IT ALL AT ONCE!! You remove the material in sections.
If you decide to use their supplied end mill and put the frame in your drill press, do not treat the end mill but like a drill bit. An end mill bit requires a very rigid machine and that the operator has carefully and firmly secured the work piece. In short, you can’t plunge the end mill into the plastic with your hobby drill press without considerable vibration. The trick come down with the drill press (if you have one) and cut off a little crescent at a time. If you have mill, just ignore me – you know what to do I bet.
Some guys will use regular drill bits and drill a series of holes in the area that needs to be removed.
Unless you are a machinist and know what you are doing, don’t try to mill or drill material right up to the line where they say to stop at. Instead, remove material just shy of the line and then use a sandpaper to do the rest. I wrapped 100 grit sand paper around a dowel to rough in the shape and then went to 240 grit to finish up. You really do not need to go beyond that unless you want, The goal is to have a smooth surface that the barrel and spring will not catch on during operation.
We have a toolkit now that makes cleaning the barrel channel out way, way easier. Click here to read more.
Polish Metal Surfaces
When people make parts they usually get them close enough and call it even. This means there are small tooling marks, grooves, bumps and rough areas left in general. When you look at a firearm made by a high-end shop, you will notice that the surfaces are incredibly smooth – sometimes polished to a mirror-like surface.
Have you ever bought a firearm and at first it was really rough and over time in “wore in” or maybe somebody said “broke in”? What is happening is that the rough spots are smoothing out with wear. We identify the surfaces and do the same thing very easily.
These rubberized polishing bits for Dremels are awesome and you can get sets of them off Amazon.
Tips:
With polishing the goal is always to remove as little material as possible using polishing bits, stones or really fine 1000+ grit sandpaper.
Polish the hardened locking block rail system bearing in mind how it contacts the slide. You just need to polish the parts that engage the rail and not everything.
Same goes with the rear rail module that is just stamped stainless steel
Look at the trigger and polish all surfaces that rub against each other – the connector, trigger bar, etc.
When you are done, lightly grease these surfaces (I like SuperLube) and then cycle the action by hand a few hundred times and the same goes for squeezing the trigger. You will find that the action will smooth out even further … unless you do an awesome job polishing and everything is already mirror smooth.
In Conclusion
I hope this helps you out. My two Polymer80 built pistols are the smoothest cycling pistols I own now.
6/20/2019 Update: The Glock 34-style pistol is now my favorite. It is a tack driver and I plan to replace the trigger at some point this summer or at least go with some reduced power springs to lighten the pull.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Folks, I am not a huge Glock fan as a shooter. I appreciate all the engineering that went into it and it is a genuinely brilliant design but I don’t like the looks or the feel of the grip angle. With those words said, have probably pissed off at least half of you and let me explain.
Gaston Glock designed his pistols with functional reliability and safety in mind. When I look at a Glock, I can see a lot of similar design concepts to the Kalashnikov – good enough accuract, relatively loose tolerances and a polymer receiver that holds all the parts in alignment but doesn’t need a ton of strength itself. I’m sorry, but to me, the OEM Glocks are bland looking utilitarian workhorses – blocky, blackish things.
Over the past year, I have become aware of the exploding aftermarkets part market for Glock pistols. You can replace every part now it seems with flashy slides, triggers, brakes and more. There are even groups making receivers that use Glock parts but with their own twists.
This brings me to the one reason I have never personally owned a Glock even though I have shot friends’ pistols a number of times – they feel wrong in my hand. Gaston designed his pistols with a grip angle of 22 degrees relative to the centerline of the bore. He had really good reasons to do this and it works for many shooters but not me.
Scott Igert gave me some wise advice years ago – pick a pistol that feels right when you hold it – that when you bring your hand up the aim is natural and comfortable. This is sage advice because there is no magical perfect grip angle that works for everyone – I known this after making AK rifle grips with differing angles for years!
So what pistol do I tend to like in terms of feel? I like 1911s and doublestack 1911s the most. John Browning designed his pistol with an 18 degree grip handle based on his analysis of the hand and shooters at the time. Both these guys did their homework but the 1911 just feels better to me. Thus, while I have shot Glock 17s a number of times, I’ve never wanted one but I do like my 1911s.
This bring us to the part of the story I really want to convey. I’d seen ads from Midway USA and others about Polymer80’s 80% receivers (frames) that can use Glock parts. I never really was interested due to my dislike of Glocks plus the resulting costs of the builds weren’t competitive with commercial pistols.
As it turns out, I was lacking some important information that when I found them out, caused me to move ahead with building two Polymer80-based pistols.
The grip angle is 18 degrees and since it is a doublestack design, it feels really good to me.
The trigger guard is sculpted to allow the remaining fingers to fit under the trigger guard in a more natural manner.
It has an integral Picatinny rail under the barrel.
The Polymer80 frames have a great reputation for quality
The Glock aftermarket parts scene was several orders of magnitued bigger than I could ever have imagined. You can pretty much create a custom pistol that looks substantially different from its Austrian ancestor.
Polymer80 makes a number of frames including ones for the G19-style compacts. My challenge is that I wear XL-sized gloves and my pinky finger does not fit onto a G19 comfortably plus I had a bunch of G17 magazines from a project I did some years back. I decided to build a full size pistol. [Click here for a list of Polymer80’s pistol frames]
So, figured it was time to give it a shot. It was Winter, I had time and I figured why not? It also helped that Midway USA was having a sale and I bought two of the PF940v2 full size frames for $110/ea to get the ball rolling. To be honest, I bought two figuring I might well trash one of the two. In other words,I had a spare just in case 🙂
I ordered a grey frame and an olive drab colored frame. I’m bored with all black weapons and I have to admit, I really like the olive drab. I do plan on doing another and may do it in black but the cool thing is that you have options.
