Ever felt the sting of disappointment when your GLOCK doesn’t deliver as expected? Often, the issue lies with an easily overlooked component: the barrel. Like many shooters, you might have experienced how a generic or ill-suited barrel can affect accuracy and consistency. This common problem doesn’t have to be a roadblock.
Faxon and Refactor have joined forces to create this comprehensive guide, crafted with the shooter’s needs in mind. They’ve pooled expertise and conducted extensive research to present you with the best GLOCK barrels. Let’s delve into their guide and discover top-tier options that promise precision and a rekindled enthusiasm for shooting.
Why Upgrade To An Aftermarket GLOCK Barrel?
Even though the OEM GLOCK barrel with polygonal rifling is pretty damn good and will do the job for the average gun owner, there are two primary reasons to upgrade to an aftermarket barrel. First and foremost is accuracy.
Most shooters will never practice out past 25 yards with their pistols. But if you want to stretch the effective range of your pistol to 50 yards and beyond, you’ll need a good match-grade barrel. A good-quality match-grade GLOCK barrel will consistently cut your groups by as much as 50 percent at 50 yards.
The second reason is to have a threaded barrel for a suppressor or compensator. If you’re thinking at all about adding a suppressor or comp to your GLOCK down the road, do yourself a favor and get a threaded barrel. If you don’t want to buy and change barrels constantly, getting a threaded barrel is a good idea. They also increase the cool factor of your gun. Let’s get into the GLOCK barrels.
OEM GLOCK vs. Aftermarket Barrels
OEM GLOCK barrels are renowned for their reliability and performance straight out of the box. They are designed to meet the versatile needs of most shooters, offering a balance of accuracy, durability, and cost-effectiveness. However, aftermarket barrels present significant advantages for enthusiasts looking to push their GLOCK’s performance further, especially in precision shooting or customization.
Aftermarket GLOCK barrels often come with tighter manufacturing tolerances, which can translate to better accuracy, especially at longer ranges. They also offer a variety of features, like different coatings for increased barrel life, threaded options for suppressor or compensator attachments, and aesthetic customization to suit individual preferences. While OEM barrels provide a solid baseline, aftermarket options allow shooters to tailor their GLOCK to specific uses, be it competitive shooting, hunting, or personal defense.
In summary, while OEM barrels maintain GLOCK’s promise of ‘perfection,’ aftermarket barrels offer the opportunity to specialize and optimize your firearm according to your unique shooting needs and preferences.
Button Rifling vs. Polygonal Rifling
When upgrading your GLOCK, understanding the difference between button rifling and polygonal rifling is crucial.
OEM GLOCK barrels typically use polygonal rifling. This type of rifling is known for its smoother bore surface, offering a slight velocity boost and easier cleaning. However, it’s generally less suitable for shooting lead bullets, as it can lead to faster fouling.
In contrast, many aftermarket barrels feature button rifling. This traditional form of rifling, characterized by its distinct lands and grooves, provides a better grip on the bullet per se and potentially improves accuracy. Button-rifled barrels are also more versatile, accommodating a wider range of ammunition, including lead bullets, without the risk of excessive fouling.
The 7 Best GLOCK Aftermarket Barrels
Faxon Firearms
Faxon GLOCK barrels are given a PVD or black Nitride coating to increase resistance to surface wear, lubricity, and barrel life. All barrels are conventionally rifled for various compatible ammunition, including cast lead.
They also drop into factory-spec slides with no gunsmithing required. Thanks to their better-than-factory tolerances, a more consistent, tighter lockup than OEM is guaranteed.
Faxon offers both threaded and non-threaded barrel options for your GLOCK handguns. Faxon GLOCK barrels are universally compatible with generations 1-5.
Wilson Combat
Wilson Combat GLOCK barrels are fully machined from aircraft-grade stainless steel blanks and heat-treated to R/C 40 for maximum service life. Critical manufacturing tolerances are held to less than .0005″ (one-half thousandth of an inch!).
To guarantee better accuracy, extreme care has been taken to ensure that the chamber is glass-smooth and perfectly concentric with the bore. They’ve routinely obtained test groups of 1/2″ at 25 yards in their barrel tests.
Throughout the manufacturing process, each barrel undergoes multiple quality-control checks, with a detailed final inspection prior to receiving the Wilson name. These barrels are compatible with all Generations of GLOCK handguns.
KKM Precision
KKM has been producing match-grade pistol barrels for 25 years and has a well-deserved reputation for excellence. If you want to shoot tight groups through targets or bad guys, KKM can help accomplish that.
KKM Precision GLOCK barrels use certified 416R gun-barrel quality stainless steel bar stock. The barrels are then heat-treated and vacuum-tempered. Finally, the CNC machining produces superior dimensional tolerances over mass-produced factory barrels.
