I generally stay stock with a few enhancement/upgrades, $0.25 trigger job, "-" connector, mid weight striker spring and sights.
any carry gun, once set up the way I like it, gets a 500 round "burn down", 500 rounds of European import 124 gr. FMJ (NATO spec), lube as needed but no cleaning, if it makes it thru that with out a hick up, I figure I'm GTG with a cleaned/maintained side arm with the amount of ammo I carry.
a few years ago I got the "build a Glock" bug and built a Gen 3-17 for range use from all aftermarket parts, my first RDS handgun.
- Gray Ghost Precision frame
- Swenson MSO slide
- Aim Surplus TIN coated/threaded barrel
- Vortex Venom RDS
I've got a couple thousand rounds thru it, runs like a Swiss watch but it did take some tinkering to get to 100 % reliability.
what I learned in the process:
frame and slide work well together, pretty good fit for products not made in the same house, not sloppy but no drag or tight spots.
slide limited me to two RDS, Vortex Venom, or the Burris FastFire III, I've since learned that I prefer Holosun's dot/circle recital and just about every firearm I have with a RDS has either a HS510, HS507C or a HS 507K
the original internals (cheaper aftermarket) were at best "hinky", captured RSA turned into an uncaptured RSA at one point and was an unexpected surprise during a field strip ( I still haven't found the end of the guide rod) , no matter what springs I changed out or how much I polished the internals, I couldn't get rid of the gritty, mushy trigger and even when I got it to the best I could, it was inconsistent in pull characteristics, one pull would very light with little or no wall, other times it would have a harder pull with what felt like internals rubbing/friction.
Aim Surplus barrel was a pleasant surprise, it was a compromise due to it being the only barrel available at the time and I had planned to get a better barrel at some point in the future but it fit well in the slide and gives one ragged hole at 15 yards off the bench with just about any ammo I feed it so its a keeper.
so my take a way's are:
- that the fit between frame, slide and barrel are key, make sure those three components work together before going further with your build.
- don't skimp on internals, I've since replace all the internals for both the slide and frame with Glock parts.
- less expensive parts may not necessarily be cheaper parts as in my Aim Surplus barrel, check review of the particular parts on different web sites so buyer be ware.
a build may be more expensive and perceived as better parts but doesn't mean better than stock, I'd build another handgun if I perceived a need that wasn't available in a stock firearm.
I do build most of my ARs, mainly because I can save money getting exactly what I want in a build as apposed to buying a stock AR and swapping parts, plus we're back to that tinkering aspect.
