Primary Weapons Systems has released a replacement slide — the EDS or Enhanced Duty Slide — for Gens 1-3 GLOCK 17 and 19 pistols. Swapping this slide onto your gun is supposed to improve the trigger pull to a crisp, consistent, 4 lb. break. Sure enough, PWS’s factory-fresh demo GLOCK felt just like a normal GLOCK. Ten seconds later we’d swapped the slide and the trigger pull was excellent. I was shocked just how crisp it was with almost no creep at all and a very nice break. The slide also brings front cocking serrations, great looks, and DLC coating to the table. More details and photos follow. . .
Why not just swap out the entire Glock for a 1911?
Yeesh, you Glock guys and your hunt for a trigger that is like the 1911 are like vegetarians who continue to look for vegetables that taste like meat.
Why not go for the real thing?
(I hope this is the first post, I cannot wait to see the flames)
Maybe its because your beloved 1911 is archaic. If I wanted to carry something old and heavy I think I could find a rock in my backyard. I hope this is the first reply. Bahahah
Oh I almost forgot…SUCK ITTTTTTTTTT haha
I own and appreciate both. 1911s are classic and nice shooting guns. I use them for bullseye. Would it be the first thing I put in a duty holster? Of course not, the design is essentially outdated and overly complicated. Would I feel under gunned or worried if all I had was a (good quality, tested) 1911 to carry around? Of course not.
My duty holster contains a Kimber SIS, but I still respect Glocks.
In what way is the 1911 “overly complicated”?
I prefer reliability and capacity. A better trigger is just the icing on the cake. And with that logic, why bother with a trigger job on a 1911? I’ve done a few for folks in the past. Why mess with “perfection”?
… because it’s easier to improve the Glock trigger than it is to make a 1911 that weighs half as much and holds twice as much ammo?
I own 1911s and Glocks. I find that I carry the Glocks more because the ammo I use. I prefer JHP and the 1911’t like the ammo.
Some will call the 1911 old and archaic but it is a design that still works for what it was built for. That being said, Glock gets it done out of the box with little to no break in. I own a few Glocks in 45acp. I’m currently looking to dress one up. Right now one of my 1911s is my “Picnic Gun” but that could change.
OK, I’ll ask–how does changing the slide affect the trigger pull?
The striker is in the slide, as is what I guess you’d call the “sear,” which is the part of the striker that is held back by the trigger (it’s the silver rectangle sticking through the channel near the back of the slide in the 1st pic). There’s a flappy lever at the end of your trigger linkage, and that lever holds the striker mostly cocked after the slide cycles. When you pull the trigger, the lever slides downwards off the striker “sear” face until it slips off and the striker fires forwards. By changing the dimensions and whatnot of that striker lever sear face part, you can get rid of a ton of trigger creep and change the trigger weight, etc. Why can’t it be done with only a striker replacement into the factory slide? Not sure. There’s probably other stuff going on here like changes to the striker block safety plunger system and I’d guess that the striker is more cocked after the slide cycles than on a factory GLOCK. Normally the striker is only mostly cocked, so pulling the trigger pulls the striker back the rest of the way before it slides off and releases it. I bet this striker is almost entirely cocked by the action cycling, which would leave the trigger with nothing to do but release it. Closer to a true single action. Which is how the PPQ and VP9 have much better triggers than most striker guns.
So we have a much lighter trigger, still no safety? Real bright. No thanks.
Well people have been putting much lighter triggers in Glocks for decades. My personal opinion is that this isn’t a great idea for a self defense gun, as I am risk-averse when it comes to prosecutors using modifications against you. I would personally never alter the trigger pull weight or any “safety feature” (e.g. remove firing pin block to reduce pretravel and shorten reset) on a firearm that might get used for self defense. Swapping sights, improving the grip, sure. But I leave my trigger systems and safety systems alone on HD or CCW guns.
That said, there are a ton of people who compete and target shoot and plink with G17s and G19s and this slide looks really dang good and it improves the trigger in a huge way, and it would make the gun a lot more enjoyable on the range. And generally speaking I think a 4-lb trigger is perfectly fine for a self defense or carry gun. I’d gladly carry this pistol were this the factory configuration. So that said, I’m sure lots of folks who don’t have the “prosecutor” hesitancy that I do will consider this PWS setup.
Your holster is a safety.
Safety is between the shooter’s ears.
So sorry that LarryinTX requires an additional mechanical lever (or two) be added to his gun to make him “feel” safe; levers that are also controlled by the area between his ears.
The last three NDs/ADs that I observed at pistol competitions were accomplished by shooters using 1911A1s; more levers do not make you safe, and can actually make a person complacent about REAL safety.
Put words in my mouth much? My only Glock is an HD gun, in a holster with a full mag and an empty pipe. I need a gun to take a conscious effort to fire. So I just bought an LC9 with no inclination toward an LC9s. I also removed the safety and magazine disconnect, creating an LCP in 9mm. Get that? FEWER levers! Because it requires conscious effort to fire, as a revolver does. You do what you like, (though you could tone down the snotty attitude) but I consider Glocks unsafe.