KKM’s GLOCK barrels come with fully supported SAAMI spec match chambers for shooting factory or reloaded ammunition.
Lone Wolf
The Lone Wolf Industries Alpha Wolf GLOCK barrel series is available in stock length, threaded, and conversion caliber flavors.
Machined from 416 stainless steel (certified, stress-relieved no less), Lone Wolf GLOCK barrels bring premium manufacturing and features at an affordable cost.
Additionally, they are salt bath nitrided, fluted for heat dissipation and debris clearance, and are compatible with all generations of GLOCK.
Grey Ghost Precision
The Grey Ghost Precision GLOCK barrel is an excellent upgrade for a GLOCK pistol. The barrel is machined to “match grade” tolerances and has an excellent fit and finish.
Made from 416R Gun Barrel Quality Stainless Steel, a proprietary twist rate, and an optional Black Nitride Finish for durability without hindering performance.
Grey Ghost Precision barrels are manufactured with a final dimension of +/- 0.003″ for consistent accuracy.
ZEV Technologies
ZEV Technologies Match Grade drop-in barrels for GLOCK feature extremely tight tolerances. They are manufactured with pre-hardened chromium stainless steel (416R) that was originally designed for use in Match Grade rifle barrels.
This material provides high tensile strength and toughness to withstand typical chamber pressures while still being highly corrosion-resistant.
ZEV Technologies barrels are some of the most precise in the industry. Every barrel is double-honed (rough and finish) until a minimum surface finish of 16 RA is reached. The barrels are held to a final dimension of +/- 0.0002″ for consistency and accuracy during this process.
Agency Arms
The Agency Arms Syndicate Barrel offers great performance at an affordable price. This model designed for the GLOCK 19 features a smooth profile without fluting and a target-crowned muzzle.
The GLOCK 19 Syndicate Barrel is made to the same standards as the other models out of high-quality 416R stainless steel and extremely consistent broached rifling at a 1:10 twist rate.
GLOCK markets itself as perfection out of the box. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t take an already proven design and modify it to suit your style and needs. Swapping out the stock barrel for one of these aftermarket barrels is just one of many things you can do to elevate the performance of your GLOCK pistol.
perfekter.
i still don’t know which one i need.
Let’s turn this around. It would be very helpful to know which aftermarket barrels to avoid at all costs.
“Ever felt the sting of disappointment when your Glock doesn’t deliver as expected?” Uh, no.
No?
Just watched a few police shooting Youtube videos, and the Glucks jammed in a couple of real world scenarios.
That includes one where the police officer in Wisconsin died because he had to start clearing his jammed Gluck instead of returning fire.
That officer maybe alive today if not for his Glock.
There are way to many reasons to avoid this firearm, and this is just another.
Pause at timestamp 3:18 to see the jammed up Glock.
Can’t tell from that video anything about why it jammed.
But aren’t they “perfection” to begin with. Hmm, could that be marketing?
Wilson Combat seems like a good choice if you need to improve upon perfection.
“Wilson Combat seems like a good choice if you need to improve upon perfection.”
Always wondered just how much usable accuracy/improvement an average gun owner can achieve. And why a highly qualified gun owner (competition level) would use a GLOCK in competition.
Guess I am truly not a “gun guy”.
Well, speaking for myself and my 55 y.o. eyes and hands, most of my guns are more accurate than me so, accuracy improvements don’t mean all that much anymore – sight and optic improvements, however, mean a lot. In the last ten years I’ve spent a good bit more upgrading my glass than I have upgrading my steel.
MyName, I have a couple of Wilson’s firearms. They don’t shoot a lot better than other firearms I own, but they are “nice” and nice counts.
Nice does count. (at least with me) While they may not necessarily shoot better, I bet they don’t shoot worse.
(I don’t have anything by Bill Wilson but I do have a 1911 that Ed Brown showed some love to.)
There you go.
A true custom barrel must be made oversize and then hand fitted to the slide otherwise you are only deluding yourself if you think the custom barrel will shoot much more accurately than your stock oem barrel.
Although button rifled barrels have been blessed with the go ahead to shoot lead bullets you can shoot lead out of polygonal barrels you just have to keep them from accumulating a lead build up. I have shot lead out of polygonal barreled pistols and rifles for decades and never had a gun blow up but I do keep them clean and free of lead build up and they do shoot lead bullets accurately providing they are not undersize in relation to the bore size.
And remember if you shoot undersize lead bullets out of any type of rifling you will coat the inside of the barrel with lead faster than a cat can scratch his rectum and the gun can and probably will blow up in your face. So if you are the type of gun owner that does not often clean his barrel then lead probably is not a good idea for you to use no matter what type of rifling is in the barrel.
