Battle Worn Red – Gen4 G26

Over the last 5 years of Lenny Magill’s GlockStore retail operation, our gunsmiths have seen some interesting firearms come into the shop for upgrades and repairs. We have had Colt 1911’s from World War II, Cowboy Single Action revolvers, German Lugers and Mausers, AR-15’s and AK-47’s as well as the occasional Austrian Glock. Everything from pristine looking, fully functional 100-year old specimens to literally falling apart rusted “I have no idea what kind of gun this is” models.

Most firearm enthusiasts know that a firearm in “Original” condition is generally worth more to a collector. A lot of buyers may see a rusty damaged pistol and want to refinish it to factory new looking. Some want an immaculate show piece for display or to brag to acquaintances. Others want to recondition the piece to take to the range and be able to boast they shot this historic item.

Our customers, however, always have a slightly difference idea.

Our buddy Hank S. called in and told us he wanted a new Glock pistol, but wanted it to have that “lived in” look. One of his shooting buddies (to tell the truth, most of them) has a bunch of guns that have seen some use. One particular Glock caught his attention. This original Gen 1 Glock 17 9mm has seen many moons, and several thousand rounds shot through it. As Hank told it, this pistol was his friend’s initial issue service pistol when the friend joined the local police department. Twenty plus years of wear, weather, holstering, shooting, cleaning, more shooting, more wear, more weather that has taken a toll on the exterior of the famous Glock flagship pistol.

His friend has changed some springs, magazines, and sights, so the interior of the gun has performed like a champ! The exterior of pistol however…has the look of having been dragged down a dirt road. A lifetime of scratches, dings, scrapes, and other scuffs has given this pistol a truly worn appearance. The nice thing about Glock pistols is like Timex watches, they truly “take a licking and keep on ticking” or in this case, shooting!

Hank’s buddy has no plans of retiring his pistol just yet, and continues to put hundreds of rounds through it each month. Hank told us he loved the worn look of his friend’s gun, and wanted something similar, without the 20-year wear-in period. He also wanted something other than basic black. He also wanted something a little smaller for concealed carry. He settled on the new Glock 26 Gen4.

We started talking upgrades, and Hank said he wanted sights, a trigger, connector, tungsten guide rod, and a cool paint job! I suggested he take a look at the GlockStore.com Videos section to see some of the upgrades he mentioned. Hank was a little quicker and told me he had spent the last few days watching ALL of Lenny’s videos!

He mentioned wanting the Double Diamond 3.5 Connector, and the Competition Spring Kit. I asked if he saw the Pyramid Trigger system. He told me he just watched the video, but had never tried the trigger. When I asked if he wanted a light trigger, with very little trigger movement and improved accuracy, he gave a very emphatic “YES! But not too light!”

Our Ultimate Pyramid Trigger System includes the 3.5lb connector, the competition spring kit, and has the availability to adjust your trigger pull weight from a factory stock 6lbs, to a more agreeable 3-4lbs. Or even to a competition weight of 2lbs! You can also fine-tune your trigger pull travel, and reset options to remove all or most of the long initial movement of the trigger before firing as well as the post firing trigger reset/release. This allows for faster more accurate shots by eliminating most of the extraneous movement of the pistol prior to and after the shot.

Hank choose his Gen4 G26 as a carry option and didn’t want an extremely light trigger pull as a safety measure, so we chose a 4lb trigger pull with a minimum travel length and reset. Each Pyramid Trigger comes with its own color option to match or contrast with the slide/frame colors.

Hank decided to go with a red color for the new finish, so I suggested a Black/Red trigger/safety option. I like this motif, as the red of the safety tends to stand out against most ordinary “black” pistols. Hank mentioned wanting some extended controls for ease of handling while shooting. I suggested the Factory Extended Slide Release and the Double Diamond Extended Slide Lock and our GlockStore Extended Gen4 Magazine Release. These extended controls facilitate operation under stressful situations by providing a larger button/lever to manipulate without compromising the smaller concealment size of the pistol.

