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80% Glock 17 Frame - Build Your Own Glock Frame

newenglandjeff said:
Have you tried that slide setup on an OEM frame to rule out a problem in the slide configuration? I wouldn't be surprised if something as simple as an aftermarket recoil spring was causing your woes.
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I don't have an OEM frame, but I have tried it on a Lonewolf frame without issue. The ejection wasn't perfect but much more consistent than this.

I am using an OEM recoil spring assembly. I may try an aftermarket RSA and play around with different spring weights.
 
my hope is that the polymer80 design fuels more R&D in the 80% pistol area. perhaps someone will release an aluminum glock 80%....if so i would be interested.
 
Boris said:
holy shit, that's a lot of dough, LPK was something like $75 and complete upper is around $300, but sometimes you can get refurb 22 slide for around $200(Apex?) and swap the barrel.

The slides isn't really a sunk cost, they are commodity and at least common Glock slides has kept their price pretty well.
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Yeah, I have enough into it that if the 80%er doesn't work, I'll buy a Lone Wolf or something like that. Or just swap the parts into my wife's G22 and run that as a 9mm. But I think I can get it to work. The Brawler upper comes with 3 different recoil springs, standard and then +/- 5% springs for suppressed or +P loads. I'll see what works. I plan on running it suppressed to it might work just fine with the stock spring.
 
Me too. I'd be all about that. I really want an aluminum HK USC lower that takes M3 Greasegun mags. I have the polymer version and it is pretty awesome but has some issues with the pins staying in place.
 
Newbie here, saw this thread, just wanted to jump in. Finished my Polymer 80 build, Glock 17 2 weeks ago. Took a while to fine tune the rear rails with a small file, otherwise it went smoothly Took it to the range last week, put about 30 rounds through, fired beautifully, my only issue was the slide not locking open after the last round. I realized the mag was not fully seating, probably by only a mm or two. I sanded inside the bottom of the magwell where the mag was hitting. Went to the range yesterday, 50+ rounds through no FTE's, FTF's, or stove piping. Everything ejected nicely, slide stayed open after last round. From my perspective, it cycled with no problems, I am happy so far. The concern I have is with the quality of the polymer overall, long term.
 
Squib308 said:
my hope is that the polymer80 design fuels more R&D in the 80% pistol area. perhaps someone will release an aluminum glock 80%....if so i would be interested.
Click to expand...

I have a steel Clock-compatible lower, and while it sounded like a good idea at the time there were issues. The Glock "system" if you will is designed around a polymer lower that flexes when the shot is fired and the slide moves back against the recoil spring. On a Glock the frame flexes a little, which causes the rails to drag on the slide a bit and retard the frame coming back. With a steel frame there's no flex, and the slide comes back with more velocity. Just doesn't work right. Oh, and the company that made the frame went out of business.
 
TheOtherDon said:
I have a steel Clock-compatible lower, and while it sounded like a good idea at the time there were issues. The Glock "system" if you will is designed around a polymer lower that flexes when the shot is fired and the slide moves back against the recoil spring. On a Glock the frame flexes a little, which causes the rails to drag on the slide a bit and retard the frame coming back. With a steel frame there's no flex, and the slide comes back with more velocity. Just doesn't work right. Oh, and the company that made the frame went out of business.
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Rail drag isn't an issue, if anything Glock rails are super loose like an old Romanian hooker at an AK factory. The locking block takes the energy and directs it downward, passing it into the frame ultimately, but on 9mm there is so little recoil energy that a limp wrist could cause slide to loose enough to not be able to rechamber the round.

I believe that there was one co that did steel frames, but it's expensive and market isn't that big actually. Most people can just buy glocks outside of the bizarrow universe of MA-CA-NY-NJ. The steel frames were also receivers which totally kills the buzz as well for those who want to make a ghost.
 
mwalsh9152 said:
What are your thoughts about the grip feel? Are they truly more like a 1911 in feel?
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Absolutely. I can't naturally point a Glock. I have to roll my wrists. I got to shoot mine last weekend and it is a natural pointer just like my 1911 and hi power.

I only had a problem with it not going into battery but it looks like it is the plastic rails just behind the rails on the locking block. Just have to knock them down a bit and it'll do fine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 
stacarter said:
Absolutely. I can't naturally point a Glock. I have to roll my wrists. I got to shoot mine last weekend and it is a natural pointer just like my 1911 and hi power.