Fired 3-4k of cast lead club-made reloads out of my G-19 at my gun club range over a period of about 5 years before I moved up to a non-gluk as my carry gun. Never blew up nuthin’. Full of crab pinkobabble minor player.
Again with the “technical” shit? Now we know what you’ve been doing during your little hiatus…
Heh! “Technical shit” prompts me to point out that a cat would have a mighty hard time if it tried to scratch its rectum. Lick its anus, yes. Rectum, no.
Why do IDF combat dogs lick their asses?
To get the taste of Ham-Ass out of their mouths.
Lol, good thing Wilson makes barrels specifically intended to be hand fit to your I individual slide. Yup, even for Glocks.
He is full of crap his blues eyes turned brown.
Hickok 45 don’t seem to have any problems hitting the gong at 80yds with stock glocks.Save your money and spend it on ammo and practice,practice and practice.
Hickok 45, however, is not necessarily human. I probably could practice 8 hours a day for a year with a single gun and then get out-shot by him.
Wait , stop. Aftermarket barrels for Glock Perfection?
Cant be.
gluk gonna gluk
It’s 2023; “CNC machining” is not that big a distinction anymore. I don’t expect any mass produced barrel to be hand made on an old school manual milling machine or lathe.
Avoid Lone Wolf at all costs. I bought one for almost $200 and it was jam city. I couldn’t get through a single magazine with a FTF. Of course, there are no returns or exchanges after the barrel is used. I’m stuck with it and it’s useless.
You must have received a dud. I’ve never had any issues with Lone Wolf.
I bought a complete upper from PSA a few years ago. Shot 100 rds through it, determined it to be defective (gas block issue), shipped it back along with my findings/data, and they replaced it without issue. Only major part I’ve ever had to return to a vendor.
*WITHOUT a FTF…
lol
If you can’t find barrels for Glocks or AR15’s in 15 minutes or less, your lost.
As if those were the only firearms in existence.
“A good-quality match-grade GLOCK barrel will consistently cut your groups by as much as 50 percent at 50 yards.” -only if you are that much better shooter than the barrel. The vast majority of shooters can’t shoot well enough to tell the difference on the paper. Their shooting errors are bigger than the stock barrel’s
“Their shooting errors are bigger than the stock barrel’s”
Contrary to this common perception – a poor shooter needs an accurate gun more than the expert marksman. If hunter can hold a 12 moa group with a perfect gun, a 12 moa gun will saddle said hunter with an unacceptable 24 moa expectation in the field. Meanwhile, the theoretical perfect shooter will still be shooting a possibly workable 12 moa…
Put an Alpha Wolf in my G29, not much difference in accuracy but I sometimes shoot hard cast lead that Glock says can be problematic with the factory barrel. Used for four or five years now and I have not experienced any Feed, Fire or Extraction issues…
i have been a metallic cartridge reloader fer 40 solid years, bought a lone wolf threaded bbl fer a glock g21, gen1, years ago. Never had a problem with it, mostly legally shooting suppressed
I’ve shot Glocks regularly at hundreds of yards. You don’t need a replacement barrel. Thats just an excuse.
That being said there are some good replacements
The main thing – if you miss your target, do you know it is you?
If you are not sure that it is not the gun, you have a serious problem.
How to improve your Glocks accuracy by 50%.
Buy a HiPoint.
If you can’t get it done with an OEM barrel…you ain’t gonna get it done with an aftermarket barrel.
When you buy a GLOCK you need new:
1. Barrel
2. Trigger
3. Sights
4. Slide.
5. Grip Module.
6. New Gun
When I put an aftermarket barrel in mine, noticed the reloads that worked fine in the OEM barrel got caught up going into battery on the aftermarket one. could swap back and forth and replicate the issue easily.
Had to shorten the OAL a bit to make them function. Nothing wrong with it, and to be expected, was just interesting to me, as it was clear the aftermarket barrel was different in some minute way.
I’ve had a KKM barrel on one of my G34 competition guns for about 10 years. It is more. accurate than stock. But the chamber is also MUCH tighter than stock.
There are slightly defective reloads that I’ve made that will function flawlessly in the Glock barrel but will not allow the slide to go into battery with the KKM barrel.
For this reason and many more, I will only carry a Glock with a factory barrel.
Remember that all else being equal, precision and reliability can work against themselves. When it comes to chamber size this is definitely the case.
A match barrel with a “squishy service” trigger and striker action like a Glock is a waste. Get a match pistol if thats what you want and start from there. There are now double column 2011s so the accuracy and capacity arguments are over. I’ll get around to that one of these days…
What do I carry? Glock…light, high cap, adequate shooter. Speedy presentation has impressed multiple miscreants. Shoot far? Jim Hoag 1911… one hole Ransom rest pistol at 25…plates at 100 all day. Try before you cry, gearheads, because I’ll bet you mine against yours and take your money.
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