You consider Glocks unsafe, but you use one for home defense?
You “…need a gun to take a conscious effort to fire.” So you bought an LC9 that had a safety (the disengagement of which takes a conscious effort, prior to firing) and removed the safety to get a gun that “take a conscious effort to fire.”?
Wow. Just…wow.
Good luck to you.
@Larry — not gonna lie, in a million years I wouldn’t use that LC9 for any defensive purpose now. Removing the two safeties? If you ended up in court after defending yourself with it, you’d get freaking crucified. What this all comes down to is buying the correct gun for you. If you don’t like the idea of a GLOCK with a 4-lb trigger, then don’t buy one. If you want a gun that’s like the LC9 but doesn’t have a safety, then buy a Beretta Nano or a Kahr or a Kel-Tec or whatever else. You think a 4-lb-trigger GLOCK is unsafe, but I think removing the safeties from a self defense gun is completely insane.
Safeties only work if you use them.
So, you’re saying that you think the PWS slide is redesigned to allow the striker to be fully-cocked? That’d be awesome if true.
If this is true it’s much more than a simple trigger job. If not, I’m curious what this does that a regular trigger job won’t accomplish.
It’s just a guess. But considering how short the trigger is, I don’t see how it could possibly be cocking the striker. The GLOCK trigger necessitates travel because the striker is only like 60% cocked by the slide and the trigger finishes the job. With the PWS slide on it, there’s a little pre-travel to clear the firing pin block out of the way and then it stops on the sear and doesn’t move (or just barely moves… maybe a mm of creep like a VP9) until the crisp break. There’s really just no physical way it’s cocking the striker back.
BUT… I only had the chance to dry fire it and it’s not like I took it apart and measured things, etc. But going back and forth between the Glock slide and the PWS slide on the same frame was a huge difference. Pull weight, sure, but mostly in the massive reduction in spongy creep (to basically zero) and much crisper, nicer break.
So it’s like a 1911 cocked and unlocked, except without a grip safety, huh? Definitely a gun to load once you’re on the firing line, and unload before you leave. Probably a hell of a lot of fun at the range, though.
@ Jeremy S–thanks for the explanation. if I got it right, basically you are buying modified trigger lockwork that is housed in the new slide. Right?
I’d say the bottom line is that it does, in fact, do what they claim it does. Exactly how it does it was speculation on my part. I’d suggest looking at an exploded diagram of a GLOCK to figure out what parts are where, or maybe there’s actually a diagram of the entire fire control group somewhere and you can see how much is in the slide vs. in the frame.
That’s funny. I didn’t read anything in the article about wanting a 1911 trigger.
If it’s a “duty” slide are they trying to cater to LE? if yes are there LE groups that allow modifications like this?
Scary!
Police being able to shoot more accurately…yes that is scary!
$550 with night sights?
There are sub $50 mods to make the glock trigger better. They probably don’t equal replacing the whole slide but for $550 you might as well be looking at more expensive guns from the get go.
Having the night sights installed in the slide is probably close to half the price of the unit. My first gen Glock model 17 has a pretty decent trigger around 5 lb. Did Glock do something to later guns to make the triggers worse? Besides the 11 lb NY trigger?
Well weight is really only a minor point. Nothing wrong with 5 to 5.5 lbs and 4 lbs isn’t necessarily better. What this trigger does that’s better is get rid of all of the creep and grit. The trigger quality once the slide was swapped was really excellent. Crisp, minimal overtravel, short reset, another crisp break. It’s a huge improvement, even if you don’t consider the pull weight change at all.
Jeremy, does that mean Glock gunsmiths can ‘smooth up’ triggers on stock Glock slides?
Honestly I’m not a big Glock guy. I know you can smooth the trigger pull out (remove grit) by polishing the surfaces that slide against each other. Mainly the trigger bar and the “sear” (which is what I’d call the part of the striker that sticks down through the underside of the slide). I suppose if you shortened that then it would shorten the trigger pull before the break because the trigger bar would slip off the bottom of the sear sooner. But I’m not sure if anyone does this as I don’t know if it’s safe on a Glock. Anyway my wild speculation on how the PWS does what it does is above haha 😉
Hmmmm $550 compared to 50-70 dollars of zevtech parts. Yeah a really tough call. Sheesh..
because changing the firing pin & firing pin spring plus changing the firing pin safety & safety spring yield changes to the trigger weight in a Glock, swapping this slide changes things! I suspect I want & need one (or 2). It wouldn’t surprise me to see a high level of polish/finish to some of the moving surfaces on these also.
I find that polishing the stock connector and trigger bar and tuning it exactly as glock recommends gives me a really nice trigger pull.
