Custom Gun My Precious

Ken G. brought his Glock 23 into the GlockStore a few months back and told us that he wanted to make a special present for his wife. It seems she is a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan,both the books and the movies. He wanted something understated, but unique. He wanted a custom Glock that would showcase his wife’s enjoyment of the LotR stories, as well as her love of shooting.

Ken’s Glock 23 was equipped with a Double Diamond Conversion 40-9mm Replacement Barrel and Heavy Tungsten Guide Rod. He also added a GlockStore Square Aluminum Magazine Release, and Extended Slide Lock as well as a Glock Factory Extended Slide Release. Ken’s wife has been training with these extended controls and really enjoyed the ease of manipulation and operation of the pistol.

Ken and I traded phone calls and emails for about a week, trying to pin down the look of the gun. Then one morning, when I arrived to work, he was there waiting for me. “I’ve got some ideas,” he said. And then we began.

With the parts selection pretty much decided upon, we sat and talked about the engraving for the next hour or so. We discussed numerous images from the movies and finally settled on an image of the “Eye of Sauron.” To keep it understated Ken wanted the JRR Tolkien logo to be stippled on the sides of the frame.

I grabbed Ryan, our Laser Engraving specialist, and Daniel, our proclaimed “Stipple Master,” to run the ideas past them. Ryan can engrave almost any image on a slide or, as it turns out, even on the plastic frame of a Glock pistol.! And we don’t call Daniel the Stipple Master for nothing! He has created some of the most unique artwork ever melted into polymer.

Daniel told us that he could stipple the logo, but suggested it would have a cleaner appearance if we laser engraved it. Ken told us to go for it, and then asked about some grip modifications for his wife, who has smaller hands.

Daniel suggested Finger Groove Removal and a Palm Swell Reduction. The finger groove removal takes off the “speed bumps” of the front grips and allows smaller hands to get a higher grip on the pistol with out the finger grooves getting in the way. This modification also works for larger hands, removing the distraction, and possible /discomfort, of the finger grooves. The palm swell reduction reduces the curvature of the back strap area to diminish the bulk of the grip and smooth out the grip texture. You can leave it smooth or restipple to bring back the consistency of the original grip feeling. Ken opted to stipple the front and back of the grip to return some of the textured feel to it.

Laser expert Ryan worked his magic on the frame, engraving the unique JRR Tolkien logo on both sides of the grip. This technique lightly melts the polymer to form the design. It offers a more precise image than the stippling can produce. It can also be engraved deep enough to color fill, if so desired.

Once he completed the frame engraving, Ryan set to the task of Deep Engraving the Eye of Sauron onto the slide.We found several images of the Eye that Ken liked but selected one that represented the Eye above the helmet/mask of a Nazgûl, the dreaded Ring wraiths sent to retrieve the One Ring. Ryan once again worked his laser magic and created an awesome image of the Eye and helmet for the top of the slide.

To finish off this amazing piece of work, and in keeping with the idea of the movies/books, we needed to add a small bit of the malevolent influence of the ring by including Sméagol (aka Gollum) who was corrupted by the Power of the One Ring. Ryan laser engraved Gollum onto the rear Custom Slide Cover Plate.

You should have seen Mrs. G’s face when she picked up her “new” pistol! She immediately clutched it to her chest and proclaimed, “My Precious!”