Is it just me or has the GLOCK become the AR-15 of handguns? It started with the plate covering the rear of the slide, swapping them out for different patterns and designs. Then complete replacement slides for all kinds of GLOCKs which offer tons of great upgrades, and eventually every other part of a pistol. You can now buy a non-GLOCK GLOCK, that’s really only inspired by an actual GLOCK.
Along those lines, I ran KE Arms’ red dot-festooned GLOCK with their slide in the Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun earlier this year and really enjoyed the way it shoots, I think you might too.
Their ECHO Slide for $739 is hollowed out with an optics mounting cutout.
The DELTA Slide is also cut for an optic but the sides are much more closed in, available for $689.
The CHARLIE Slide isn’t as highly customized and is just lightened and improved for $639.
The slides cost more than the firearms. It’s a weird world we live in now. Never had the urge to modify my g34 or my g35. But then again as a automechanic I see money wasted all the time on the latest pimp tactic car parts.
My thoughts exactly. They look nice but I wouldn’t consider at that price. Maybe at 1/3
No Gluck is the Iphone, Prius, fakebook, etc metoo hipster thing of firearms.
Been saying that for years.
Glock is popular because it is cheap and reliable with an emphasis on cheap. It is popular in the LEO community because it is cheap and they bribe the procurement officer. Glock may be the first to come up with an inexpense, reliable striker fired plastic gun but, like the iPhone, the company had been less than dynamic and has been surpassed by many other manufacturers. This is what happens when you create a cult of loyal followers. Glock has known for many years what people really want in a defensive pistol and have done nothing to address it.
You kill me, man.
Hi-Points are cheap. Glocks are competitively priced.
You’re right about one thing: Glock has known for years what people want in a defensive pistol. Something simple, easy to maintain, good ammo capacity, not too heavy, reasonably priced and absolutely reliable.
For those with disposable income, there are a lot of wonderful guns out there. Precision engineered, hand-crafted, beautifully adorned, with sweet triggers that break like an ice cycle. Fun to shoot the ears off a fly at forty paces. And plenty of the same folks who buy these guns carry a Glock every day.
As for $700 replacement slides? Whatever. There are guys who put spoilers and racing suspensions on Honda Civics. If you earn it, you can piss it away any way you want.
Glock knows that people don’t like the trigger, sights and many would prefer a better grip angle. These are low cost fixes. I doubt fixing these problems would change the price much.
I am surprised Glock hasn’t sued a lot of these aftermarket companies for patent infringement. You can build a Glock from non Glock parts. That is much different from building an AR-15 pattern rifle.
But what does it say about Glock as a quality firearm? Build-a-Glock started out as a market for parts to replace elements of the Glock that sucked. Glock perfection isn’t. They are the AK of pistols — mechanical reliable pieces of junk.
No, stock Glocks are made with perfectly serviceable, reasonably priced parts. Stock Glocks are still ultra-reliable, but utilitarian and a bit bland. Happily, it’s very easy to upgrade any part of a Glock as the owner may desire – but if Glock sold them with all the better parts the price would go up, and even then some users might not like the upgraded parts and want to replace them anyway.
Patents expire.
“You can now buy a non-GLOCK GLOCK, that’s really only inspired by an actual GLOCK.”
Which would be just about every plastic pistol available today. Which is also why the great unwashed refer to every plastic pistol as a Glock. As in, “Nice Glock. What brand is it?”
Oi, that’s a lot of money! I’d much rather have an STI 2011 or Perfect 10 than an Uber modified $1500-$2500 Glock.
I’m going classic in 2017, and my eyes are on Henry lever guns and the Ruger Match Champion. But I say that with a modified Glock 23 strapped to my hip.
These remind me of the fat guy who buys a titanium exhaust for his Corvette to shave a few pounds and add a few hp.
