The Glock pistol, due to its popularity, durability, reliability, and revolutionary design, has become a universal term that exceeds the brand name, similar to Band-Aid or Kleenex. Over the 40 years since its US introduction, Gaston Glock’s invention has earned huge aftermarket support, with dozens of companies offering accessories, slides, barrels, frames, small parts, and holsters. In fact, today, you can purchase or assemble a complete Glock-pattern pistol without using a single Glock-made component.
We’ll go over our top picks for complete Glock-pattern pistols in another article, but here we’re going to clue you in on some of the most prominent, innovative, and high-quality Glock aftermarket manufacturers and customizers, in case you want to build your own pistol or accessorize your existing firearm exactly how you want it.
An important note on Glock-style frames or lower receivers: US federal law defines a firearm as the frame or receiver of any weapon which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive. This means that, in the case of the Glock-pattern pistol, the lower frame is the serialized part and is legally considered to be the firearm. Over the past dozen or so years, several prominent Glock aftermarket frame manufacturers offered so-called 80% receivers or kits, where the frame or receiver is only 80% of the way completed and so is not legally a firearm (until finished).
These items were available via the mail or any common carrier since they weren’t legally considered firearms. The purchaser of these 80% frames would need to drill certain holes and file or mill out material from the frame in order to complete the item into a functioning piece capable of accepting Glock-type parts. By federal law, US citizens have always been allowed to manufacture their own firearms for their own use, and completing an 80% receiver certainly falls into that category.
However, over the past few years, anti-gun media and politicians have termed this type of firearm a Ghost Gun, and the legality of these types of 80% frames, particularly when sold in kit form including instructions, jigs, and parts necessary for completion, is being clarified in the court system. Many states have simply banned them outright. So for our purposes here, we are going to restrict our discussion of Glock-style receivers or frames to fully finished, serialized items, which need to be transferred via a FFL-licensed dealer like any other handgun.
Best aftermarket sources for Glock-pattern pistol parts and customization
Since there’s so much demand for aftermarket support for the Glock platform, and partially due to Glock’s reluctance to innovate or offer features or accessories desired by many consumers, many companies have emerged to meet those needs. In some cases, the configuration or features of an aftermarket item is simply unavailable from the Glock factory, and the parts, finishes, accessories, and firearms that can be created as a result vary from mild to wild. In many cases, producers of aftermarket Glock pistols, parts, or accessories offer significant ergonomic and functional improvements over the original design. Let’s look at some of the top companies in this arena.
GlockStore
The inimitable Lenny Magill founded GlockStore in 1986 to meet the demand for parts and accessories for the new plastic fantastic pistols from Austria. He was one of the first to offer trigger kits, slide components, internal parts, and other accessories for Glocks, and put out instructional VHS tapes detailing how to install and improve components. The market, as well as the product line offered by GlockStore, has expanded greatly over the past 4 decades, and the company now says they’re the world’s largest distributor of Glock parts and accessories, magazines, holsters, logo gear, apparel, concealment items, custom parts and Glock custom guns. The company also maintains certified Glock armorers and custom gunsmiths on staff 7 days a week. If you can imagine it, GlockStore can make it happen, pretty much.
Some of the most unusual offerings include factory Glock pistols with PVD-refinished slides, for essentially the same price as any standard Glock (starting at $599). In addition to hundreds of parts, barrels, slides, trigger kits, and complete frames/firearms (from several makers) from basic to radical, the GlockStore also offers custom laser stippling for factory or aftermarket frames, as seen in the image above.
Lone Wolf
Lone Wolf was among the first Glock aftermarket companies offering replacement grip frames, slides, and barrels for people who weren’t satisfied with the ergonomics, appearance, or features of a factory Glock. You can choose a longer slide and barrel than are offered by Glock, or select the appropriate Lone Wolf barrel to convert your Glock to a different caliber: .45 to 10mm, 10mm to .40 S&W, and .40 S&W to 9mm are the most common. You can also find extended, threaded barrels for running compensators or suppressors. Lone Wolf also offers optics cuts, slide melts, bull-nose milling, and other custom gunsmithing, machining, refinishing, and engraving services, along with dozens of Glock-compatible parts, magazine extensions, and accessories. Naturally, they still offer stripped or complete Glock-pattern frames (serialized) as well as complete, enhanced Glock-platform-compatible pistols, all using US-made parts.