Legal Note: In case you are wondering about the legality of building this type of pistol in your area, you will need to do some research. In the case of Michigan where I live, you need to go to your local Sheriff and get a pistol purchase permit and then fill it out with the maker as “Self-Assembled”, model as “NONE” and serial number as “NONE”. My local Sheriff’s department was very helpful and recommended that I wait until I was done with the build because the purchase permit was only valid for 30 days. I confirmed this with the Michigan State Police Firearms Records division and they too were very helpful. (Their number is 517-241-1917 so you can confirm the details . To be safe, I would urge someone from Michigan to do their homework and confirm my findings so you can legally enjoy your resulting pistols. I’m not a lawyer and this is not legal advice – just me trying to pass along what I learned so double-check.) I believe it is even easier for CPL holders in Michigan but can’t speak to that process.
What was in the box?
Just a few days after I ordered the two frames from Midway, they arrived. Each was packed in a stylish black box from Polymer80 and when you opened it, the basic parts are there:
The two halves of the red drilling jig
The receiver frame itself that you will need to complete
A 3mm drill bit for drilling the locking block pin holes
Two 3mmx25mm steel pins to hold the locking block
The front locking block, which is a substantial machined part
The rear locking block, that looks like a stamping
A 4mm drill bit for drilling out the trigger pin holes
A 9mm end mill for cleaning out the barrel block area
Here’s the unfinished frame sitting in the one-time use plastic jig.
Here’s the PF940v2 frame with the two halves of the jig. It is a very nicely engineered kit. You can do this!
Guys, being a 1911 fan immediately liked the feel of the grip angle and the girth due to it being a 9mm doublestack. I went from cautious to excited in a split second.
Okay, I jumped the gun a bit when I bought the frames as I knew I needed other parts but really hadn’t sorted out the details. That’s all that was there – you still need the other parts for the lower receiver and slide – the trigger, magazine release, slide catch, slide, barrel and so forth. There was a lot easier route I could have taken but buying the frames.
The Polymer80 pistols are genuinely fun and easy builds to do. The key is just not to rush. My first one took a lot more time as I tried to verify my understanding of every step before I did it. I’ve made a ton of costly mistakes over the years so I now try to be a bit more cautious.
As I wrap up this post, let me leave you with three big tips I have learned and want to pass on to you.
A must-do is to read the instructions on Polymer80’s How-to page and also watch their assembly video. They step you through pretty much everything you need to know. While researching, I did a couple of blog posts about videos I liked that give you additional perspectives – click here or here.
I would recommend either printing out the Polymer80 instructions so you ca follow them or if you want a second printed reference to follow albeit with slightly different steps, there is a good book that you can either buy the printed or Kindly copy of “Build Your Own Semi-Auto Handgun” by X-Ring Precision. I had both during the first build and just the Polymer80 printed guide out for the second build.
Lastly, I found out about 80P Builder after I bought the Polymer80 units from Midway USA. They sell parts as well as entire kits that can make this both easier and more affordable. I bought completion kits from 80P Builder. I ordered a Glock 34 slide, threaded match barrel and an upgraded internals kit that included a billet extractor. Because I didn’t know my way around a Glock at all, I paid them $25 to assemble the slide and they did a great job. Once I saw how easy the slide goes together, I assembled the second unit myself once I saw the quality of the parts in the first order but I am jumping ahead. Bottom line, I’d recommend 80PBuilder.com’s kits and parts. They are nicely machined and finished plus their pricing is very good and they ship quickly.
I’ll do one more post with tips and tricks. There is some great build guidance out there (see above). The Polymer80 frames are good-to-go. They are meant to create pistols that will see real use and there are tons of posts showing guys’ pistols still going strong after thousands of rounds.
I’d recommend a Polymer80 build to anyone who wants to build a “Not-A-Glock” pistol to their own specs. Sure you can build a bargain basement Glock 17-style pistol for under $500 but where’s the fun in that. When I tell Scott that I am going to buy something and leave it alone or build something basic, he just rolls his eyes and smirks. Yeah, I can’t do that 🙂
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
This is a really valuable book I had both it (the Kindle version) and the Polymer80 step-by-step guide open for every step I did.
The book’s author steps you through everything with very good illustrations to boot. Combine this with the guidance from Polymer80 and you are going to be very well armed to enjoy building a reliable Glock-style pistol.
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In the previous post, I told you about my finding Gunstreamer for firearms videos. What brought me there was that I was searching on Google for Polymer80 build videos.
On Gunstreamer I found this great video of a guy, who is obviously experienced in building Glock pistols, showing a build on a Polymer 80 Pf940V2 80% frame. He steps you through what needs to be done in terms of sanding, filing and drilling with the supplied jig and then he goes on to actually assembling the pistol.
I learned a lot watching the video – he has a solid informative style and shows you what he is doing.
We have a sanding toolkit to help you quickly and accurately clear out the barrel block area.
We have a sanding kit available for Polymer80 pistol builders that is designed to help you quickly and accurately sand the barrel block area so you can have a smooth functioning pistol. Click here to learn more.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at info@roninsgrips.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Please note that all images were extracted from the video and remain the property of their respective owner(s).
