When is a Glock, not a Glock? Well, the short answer would be when it’s not made by Glock. Gaston Glock’s Austrian, polymer-framed wonder-pistol completely revolutionized the handgun industry starting in the mid-1980s, and the Glock 19 is still the top-selling handgun in the USA for several years running. This popularity (plus the fact that the relevant design patents expired around the turn of the millennium), has created a huge aftermarket for the durable, simple, and reliable Glock pistol. In fact, today there are several manufacturers making Glock-pattern firearms that don’t use a single Glock-made component. The platform has become ubiquitous and generic, similar to what happened to the Colt 1911 or the Armalite AR-15.
However, as with those other firearms platforms, aftermarket Glock-style pistols vary in quality and value. So today we’ll clue you in on some of our favorites for aftermarket Glock-pattern pistols at different price points, including some brand-new offerings from unexpected sources.
Top Glock clone (aftermarket) pistols
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the Glock aftermarket, we need to emphasize that in the USA, the frame or receiver of a firearm is legally considered the firearm. By federal law, non-felon citizens of the USA who can legally possess firearms are permitted to build their own guns for their own use, and these firearms don’t need to be serialized. (Check your local laws for possible variations.) This led to several Glock aftermarket manufacturers offering 80% frames or receivers, meaning they were only 80% of the way finished in the manufacturing process. These were not legally considered firearms and could be sold via the mail to any free citizen, who could then finish the manufacturing process themselves. Media hype has termed these firearms Ghost Guns, and the legality of this type of incomplete frame, particularly in kit form with instructions and components for completion, is currently undergoing clarification via the court system. So, for purposes of this discussion, we aren’t going to be covering non-serialized or 80% frames, but rather the currently legal, serialized aftermarket Glock-pattern frames (firearms) and pistols that must be transferred via a FFL dealer like any other firearm.
With that out of the way, let’s look at some top choices when you're looking for a Glock that isn’t a Glock.
Lone Wolf DUSK 19
Lone Wolf Arms has been making quality aftermarket Glock parts and accessories since 1998 and replacement polymer Glock-pattern frames since around 2010, making them among the first ever offered. One primary selling point for the early (and current) Lone Wolf frames and complete pistols is the reduced 19-degree grip angle, which is very close to the Colt 1911’s 18-degree grip angle. For many American shooters who grew up shooting 1911s or similar pistols, the original Glock’s European-style 22-degree grip angle feels awkward and unnatural and results in the gun pointing high when presented from the holster. The Lone Wolf aftermarket frame design solves this issue with a reduced backstrap profile that removes the Glock hump at the lower rear of the grip frame. There are many other ergonomic and functional improvements as well.
The latest iteration of Lone Wolf’s Glock-pattern 9mm pistol is called the DUSK 19. The slide is made of 17-4 stainless steel and is finished in your choice of either durable black nitride or a selection of PVD (physical vapor deposition) coating options such as flat dark earth, bronze, and gray. There are useful and attractive serrations at the front and rear, and the side's top, front, and rear are milled tastefully with subtly aggressive angles. The DUSK 19’s slide is cut and threaded for a micro red dot optic, with a footprint compatible with Trijicon RMR and Holosun 407/507/508 series (non-K Models). Most DUSK 19 SKUs come with steel, suppressor-height Night Fision Stealth Series sights with a Tritium insert in the front blade (roughly a $150 value). The sights allow for a lower ⅓ co-witness when using optics. The DUSK series gets 416 stainless, PVD-coated barrels, and you can choose between standard and threaded, typically with minimal or no price difference.
The DUSK 19’s frame is modern and attractive-looking, with interchangeable rounded or flat backstraps, aggressive checkering panels, a large trigger guard undercut, and an integrated, flared magwell. The trigger is the flat-faced type common today, and in our experience results in a very nice, shootable trigger. The DUSK 19 is very light, weighing in at just 20 ounces with the longer, threaded barrel in place and an empty magazine. The slide is 1.0” wide, while the frame is 1.14” except at the magwell which measures 1.23”. Overall, it’s a very nice package, starting at an MSRP of $529.95 with standard-height Ameriglo sights and $649 with the Night Fision co-witness sights.