I only had a problem with it not going into battery but it looks like it is the plastic rails just behind the rails on the locking block. Just have to knock them down a bit and it'll do fine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
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I truly wanted to buy a glock when I first started looking, but I HATED how it felt to shoot, it actually hurts my hand compared to my 1911. 19,30,36...they all felt like putting a 2X4 in my hand and hitting it with a sledge hammer.


I was in a 2 day class last week in Boston, and the VP of sales from Polymer80 happened to be one of my classmates. He was telling me about the new G19 lower that they were going to be releasing soon. It really peaked my interest, I might have to give one a try once they release it.
 
mwalsh9152 said:
I truly wanted to buy a glock when I first started looking, but I HATED how it felt to shoot, it actually hurts my hand compared to my 1911. 19,30,36...they all felt like putting a 2X4 in my hand and hitting it with a sledge hammer.


I was in a 2 day class last week in Boston, and the VP of sales from Polymer80 happened to be one of my classmates. He was telling me about the new G19 lower that they were going to be releasing soon. It really peaked my interest, I might have to give one a try once they release it.
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I'll be buying the g19 version too. The current version is pretty big around. Everyone who has held it has commented that it was really big.

But I shoot HK P7s so that doesn't bother me really.

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They just announced the G19 version. Releases in February. I'll be getting one and trying the CMC flat trigger if it is out then.

1d985da22b4aec38b9abdc459fd5cab6.jpg


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Rainier Arms just opened up preorders for the G19 version. It comes in two versions: one with factory texture and one smooth so you can texture it yourself. I've got a smooth one on order already. They ship in February. Rainier Arms says they have an exclusive at launch.

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So I sifted through and maybe I missed it, but is there a definitive answer if these are Mass legal or not? I wouldn't mind a project now that I finally have my LTC-A, But I don't to get spotted at the range with one of these and lose my LTC either.

(New to the board and yada yada yada, but you guys have despensed some great knowledge so after a few months of creeping I figured I would hang around)
 
mrdettorre said:
So I sifted through and maybe I missed it, but is there a definitive answer if these are Mass legal or not? I wouldn't mind a project now that I finally have my LTC-A, But I don't to get spotted at the range with one of these and lose my LTC either.

(New to the board and yada yada yada, but you guys have despensed some great knowledge so after a few months of creeping I figured I would hang around)
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The short answer is yes. After you build it you need to "register" it on eFA portal.
 
The slightly longer answer is yes because,

The AG's regulations ONLY govern what a DEALER can SELL to you. NOT WHAT YOU CAN OWN.

It is perfectly legal to own a glock, or any other handgun. You just can't buy some makes/models from a dealer.


ETA: "any other handgun" does not include full autos. Those are still NFA items, but that's a whole different ball of shit.
 
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Thanks for the answer and the slightly longer answer. I like to be as informed as possible. Looking forward to having a little project.
 
So based on some prices I'm seeing I'm considering building a full size Glock. Wondering what other experiences people have had using 80% lowers. Most concerning is reliability for me. Before all else it must work. Primarily this would be a range gun, but it's a "Glock" and I wouldn't want to own it if it wasn't something I could turn to if I needed t for more serious matters.
 
You gotta fit the rails is what I found. If you take the time to fit them, they run great. My G17 version needed some sorting on the top plastic rails behind the metal block as they were keeping my slide from going into battery. Once I fixed that up, it ran great.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 
TheOtherDon said:
I have a steel Clock-compatible lower, and while it sounded like a good idea at the time there were issues. The Glock "system" if you will is designed around a polymer lower that flexes when the shot is fired and the slide moves back against the recoil spring. On a Glock the frame flexes a little, which causes the rails to drag on the slide a bit and retard the frame coming back. With a steel frame there's no flex, and the slide comes back with more velocity. Just doesn't work right. Oh, and the company that made the frame went out of business.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I got it running finally in 9mm by using a 22# recoil spring.
 
I put some more rounds through my full size Polymer 80 today. As posted earlier in this thread, I had been having some pretty erratic ejection and a few failures to eject with mine, so today I tried it out with a different slide - a Lonewolf 17L length slide.

The ejection is a little better now, but it still has a tendency to throw empties back at me. I had no failures to eject this time, but a new issue has cropped up. Out of the first 100 rounds I put through it today, I had six failures to feed - all were the last round in the magazine, and they all occurred with different mags. The rounds would nose-dive and hit the feedramp. All of the malfunctions happened with Glock factory 10 round mags.

I had no malfunctions in the first 100 rounds with the 10 round ETS mags I had with me, so for the next 100 rounds I used the ETS mags exclusively, and had no more malfunctions - all 100 rounds fed and functioned perfectly.