ZEV Technologies
ZEV Tech has earned a solid reputation for building so-called Gucci Glocks, which sell for $1,500 or more. Radically milled slides are mated with gorgeous, spiral-milled, bronze-colored, match-grade barrels, ergonomically enhanced grip frames, and excellent triggers, adding up to a shooting experience that makes you feel like it’s actually worth the money. You can send in your factory glock for the full ZEV-ification, or if you prefer, ZEV offers trigger kits, slides, barrels, compensators, frames, and other parts separately as well, so you can piece together your own dream Glock the way you want it from the ground up. ZEV’s stuff is definitely not cheap, but it’s among the best available. If you’re looking for a high-end Glock-pattern pistol or parts, it’s a good place to start.
Nomad Defense
Nomad Defense was founded in 2017 and began offering an enhanced Glock-pattern frame with features not found on any factory Glock pistol. They’ve improved their product over the years, and today they’re among the first aftermarket manufacturers offering Gen 5 compatible frames for the Glock platform. Their frames (all serialized, requiring transfer via FFL) are manufactured in Arizona, and include all of the usual ergonomic improvements such as enhanced texturing, extended beavertail, integral magwell, double-undercut trigger guard, interchangeable backstraps, reduced grip angle, and are available in several attractive colors, starting at $160.
Nomad also makes their own barrels, enhanced slides, and triggers, and also offers parts kits so you can build your dream Glock one part at a time if you wish.
Agency Arms
Agency Arms is a super-premium, serious-use Glock customizing house that offers dozens of products and services to enhance your Glock. They made their reputation upgrading factory Glock duty and combat pistols to true works of industrial art, with fully milled slides, match-grade barrels, and hand-stippled frames with gas-pedal ledges, double undercut trigger guards, and other custom touches. Agency has a way of adding class while also not coming across as overly pretty, or just doing things for appearance’s sake. Their innovative optics cut and mounting system is about the strongest in the world, and their builds are known for bet-your-life reliability and accuracy. Bring money, though, as their stripped slides alone sell for about a grand, and the full custom Glock build, performed on your factory pistol, starts at $1,400 and goes up from there.
Agency does offer some less-expensive options, such as their relatively new Patrol package. This includes greatly subdued slide milling, a full stipple job and undercut frame, and a flat-faced Agency Arms trigger, for $750 (not including the customer-supplied pistol). You can also purchase their trigger kits, match-grade barrels, and slides separately. Agency offers replacement grip modules for other platforms, but as far as we can see, they don’t offer aftermarket Glock frames yet, and we’re not sure if they will do so.
Live Free Armory
Live Free Armory is a Florida-based company offering enhanced aftermarket slides, barrels, and complete pistols in the Glock pattern, as well as 2011-style pistols, pistol-caliber carbines, and multiple rifle models based on the AR-style platform. All parts are made in the USA and carry a lifetime guarantee. If you’re looking for a slide to complete your aftermarket Glock build, be sure and check out these guys. They have a lot of good options and styles for a good price.
Grey Ghost Precision (GGP)
Grey Ghost Precision is a well-regarded Idaho-based firm offering enhanced aftermarket Glock frames, match barrels, parts, and custom slides. GGP offers multiple styles and colors of slides for the Glock 19 and 17 (and the SIG P320 platform), as well as complete pistols, billet AR-15 receiver sets, uppers, and complete rifles.
SCT Manufacturing
SCT Manufacturing is a Wisconsin-based, full-service industrial machining, engineering, and injection-molding/manufacturing firm that makes a wide variety of products, but the relevant ones for this article are Glock-pattern frames, slides, barrels, compensators, and triggers. Their Glock 19-style frame is highly praised for its style, features, quality, and value. The styling is modernized and sparse, but the frame design retains desirable features such as a double-undercut trigger guard, improved texturing, ladder-traction front and backstraps, a subtle beavertail, a full picatinny rail, and it retains the factory Glock grip angle for those who prefer it. It’s available in Black, Flat Dark Earth, Outdoor Green, and Sniper Grey. At most retailers, the basic Glock 19 sized SCT frame sells for around $45 stripped or $75 assembled with a lower parts kit, which is a smokin’ deal.
SCT has also started offering Glock 43X/48 frames over the past year or so, so you can build your micro-Glock just the way you want it.
Hooper Gun Works
Hooper Gun Works is an Oregon-based, veteran-owned shop offering hundreds of options for Glock-pattern slides, match barrels, triggers, and parts. From what we’ve seen, the value you get from a milled HGW slide is amazing compared to many competitors, whose prices may be double or even triple the price for similar features. Hooper also offers some configurations of slides and calibers for the Glock that are very difficult to find from other manufacturers.