As you might expect from Lone Wolf’s history, they offer several variations of enhanced Glock-pattern frames. Stripped DUSK frames (serialized, so they will need to be shipped to your local FFL for transfer to you) start at $99, and completed (all lower parts installed) frames come in at $169. The way Lone Wolf sets up the recoil spring guide with a spacer (when required) allows you to use Glock generation 1-4 parts in your DUSK build, which is a plus when considering your options and parts availability. Lone Wolf also offers custom gunsmithing, machining, and engraving services, along with dozens of Glock parts, slides, and barrels, including conversion barrels so that you can shoot multiple calibers through your Lone Wolf pistol. All Lone Wolf products are made in the USA.
Palmetto State Armory PS9 Dagger
The PSA PS9 Dagger, announced in early 2020, was the first US-made Glock clone offered by a major manufacturer with a different trigger safety system. Unlike the Glock’s trigger safety, which is longitudinal along the front trigger face and moves flush when it is depressed by the finger, the PSA Dagger utilizes a hinged, 2-piece trigger system similar to the original Smith & Wesson M&P pistol. Interestingly, aftermarket Glock trigger kits or parts will swap into the PSA dagger, so if you like your Apex or Johnny Glock triggers, you can still utilize them in the PS9. The Dagger also fits most Glock 19 holsters, and it can be used either in factory Glock magazines or the Magpul Glock pattern magazines it ships with.
However, the trigger isn’t the only difference between a standard 3rd-generation Glock 19 and the PS9. The PS9’s durable polymer frame features a much-improved, hand-filling ergonomic contour around the grip, a single finger groove below the high-undercut trigger guard, useful texturing that’s superior to any factory 3rd-gen Glock, a Picatinny rail slot, and aggressive relief cuts at the bottom sides of the grip to allow you to rip a stuck magazine free should you encounter a nasty double-feed malfunction. In our experience, this is unlikely when shooting the PS9, which ran as reliably as any factory Glock. You also get steel 3-dot sights (Glocks’ sights are polymer from the factory and are universally despised), a Cerakoted slide, a stainless steel guide rod, and a Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coated barrel. The Dagger’s slide is milled with slide serrations front and rear, along with attractive relief contours below the ejection port and angled contours that soften the edges along the top, front, and rear edges of the slide.
One of the most attractive features of PSA’s interpretation of the Glock is the price: The PS9 Dagger is frequently available in one of PSA’s Daily Deal promotions for around $259 for the basic model, and complete frames are usually available for around $59 or sometimes less. With arguably superior features and ergonomics to the Glock, the PSA Dagger provides an amazing value for the money.
ZEV Technologies O.Z-9
For over 15 years, ZEV Tech has been known for creating some of the finest Gucci Glocks in existence, sparing no expense (and charging a premium) for their excellent custom work and parts for factory Glock pistols. In 2019 ZEV launched an innovative new concept in the Glock aftermarket world, the O.Z-9 pistol. (Company literature also refers to it as the OZ-9 and the OZ9, so… take your pick.) The primary differentiator of this premium handgun is the use of a proprietary steel receiver, which houses both the trigger, trigger bar and the Glock-style fire control housing at the rear. The receiver also extends forward of the trigger and includes a full Picatinny rail. This makes the pistol modular, allowing for the easy exchange of different sizes and colors of lower grip frames, while retaining a single, serialized firearm receiver that’s easily installed into the grip. This also allows the locking block (which engages with the locking lugs on the bottom of the barrel) to be fully integrated rather than a separate piece as in the original Glock. ZEV claims that having a singular component for the slide to travel along minimizes vibration and recoil energy by dispersing it along the receiver through the custom grip. We don’t know about that, but we can say that the ZEV pistols we’ve shot have been exceptionally nice, with premium-feeling triggers and excellent recoil control.
The standard polymer grip frame features a well-thought-out stippling/texturing, an undercut trigger guard, a useful (but not obtrusive) beavertail to prevent slide bite, an improved grip angle, and a pin-on aluminum magwell. For $550, you can also choose a fully aluminum grip module.