This makes a total of about 500 rounds through this frame at this time.

I'm going to experiment with this a little more and try some different loads through the Glock mags (I was using a jacketed hollow-point bullet - maybe some FMJ roundnose will help with the feeding issue). If that doesn't help I will just stick with the ETS mags, because they seem to be working fine with this pistol.

I'm a bit happier with this frame now that it seems to be working much better. Next I may swap out the 336 ejector that is in it now with the 30274 ejector and see if that might help me from getting beaned in the head with the brass.

IMG_0349 by John, on Flickr

 
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jdesro said:
All of the malfunctions happened with Glock factory 10 round mags.
Click to expand...

Do these mags have the stock goofy ten round followers? There is a known issue with the 10 rounders doing this nose dive on the last round, particularly with JHP. The suggested fix on the intrawebs is to replace the followers with 9mm3 followers. When you compare both followers, they are distinctly different. The ETS 10 rd mag followers (from pictures I've seen) look like normal glock followers with the same shape as 9mm3.
 
jdesro said:
I put some more rounds through my full size Polymer 80 today. As posted earlier in this thread, I had been having some pretty erratic ejection and a few failures to eject with mine, so today I tried it out with a different slide - a Lonewolf 17L length slide.

The ejection is a little better now, but it still has a tendency to throw empties back at me. I had no failures to eject this time, but a new issue has cropped up. Out of the first 100 rounds I put through it today, I had six failures to feed - all were the last round in the magazine, and they all occurred with different mags. The rounds would nose-dive and hit the feedramp. All of the malfunctions happened with Glock factory 10 round mags.

I had no malfunctions in the first 100 rounds with the 10 round ETS mags I had with me, so for the next 100 rounds I used the ETS mags. exclusively, and had no more malfunctions using these mags - all 100 rounds fed and functioned perfectly.

This makes a total of about 500 rounds through this frame at this time.

I'm going to experiment with this a little more and try some different loads through the Glock mags (I was using a jacketed hollow-point bullet - maybe some FMJ roundnose will help with the feeding issue). If that doesn't help I will just stick with the ETS mags, because they seem to be working fine with this pistol.

I'm a bit happier with this frame now that it seems to be working much better. Next I may swap out the 336 ejector that is in it now with the 30274 ejector and see if that might help me from getting beaned in the head with the brass.

IMG_0349 by John, on Flickr

Click to expand...



I love how you look like a badass while getting pelted in the face with brass. You're def not limpwristing. Your ejector is good I take it. How much frame to rail slop does this gun have? Maybe it's an issue with guiderod stiffness?
 
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briz said:
Do these mags have the stock goofy ten round followers? There is a known issue with the 10 rounders doing this nose dive on the last round, particularly with JHP. The suggested fix on the intrawebs is to replace the followers with 9mm3 followers. When you compare both followers, they are distinctly different. The ETS 10 rd mag followers (from pictures I've seen) look like normal glock followers with the same shape as 9mm3.
Click to expand...

I haven't done anything to the Glock mags, so I assume they are the standard 10 round followers. I have read that the 10 round Glock mags can be problematic, so I'll try looking around for those 9mm3 followers and see if that makes a difference.
 
whatluck said:
I love how you look like a badass while getting pelted in the face with brass. You're def not limpwristing. Your ejector is good I take it. How much frame to rail slop does this gun have? Maybe it's an issue with guiderod stiffness?
Click to expand...

There is a little bit of looseness between the slide and framerails - the slide will rattle around a little bit on the frame if you shake the pistol - but I don't think it is too excessive.

As for the guiderod, I'm using a Wolff non-captive guiderod with a factory weight spring (which is 17 pounds, I believe). I may try going up and down on the spring weights to see if that makes a difference.

After a few hundred rounds you kind of get used to the brass pinging off your face, to the point where you don't notice it so much!
 
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stacarter said:
Did you texture that? I am still waiting on my untextured G19 version from Rainier Arms.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
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Nope, that's the textured version. It feels pretty good, I think.

The quality of these new frames is quite a bit better than the full size frames. It really looks like they put a lot of effort into getting these right, after I'm sure hearing so many complaints about the others.

Just the molding itself looks superior - on the full sizes I have you can distinctly see the mold lines, but on the compact they are non-existent. Also it has a much better feel to it than the blocky full size, and the blank plate molded into it for engraving a serial number, if desired, is a nice touch.

I probably won't get around to milling it out for a little while, but I'm looking forward to finishing it and trying it out.
 

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