Once we figured out the trigger option, we moved onto barrel, and sights. GlockStore offers several barrel options from Match Grade to Conversion, to Factory Replacement. Top of the Line match barrels require some fitment for more precise accuracy, while some of the conversion and factory replacement barrels can be simply dropped into the slide for almost instant use.

Some of our barrel options are BarSto Precision, Storm Lake, KKM Precision, our own Double Diamond Replacement and Conversion as well as Glock Factory barrels. Hank wanted Match level accuracy and decided on the BarSto barrel.

Then he asked about the Trijicon HD (High Def) night sights. This is a great set of night sights that have a florescent Orange or Yellow colored dot around the front tritium insert. This attracts the shooters eye to the front sight allowing for quicker sight picture. The rear sight has a larger aperture permitting rapid front sight alignment as well as two dot tritium inserts for low light shooting. Hank decided to go with the Yellow front sight as it contrasts with his red slide, and would stand out more to his eyes.

Then we started talking recoil reduction. GlockStore makes a great Heavy Tungsten Guide Rod for all Glock models. The Gen4 is no exception. Based on Glock’s dual spring factory guide rod, Lenny created a weighted Tungsten Copper Alloy rod that is three times heavier than the factory rod. This rod gives the pistol a slightly heavier feel in the nose of the gun that helps absorb some of the felt recoil during shooting. This weight allows for faster return target acquisition and follow-up shots as well as better control during shooting. We recommend the Tungsten rods over the factory plastic rod, and also offer a lighter weight, Stainless Steel version for those shooters who are carry weight conscious.

Concerned about the grip size of the pistol, Hank wanted a little longer grip than the Glock 26 offers. “My fingers keep slipping off the little handle” is a frequent comment we hear about the Mini-Glocks (G26/27). Although made for concealment these little firearms need a slightly larger grip for most shooters to handle. GlockStore offers several options for the 10-round magazine base that comes with the G26/27’s. First Glock offers a +2 Extension that adds 2 additional rounds to the magazine also giving an extra inch or so of grip length. One of our great vendor companies, Pearce Grip, offers several extension options, like the PG-26, PG-2733 and PG-39 that can add additional rounds, or a simple finger extension.

We also offer Hyve Technologies +2 Mag Bases and X-Grip Magazine Sleeves. These great products are some of the most popular magazine options GlockStore offers. The +1 & +2 extensions add one or two rounds to the magazine, and the X-grip offers a soft rubber sleeve to slide over the larger G17 and G19 magazines to allow a more comfortable grip while giving the option of more rounds. Well if you live in a non-Kommiefornia state that allows “standard capacity” magazines that is. Even if you live in a restricted state, you can still use the lower capacity magazines with the X-Grips sleeves. Hank chose to go minimal and went with the Glock Factory +2 extension.

To top off this “FrankenGlock” we need some color…and Hank’s was no exception. An avid fan of Race Car Red, he wanted the whole gun coated. I suggested some contrast with the extended controls and trigger colors. Since his Pyramid Trigger was going to be Black/Red, we decided to leave the mag release, slide release, pins and slide lock basic black.

“What can I do to give it a lived-in look?” Hank asked. I told him that we offer CeraKote ceramic based refinishing in a literal rainbow of great colors. Red being his color, we looked at Smith & Wesson Red and USMC Red. Hank likes the Smith & Wesson, so we chose that as the base color. Recently the internet has been lit up with the new “Battle-worn” look. This new style of coating gives the firearm a distressed scuffed look instead of a pristine shiny look. I showed Hank a couple examples and he thought that was the coolest look and exactly what he was hunting for.

We talked a little further about slide cuts, or other lightening options, and he decided to not cut or engrave the slide, but reserved the right to change his mind at a later date. I could almost hear Hank giggling over the phone he was so excited for his new build.

A few weeks later Kate, our GlockStore Custom Shop Manager, bought a Glock case to my desk and said, “Hey check this out.” Out of this innocent looking case popped one very red, very worn-looking Gen4 Glock 26. And just now I got an email from Hank… a proud Papa to a new “worn out” Glock!