The basic slide milling is attractive and functional, with an RMR-pattern optics cut, 45-degree milled top edges, and forward slide serrations. Still, if you want the full ZEV Gucci Glock experience, you’ll want to spring for the upgraded slide milling on the more pricey models. Interestingly, the V2 version of the pistol utilizes a hybrid slide design that combines upgraded Gen 5 internals and Gen 5 barrel specifications with a Gen 3 recoil system. This change gives the true modularity by allowing the use of the compact receiver with the three sizes of slide and barrel combinations: Compact, Full-Size, and Long. (Previous Glock generations used different barrel/slide profiles for Compact and Full-Size pistols, and they couldn’t be interchanged.)
ZEV says the O.Z-9 went through 3 years of testing and revision with over 500,000 rounds fired, and it met or exceeded various aspects of the US Army TOP (Test Operations Procedure) for small arms, SAAMI, and California Department of Justice protocols for safety, reliability, and environmental testing. The pistol looks and feels like quality, and it offers some features that aren’t available on any other Glock pattern firearm. As for whether the O.Z-9 is worth the hefty buy-in of $1,499-$1,899 MSRP (depending on options), we’ll leave that for you to decide. In a world where people are throwing down $2,600+ to Taran Tactical for one of his customized John Wick Glocks, $1,500 for a premium ZEV pistol might not be such a bad deal.
Ruger RXM
Launched in late 2024, the 23-ounce, American-made Ruger RXM is somewhat of a surprise, as it is essentially an improved Glock 19 resulting from a collaboration between Ruger and Magpul (who helped design and manufacture the lower grip module). Yep, that is correct… This chassis design has a removable, steel fire-control group that includes the trigger and all related components. It is also the serialized part (legally considered the firearm). This means you can easily swap grip frames for different colors and sizes. Only the original Stealth Gray and black grips are available for sale ($39), but we’re sure Magpul will soon offer a wide assortment. We also expect there will eventually be full-size Glock 17 and/or Glock 45-type frames for even more customization.
The polymer grip frame itself is very attractive and includes multiple subtly improved features compared to the Glock 19 it pays homage to. The Glock hump at the lower rear of the grip is removed and the backstrap is straight and well-textured. The resulting grip angle is roughly 20.5 degrees from vertical, about halfway between the 1911’s 18 degrees and a Glock’s 22 degrees. We find this a very comfortable and natural-pointing compromise. There’s an improved trigger guard profile at the rear to prevent the common Glock knuckle, and the remainder of the trigger guard is a simplified, rounded version of the familiar Glock profile. There are no cuts, texture, or hooks and fangs like on some other aftermarket Glock trigger guards, resulting in a subdued, purposeful, high-quality appearance. As a bonus, there are no finger grooves to interfere with a good grip. The grip texture is aggressive enough for a solid purchase but not so much that it will rub your skin raw if you carry IWB against your skin. The bottom of the grip flares out to create a fairly aggressive, useful magwell for improved reloads. The tang area is slightly thicker than a factory Glock, which moves the web of your hand down just enough to prevent slide bite, even when using an aggressive, high-thumbs grip. There’s a Glock-style rail with a Picatinny slot near the front. And remember, the grip frame is mated to a separate fire-control group, so it can easily be replaced, modified, and customized to suit your exact needs.
The RXM slide is milled with attractive 45-degree angles on the top edges, and the sides are angled as well, somewhat similar in appearance to legacy SIG slides. It looks very classy, and the forward serrations are easy to use for those electing to take advantage of the RXM’s innovative optics cut. The platform allows the direct mounting of RMR, DeltaPoint Pro, AND Shield RMSc pattern optics, which is quite impressive. The sights are tall, steel, serrated black front and rear, with a white-outlined tritium insert in the front. Anywhere else this would cost you around $150 extra, but they come standard.
The trigger is excellent for the price, with around a 5-lb break and less takeup than a factory Glock trigger. It’s smoother also. 5 pounds is a good range for safe use on a CCW-oriented pistol and still allows for accurate shooting. Our example produced an average of 2.5-inch groups from a rest at 25 yards, which is about as well as we can shoot any pistol. The slide release and magazine release are slightly extended compared to a standard Glock while remaining low-profile enough not to snag or impede function in any way. The RXM comes with 2 Magpul GL9 polymer magazines, but any compatible factory or aftermarket Glock magazines will fit.
For an MSRP of $499, the quality and value of the Ruger RXM are excellent.
