I don't ever really do "write-ups", but these are pretty impressive.
My son and I just took our polymer80's out for their maiden shoot last Wednesday. He put together a G19 and I did a G23. I took my stock G22 gen 4 for a rough comparison and I have to say I was pretty highly impressed. I "will" say though that they are not at all just a couple hour build to really do them right. The whole, "it doesn't matter how rough they run or even fully return to battery... take em out, shoot em and they'll work themselves out" mentality just doesn't wash with me.
It was a first build for both of us. I couldn't count how many youtube vids we watched in preparation. Some of those jokers doing build videos are just downright... can't think of a "family friendly" term at the moment... however, if you watch enough of them and employ a little common sense they really came out beautifully. Smooth... tight... as accurate as I can throw lead out of my G22 @ 15yrds and just downright "solid" little guns.
I'll agree that you're not going to save any money by building your own. We did ours with all new OEM parts. Including 3 mags/ea. It ran $541 for the G19 and $546 for the G23. That was doing some serious shopping around, although, if we would have waited for the end of year sales we could have saved $20/ea. Ie., the lower parts kit we picked up for $50 on ebay. It was $56 ordering individual parts from Midway at the time, but now they currently have the G19 lower parts kit on sale for $42.99. Brownell's currently has the compact v.2 frames for $109.99 where we paid $119.99. Timing matters. Mags were all new OEM. G19.... came out to $10 a pop delivered from a private party on the calguns forum trying to get rid of his high cap mags. The G23... $12 a pop delivered from a dealer in AZ on gunbroker.
They "can" be done cheaper by going with a used upper, "recycled" lower parts kits and third-party mags. I ran across a guy that was selling "recycled" parts from police armory replaced parts. Probably could have saved ~$100, but I fail to see how trying to "marry" a mixing pot of used and recycled parts is going to produce the desired result... an accurate and reliable firearm. So... it's "doable" for around $450-$475~ish.
Of course, if you go with a full kit, you can get soaked for $680 with no mags, too. Add another $50-$70 buying from the same sites offering "kits" if you buy the frame, upper, and lower parts kits separately.
Let's see... new uppers (complete)... the G19 was picked up from a private party on the calguns forum. The G23 I picked up from gunbroker. Both were $350 delivered.
Milling was a snap. We used a dremel w/wand and then hand finished with files, 200 grit, then 600 wet dry and finished with 1500 grit wet dry and WD-40. No surprises there and they finished up as expected.
No issues whatsoever with the lower parts installation on the v.2's. Looks like they've worked out all the "kinks". Specifically, no issue fitting the stop block or the rear trigger assembly/rail pin as had been reported by many in the earlier version.
Then the "fun" part started. More than half of the work was getting the rails leveled and removing the burs and imperfections off them. Mainly the rear rails. They are pretty rough cut but the front rails needed some work getting the slide to run full length evenly. Starting out I was getting ~1/8" contact on the front of the left stop block and about the same on the rear of the right side only. The trick there was being sure not to remove too much at once so there was a LOT of on an off with the slide. I don't know how "professional" it was, but we used a permanent marker to color the rails, run the slide a couple of times and then check the wear pattern.
Of course... my sons G19? Perfectly even tracking on the forward rails and only light filing on the rears which leads me to believe that there is still going to be slight variations in the poly kits.
Once that was done I did go back and very lightly polish the rails by hand (mothers and q-tips). I kept it tight, but the difference was quite noticeable. Light polish on the ramp, trigger bar... normal full tear down, inspection and "clean up" I would do on any new gun. No issues/hang-ups with return to battery.
The G23... I Ran 100rnds of AE 165gr FMJ's, 60rnds of Win. 155gr STHP's and 45rnds of Win PDX1 bonded JHP's. Not a single FTF or FTE. Ran like a swish watch, but that was all I was willing to put through it without doing a tear down and inspection for abnormal action/wear.
The G19... my son ran 100rnds of Rem. UMC 115gr MC's and ~40rnds of IMI 115gr JHP's through his. Again, not a single malfunction.
Post shoot tear-down... no unusual wear and the rails showed even running. Checked every part with a "fine toothed comb".... nothing to report. Both... Flawless operation.
The nutshell? Simple, very straightforward construction with everyday common tools. Very impressive little shooters! Would I use as a carry? To early to tell, but it looks promising.
Our tools/materials list:
Can't wait to take them out again and finish up a full break-in! As a father and son project? Priceless!
TIP: One issue we hadn't thought about before-hand was a holster. No.. they don't fit in standard 19/23 holsters. What we did find was that a blackhawk serpa 410525 designed for a S&W M&P 9/40 Sigma is a PERFECT fit by removing the barrel tension spring. Absolutely snug and secure. I paid $30 (Amazon) for the beltloop + paddle model. Beats the heck out of the "custom designed" specifically for the poly80C holster with no positive lock for $55.