Yes, Glocks are somewhat like ARs now, including the capability to get 80% receivers and be completely off the government radar. However, the big difference between Glock and the aftermarket, is that Glock is cheaper…
Glock pretty much is its own platform / standard now with all the aftermarket parts. 1911 platform, AR platform, AK platform…
My G19 is completely stock and runs fine without all the aftermarket jazz but the intended purpose for mine is a snake popper and a reliable defense pistol.
<$500 price range, reliable, aftermarket, resale value, readily available parts, etc. I need to get some spare parts tbh, or just a second Glock…
Good grief that’s expensive!
I don’t mind blowing money on stuff here and there, but seriously?
I bought a Sig P320RX with Romeo1 red dot factor installed from Cabelas for LESS than that slide alone! But I guess some people just like blowing money, nothing wrong with that I suppose.
I’m laughing my buttocks off here.
The cheez-whiz cultists howl about the price of something made for their cheez-whiz Wunderpistolen because it is made from (drum roll please) something other than injection-molded cheez-whiz.
In this case, this bauble is made of 17-4 PH stainless, heat treated to Rc 42+. Complete overkill for the application, but it will give the gun store buzzword bingo players something new to play “one up” on the guys who are shooting pistols made out of hum-drum 4140.
I’m just about ready to lay down a wager on when someone is going to start pimping a Glock with a slide made of 5-axis machined Inconel…. because “Perfection.”
Ok, but the question is why? Yes, it is undeniably higher quality than the injection molded cheez whiz. So what? Clearly, Glock slides work just fine, so what the hell is the practical benefit to replacing the fully functional stock slide with another one that costs more than the whole gun?
I’m in agreement with you. Or, I was. I’m now far beyond asking that question.
The question of “why replace anything on a Glock?” is kinda a 10-years-ago question. Now we’re moving into “not only are they assuming you need/want a different slide, we’re going to make it out of this really super-duper stainless alloy, then heat treat it so that it’s achieving high strength!” They could have made these slides out of any stainless alloy – including the cheapest stainless alloys. They could have made these slides out of cheap steel too. Doing so would have been more than good enough. But no, they’re making them out of the stainless alloy we usually see used only on premium rifle actions, where the increase in strength is a good idea.
Both of my Glocks have Ghost connectors on them to play with the trigger pulls. Feh, ok, they work. If you asked me whether they were necessary mods, I would say “Nope, not even remotely necessary.” Pretty much, I just put them in there because they were free, and someone was asking me to evaluate them.
I look at Glock as the middle class Saturday Night Special. They’re guns that I’m not going to shed a tear over if I’m involved in a DGU and the Five-O want to grab them up for evidence. The only nice thing I can say about Glocks is that they work. After that, I have to think really hard to come up with one more complimentary pejorative to affix to them.
“complimentary pejorative” has to be one of the best oxymorons I’ve ever seen.
Would a skeletonized slide shorten cycle time appreciatively, say for 3-gun?
(It smells to me like the same mentality that has Honda guys spending $2,000 on an aero kit for a Civic)…
It looks cool? People waste money on stuff they don’t need? Its overbuilt? Its stainless? Who knows… I waste money on terracotta pots and cacti because they look neat and make pretty flowers.
Honestly I would like to see a Glock slide made from titanium. Just a standard one not all cut down but titanium for a lightweight carry gun. If Taurus can do it I think it is at least possible if expensive.
I think I am going to buy an extra slide and machine it nutty. then sell it for $1,000.00 how about that!!
And these things make my life $600+ better… how????? I’m still carrying my German PPK or a 1980’s S&W 469 9mm (which has NEVER failed to go BANG with any ammo.)
A lot of these aftermarket parts are being bought by guys building 80% handguns based on the Glock frame.
Looks like you are now able to buy an 80% slide to match.
Prehaps if Glock becomes the M17 we’ll see options for Glock building that are actually affordable.
Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and energy to put this article together. I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time both reading and posting comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!
You are my inspiration, I have few blogs and infrequently run out from
post :).