JagerWerks
JagerWerks offers some of the most well-performed, attractive, and functional Glock slide milling and optics cuts in the world, for a very reasonable price. They can mill your pistol’s slide for any optic, and offer multiple options for the placement of any back-up iron sights desired. Optics cuts start at $125, and slide milling starts at $200. They also offer complete slides for sale, and even have a slide swap option where you can send in your factory slide and swap it for a JW customized one at a discount.
Faxon
Faxon is known for making excellent AR-15 barrels, but they’ve started offering Glock-pattern barrels and slides as well. Their slides are attractive, well-finished in a high-end DLC coating, and feature lots of functional serrations and an RMR-pattern optics cut. For $250, you get a lot of style and functionality for the money. Faxon’s Glock barrels are made in-house at Faxon’s Cincinnati, Ohio facility, ensuring the highest level of quality control and craftsmanship. They are made from either 4150-CMV steel or 416-R stainless, which are both high-quality materials known for their durability and corrosion resistance. Faxon offers multiple finish options, in threaded or non-threaded configurations, allowing you to customize the look of your pistol while also enhancing its performance.
Pro tip: Faxon offers their B-series (cosmetic blemished) barrels starting at just $75 or less, and they all go through the same quality control process as their non-blem offerings. You can save significant dough here.
AIM Surplus
AIM Surplus offers their Glock barrels starting at just $39 and complete, optics-cut slides for full-sized Glocks at $199, which is amazing value. AIM also offers parts and triggers from various aftermarket Glock manufacturers, all at prices you probably won’t find anywhere else.
Brownells
Brownells offers just about anything you can think of for any type of firearm, including aftermarket Glock frames, triggers, barrels, parts, accessories, magazines, and sights. Brownells also recently started making their own Glock Gen 1-3 slides, with premium features like lightening cutouts, aggressive serrations, and the proven ZEV-style optics cut. Slides start at $219, which is a good deal for the quality and features you get.
Taran Tactical Innovations
Taran Butler is a somewhat bombastic competition shooter with dozens of major multigun and national handgun titles to his name. He founded Taran Tactical Innovations in 2011 and began offering his top-quality magazine extensions and gunsmithing services, primarily on the Glock platform initially. TTI now also offers improvements and gunsmithing services for Benelli shotguns and SIG pistol-caliber carbines, and sells complete TTI-built AR-15s, 2011-style pistols, shotguns, and Glocks.
If you want to upgrade your factory pistol, TTI Glocks are built on your factory Glock frame, which is fully stippled, given a custom grip reduction, milled with a single- or double-undercut trigger guard and an improved magazine release cutout, and has Accelerator cuts (textured gas-pedal style ledges) added to the frame near the takedown catch. A full TTI trigger job is performed, and a TTI flat-faced trigger installed. The OEM barrel is typically coated in bronze, but Agency barrels are also available. The slide is fully milled, cutouts and compensators added if desired, and refinished in Taran’s distinctive, eye-catching style. Prices for the full TTI Glock upgrade start at around $2,000 and go up from there (plus the cost of your standard Glock pistol). Is it worth it? John Wick seems to think so, as TTI firearms have been featured prominently in the popular film series. (Taran Butler also runs a training center and range where many prominent movie stars and producers have learned to shoot, including Keanu Reeves.)
Certainly, you’ll pay a premium for the TTI name and services, and you’d better have deep pockets. Whether it’s worth it is up to you, but we will say that the TTI Glocks we’ve sampled have had the absolute finest triggers of any Glock platform pistols we’ve ever tried.
Wilson Combat
Primarily known for top-end semi-custom 1911s, Wilson Combat also offers custom gunsmithing services for Glocks and many other types of firearms. They’ll handle anything you want to create, from basic to Bling, but the majority of their Glock additions are action tuning, tasteful and useful laser-checkering on the frame, and top-tier optics cuts on slides, along with refinishing. Prices for that kind of basic work are reasonable, but lead time can be an issue, since Wilson Combat is a very popular brand.
Store all your firearms and accessories in a Liberty Safe
Whether you have a single Glock or a whole bunch, remember to keep your firearms safe from theft, fire, and unauthorized access in a quality gun safe or handgun vault from Liberty. You can check out our interactive online catalog or find a Liberty dealer near you and visit in person.
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