My son and I just took our polymer80's out for their maiden shoot last Wednesday. He put together a G19 and I did a G23. I took my stock G22 gen 4 for a rough comparison and I have to say I was pretty highly impressed. I "will" say though that they are not at all just a couple hour build to really do them right. The whole, "it doesn't matter how rough they run or even fully return to battery... take em out, shoot em and they'll work themselves out" mentality just doesn't wash with me.
It was a first build for both of us. I couldn't count how many youtube vids we watched in preparation. Some of those jokers doing build videos are just downright... can't think of a "family friendly" term at the moment... however, if you watch enough of them and employ a little common sense they really came out beautifully. Smooth... tight... as accurate as I can throw lead out of my G22 @ 15yrds and just downright "solid" little guns.
I'll agree that you're not going to save any money by building your own. We did ours with all new OEM parts. Including 3 mags/ea. It ran $541 for the G19 and $546 for the G23. That was doing some serious shopping around, although, if we would have waited for the end of year sales we could have saved $20/ea. Ie., the lower parts kit we picked up for $50 on ebay. It was $56 ordering individual parts from Midway at the time, but now they currently have the G19 lower parts kit on sale for $42.99. Brownell's currently has the compact v.2 frames for $109.99 where we paid $119.99. Timing matters. Mags were all new OEM. G19.... came out to $10 a pop delivered from a private party on the calguns forum trying to get rid of his high cap mags. The G23... $12 a pop delivered from a dealer in AZ on gunbroker.
They "can" be done cheaper by going with a used upper, "recycled" lower parts kits and third-party mags. I ran across a guy that was selling "recycled" parts from police armory replaced parts. Probably could have saved ~$100, but I fail to see how trying to "marry" a mixing pot of used and recycled parts is going to produce the desired result... an accurate and reliable firearm. So... it's "doable" for around $450-$475~ish.
Of course, if you go with a full kit, you can get soaked for $680 with no mags, too. Add another $50-$70 buying from the same sites offering "kits" if you buy the frame, upper, and lower parts kits separately.
Let's see... new uppers (complete)... the G19 was picked up from a private party on the calguns forum. The G23 I picked up from gunbroker. Both were $350 delivered.
Milling was a snap. We used a dremel w/wand and then hand finished with files, 200 grit, then 600 wet dry and finished with 1500 grit wet dry and WD-40. No surprises there and they finished up as expected.
No issues whatsoever with the lower parts installation on the v.2's. Looks like they've worked out all the "kinks". Specifically, no issue fitting the stop block or the rear trigger assembly/rail pin as had been reported by many in the earlier version.
Then the "fun" part started. More than half of the work was getting the rails leveled and removing the burs and imperfections off them. Mainly the rear rails. They are pretty rough cut but the front rails needed some work getting the slide to run full length evenly. Starting out I was getting ~1/8" contact on the front of the left stop block and about the same on the rear of the right side only. The trick there was being sure not to remove too much at once so there was a LOT of on an off with the slide. I don't know how "professional" it was, but we used a permanent marker to color the rails, run the slide a couple of times and then check the wear pattern.
Of course... my sons G19? Perfectly even tracking on the forward rails and only light filing on the rears which leads me to believe that there is still going to be slight variations in the poly kits.
Once that was done I did go back and very lightly polish the rails by hand (mothers and q-tips). I kept it tight, but the difference was quite noticeable. Light polish on the ramp, trigger bar... normal full tear down, inspection and "clean up" I would do on any new gun. No issues/hang-ups with return to battery.
The G23... I Ran 100rnds of AE 165gr FMJ's, 60rnds of Win. 155gr STHP's and 45rnds of Win PDX1 bonded JHP's. Not a single FTF or FTE. Ran like a swish watch, but that was all I was willing to put through it without doing a tear down and inspection for abnormal action/wear.
The G19... my son ran 100rnds of Rem. UMC 115gr MC's and ~40rnds of IMI 115gr JHP's through his. Again, not a single malfunction.
Post shoot tear-down... no unusual wear and the rails showed even running. Checked every part with a "fine toothed comb".... nothing to report. Both... Flawless operation.
The nutshell? Simple, very straightforward construction with everyday common tools. Very impressive little shooters! Would I use as a carry? To early to tell, but it looks promising.
Our tools/materials list:
- Table vise
- C-clamp (to ensure the jig was securely closed)
- Dremel. Variable w/wand, sanding drum and cutting bit for fine trimming in the spring channel
- Hand drill
- X-acto knife
- 11" hand file
- Jewelers files Flat and round
- Sandpaper. 200/600/1500 wet/dry
- WD-40
- Tap and hammer
- Needle-nose pliers
- Mothers mag and alum. polish
- Q-tips
- Permanent marker
Can't wait to take them out again and finish up a full break-in! As a father and son project? Priceless!
TIP: One issue we hadn't thought about before-hand was a holster. No.. they don't fit in standard 19/23 holsters. What we did find was that a blackhawk serpa 410525 designed for a S&W M&P 9/40 Sigma is a PERFECT fit by removing the barrel tension spring. Absolutely snug and secure. I paid $30 (Amazon) for the beltloop + paddle model. Beats the heck out of the "custom designed" specifically for the poly80C holster with no positive lock for $55.
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