I actually hadn’t planned on getting a Glock anytime soon but got a PWS MK118 last year. I have been very happy with it and this offering by PWS makes a Glock all the more tempting…
I don’t know…. At that price point, it’s a bit of a ‘lipstick on a pig’ scenario for me. Or maybe like spending $3000 to put shiny rims on your Honda Civic. A Civic (Glock) is what it is. They’re great. Run like a clock and last forever. If I wanted a high end awesome custom precision machine though, I would have bought something else. I do love Glocks and have several. Sure, I’d love this slide and sights. But man, there are some real nice pieces out there if you want to go high end. I guess you could go this route, but then you’re quickly at $1100+ (with an extra slide gathering dust in your drawer)- which gives you some other options… anyway, just my preliminary take.
So why does this not work on a Gen 4 Glock?
There are some parts differences between the Gen 3 and Gen 4. You would probably have to ask the manufacturer as to why they didn’t do a Gen 4 version.
Thanks Howwdy.
It occured to me there might be patent infringement issues too.
Not sure if y’all watched the video or not, but Lindsey mentions that they’re working on a Gen4 version.
BTW may as well mention it here, I don’t currently own a G19 or G17. If I decide that I really like this slide and I want one on a Glock, you can buy just Glock frames on GunBroker and such for around $175. Then you could get this (or another) slide and an aftermarket barrel and recoil spring and have a pretty nice setup. Or you could even go aftermarket for the frame (e.g. Timberwolf full or compact size).
That’s interesting. Kinda blows my ‘too expensive and you end up with an extra slide’ argument out of the water. Would be a pretty bangin’ Frankenglock too, with a Lone Wolf threaded barrel and a PWS slide.
After market slide AND after market frame…is it even still a Glock at that point? 🙂
Dose it matter? You can build a 69 camaro without a single part being older than the wife’s leased Hyundai, it’ll be as good or better than the real thing anyway.
Kinda like George Washington’s axe after you replace the handle and the head. (LOL)
This seems way to expensive for what it does. For this price I could buy a second G3 glock and then buy the parts to make the trigger just as good.
Lindsay from PWS is purdy and smiles. I’d love to go to SHOT show… and ask her to go the range with me. 🙂
Just acquired the sole Glock in my stable, a Gen 4 30. Stock it had lots of grit in the trigger pull. Of course I had to get in there and smooth things out. I polished the contact surface of the sear face of the striker pin. Polished the area of the cross bar that slips off the sear. The inside area of the trigger bar that contacts the connector. I removed the hard edge off the plunger, smoothed and mirror polished it. I smoothed out and polished any machine marks on the contact area of the trigger bar that rides over the plunger. The only thing I see this slide can contribute to a crisp break are in the sear contact areas like the engagement angle and surface smoothness. Other than a highly polished striker channel inside the slide I don’t see that buying this slide would be worth it that you couldn’t accomplish doing the necessary work yourself.
Seems like a lot of metal being expended to solve the problem(s) at hand.
Front serrations are useless.
Only if you don’t use them.
If you use them you are doing something very wrong.
I see the anti-Press Check crusaders are here.
I prefer logic crusader.
What is illogical about a press check? Did some high speed instructor at TACTICAL OPERATORS SCHOOL FOR KIDS WHO DON’T OPERATE TACTICALLY tell you that press checks are bad and you’ve sort of just gone with it?
No. What I did was load my gun. Done!
A 3.5-pound trigger connector kit is only $9.95 from LWD. 3.5 pounds is the standard G35 trigger pull, which is intended for competition. When I owned my own G35, it was essentially a perfect setup out of the box and I didn’t need to consider polishing or “de-gritting” anything. Considering that the original barely must be used with the new slide, I fail to recognize any value here, other than the non-monetary advantage of swapping parts over to obtain a better trigger that appears to be less safe at the same time due to it now being almost fully cocked. IMHO that is the wrong direction to go for a duty pistol, which is traditionally supposed to be more safe. That was the whole idea behind the DAO approach, right?
From the Lone Wolf Distributors product page (I have no affiliation with LWD):
https://www.lonewolfdist.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=1031
The Lone Wolf 3.5 lb Connector is an improved version of the Glock original 3.5.
Special features include:
25% reduction in side thickness provides superior reset action.
The connector has been redesigned with new spring weights and angles for improved geometry and feel. Connector has a built in debris channel for improved performance.
Connector works with ALL Glocks regardless of model or generation (EXCEPT G42)
Precision target shooters and Law Enforcement personnel demand excellence in trigger performance. Now you can tune your trigger to perform its best! This drop in part is easily installed or removed and will instantly provide a lighter crisper trigger pull.
Fits all Glock models.
Want to know what the experts use to get the best triggers? (I added the prices)
1 LWD-UTS (Ultimate Trigger Stop $20)
2 LWD 3.5 lb connector ($10)
3 Lone Wolf 4lb striker spring ($3)
4 Lone Wolf 6lb trigger spring ($3)
5 Lone Wolf Lightweight striker, assembled w/4-pound spring, so delete the $3 cost ($53)
So, for less than $90 and 30 minutes you too can enjoy a short-travel, light trigger on any Glock platform.
Question, I know they recommend not changing out trigger springs if your use the slide; How about the Agency Arm’s Drop-in?