Shadow Systems 920 series
Founded in 2016, Shadow Systems is a Texas-based company dedicated to building greatly enhanced Glock-pattern pistols using 100% American-made parts and American labor. They’ve offered several iterations of their high-end Glock-style guns over the years, and currently, the 920 Elite series is at the forefront. Unlike many other sellers or manufacturers of Glock clones, Shadow Systems offers a complete range of sizes and models, from the micro-compact CR920 (think Glock 43 and 43X), to the Glock 19 and 19x-style MR920 and XR920, to the Glock 17-esque DR920, and there are additional sub-variants of each. Shadow Systems do not typically publish MSRP, but the Elite series typically retails at around $950 at online retailers. This might seem like a lot for an enhanced Glock, but if you add up the cost, it would be to have similar features added to a factory Glock, and it’s actually not a bad deal.
Shadow Systems makes their own polymer frames, and unlike many other companies, they retained the standard Glock backstrap profile, at least for one of the replaceable backstrap options. The frames are fully textured and free of the pointless Glock thumb indentation on the sides, and include a useful ledge, sometimes called a gas pedal, to index the support-hand thumb and allow the shooter to apply downward pressure against the rise of recoil. There’s a tasteful and useful beavertail at the top rear, an aggressively double-undercut trigger guard, a basic one-slot picatinny rail at the front, and a removable magwell at the bottom. Otherwise the recoil system and frames are most similar to Glock Gen 4 frames, minus the Glock’s finger grooves.
Shadow Systems Elite slides are fully milled, stylized, and serrated, with aggressive slabs of metal along the top to aid in manipulations from the front of the slide. The match-grade barrels are spiral-milled and finished in either black nitride or an attractive bronze-colored titanium carbonitride PVD, which you can see through the peek-a-boo slide windows just forward of the ejection port on both sides. These have been the subject of controversy among Glockophiles since they can ostensibly allow debris to enter the slide. Shadow used to offer their Combat series of pistols without these cuts, but those appear to have been dropped from the lineup as of 2025, though there are still some available in the supply chain at retailers.
Shadow utilizes a proprietary optics-mounting cut that allows the direct mounting of nearly all red-dot optics, using included spacers front or rear and much larger mounting screws that improve durability. This is permitted by an improved design for the extractor plunger and its associated channel in the slide, which is abbreviated on optics-cut models to allow for the optics-mounting screws to achieve much greater depth and thread engagement. Very slick.
The trigger is an enhanced, flat-faced, aluminum design, and the trigger feel is very high quality, breaking at around 4.5 pounds with a reasonably short takeup and a nice, audible reset. If you shoot a factory stock Glock and a Shadow Systems pistol back to back, you start to understand how all the little improvements add up to a much more enjoyable shooting experience.
If $900 plus seems like too much, even for a Gucci Glock, then Shadow also offers their new Foundation series, with the same enhanced frame as their Elite series, but with fewer enhancements to the slide. There are still attractive forward slide serrations, but the aggressive ones on top are deleted. There are fewer and coarser serrations overall. The milled slide windows are omitted, and the optics-mount cover plate is polymer, rather than milled aluminum. Sights are still quality steel affairs, but with a basic white dot at the front, rather than the outlined tritium insert of the Elite. MSRP for the Foundation starts around $600 for the standard size, and retailers often start the micro-compacts at under $500. Now that’s what we call a good deal for a high-quality, American-made pistol.
TriStar APOC
New for 2025 is the Turkish-made TriStar APOC ($279 MSRP), a nearly picture-perfect gen-3 Glock 19 clone, but with interchangeable backstraps and no finger grooves. You also get forward slide serrations and steel sights. 4 colorways are available. TriStar is known for making accurate copies of many firearms at incredibly low prices, due to the favorable exchange rate between the dollar and the Turkish lira. This new offering will likely be a popular entry-level seller for those who want a genuine Glock 19 look and feel but don’t want to pony up the $650 or so for the genuine article.
In most cases, we’d advise against taking the chance on a brand-new Turkish firearm. Still, in this case, the Gen 3 Glock system has been thoroughly vetted in the aftermarket over the past couple of decades, and we’d wager there will be minimal to no issues with this handgun.
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