The Glock pistol has seen plenty of aftermarket accessories in over 25 years of production. A rare few of these have stood the test of that time, many were replaced by better iterations, some few forgotten entirely. Most of these add-ons have one feature in common; the ability to drop into an unmodified Glock. For a time, those drop-in parts were as far as Glock mods went, but we now live in the era of the “Fully Modified” Glock pistol.
There’s a recent trend in the firearms industry to look upon these and a few other polymer framed pistols as blocks of marble, ready to be carved into entirely new shapes. Stippling, shortening and reducing the Glock frame is not a new idea, and there’s plenty of credit to go around for the first brave souls to heat a soldering iron and dive in. In the age of powerful CNC machines, the remainder of the pistol proves just as blank of a canvas as the frame, for the talented Glock gunsmith. Half a dozen companies are becoming well-known in the custom pistol arena, for tackling the entire Glock pistol as a complete semi-custom project to be reworked from the frame up. These configurations will tend to leave no square inch is pistol untouched, carving and modifying all surfaces in pursuit of the Polymer Frame BBQ gun of this decade.
What differentiates Flash Thunderworks in this increasingly crowded field of stippled plastic and engraved steel? My up-front disclaimer is that Flash Thunderworks is headed up by a longtime co-worker and friend, Bob Delmore. Mr. Delmore is a school-trained gunsmith and has worked on my 1911 projects, as well as those of many other customers, for over a decade. I have seen his results on a few hundred firearms, so my expectations were high. When Bob informed me that his independent gunsmithing shop, Flash Thunderworks, would be offering every step of a comprehensive Glock modification, I boxed up one of my stock, lightly-used G17 pistols along with spare mags and his shortlist of needed small parts, and waited to see something unique come back via FedEx. I ordered up a G19L - a Glock 17, with the grip cut down to Glock 19 length. The Glock 19L is a compromise between a full size pistol, with the extended sight radius of the Glock 17, with the compact grip of the Glock 19.
The Glock modifications they offer range from simple stippling or reducing ordered individually, on up to complete packages, and are not intended to be as visually flashy as some other brands, but every cut and change is justified and the machining looks sharp. The revamped Flash Thunderworks pistol I have sitting holstered on my desk is not accented with shiny TiN parts or large, extra logos. It’s clean and utilitarian, much like a stock Glock is - but nicer in just about every way. There’s a long list of small subtle improvements to both frame and slide, in addition to the extractor, springs, and so on.
Flash Thunderworks doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to their small parts - Bob works with a select few high-end aftermarket parts that are proven to work well in stock Glocks and further enhance a custom pistol. The build list for my pistol included a Vickers magazine and slide release, a Glock factory "minus" connector, Apex tool steel extractor and White Sound extractor depressor, a, Lightning Strike steel captured guide rod, and (my choice) Ameriglo I-Dot Pro Night Sights.
The full grip reduction package includes reducing the grip size, epoxying a grip plug into the rear of the frame and eliminating the finger grooves. The stippling extends cleanly up the grip, to within 1/8th inch of the slide, and is uniformly “grippy” when squeezed without dragging on clothing. The rear “high hand cut” at the back of the frame is so subtly formed that I almost missed it, and it blends beautifully. Even the front corner of the triggerguard is nicely rounded and stippled, and where the triggerguard meets the frame, it has a very clean and smooth semi-circular cutout for the knuckle of the middle finger. The cutout is large enough to let my knuckle sit up high and close to my other fingers without tightness or discomfort. Without this cutout, gripping the pistol close into the web of the hand would simply cause my shooting hand fingers to be mashed into each other, as they do on a stock Glock. There’s lots of nice, thoughtful little touches in this vein, like the angled and stippled finger indexing pads for the trigger finger at rest on the frame, or the magazine release “Comet Cut” which clears away a little material around the release to ensure it can be fully depressed. The grip just fits my hand in a way no stock Glock ever has, and this is the nicest grip reduction I’ve ever bought.
The slide got it’s fair share of attention as well, with front vertical cocking serrations - carefully avoiding the Glock logo on the left side - matching the rear. There’s no sharp edges left on the slide, but neither is it rounded off like an old bar of soap or a Kimber CDP. The slide - skillfully Cerakoted a dark gray - is cleanly reduced with shallow cuts on the sides, 45 degree bevels on the top edges and has a relief cut on top over the barrel. This drops the slide weight down to closer to the weight of a Glock 19 slide. The reduced weight of the slide is a feature I didn’t know I wanted until I had it. After half of a magazine of Ranger 147Gr +P, I realized that the lighter slide mass was not only cycling just a bit faster than the stock Glock 17 I was comparing it to, but was responsible for the reduced jarring of the pistol in my grip. The pistol had less muzzle flip by a good bit, and while I’m not a good enough shooter to take advantage of millisecond improvements in cycling speed and sight picture re-acquisition, I can certainly notice them as I feel the slide cycle. Shooting the G19L really proved that the wait and expense were worth it - I have always preferred Glock 19 pistols for carry for the reduced weight and shorter grip, but both of my Glock 19 pistols have been reserved for backups, after a month carrying the G19L daily and shooting 1000 rounds and climbing over the course of three range visits.
I don’t generally have issues with my stock Glock pistols malfunctioning, so it’s hard to set a higher standard than 100% function, but the G19L goes quite a bit beyond “goes bang every time”. The extraction and ejection is not just positive, but consistent, practically stacking the spent brass in a 18" circle off to my right. I shot boxes of Fiocchi 115 and 124 Grain, Federal Am. Eagle 147 grain, and 100 rounds of horrifyingly old and filthy Olympic-brand Greek 9mm that was turning black with age, and over 200 rounds of of Ranger 147 Grain +P, my preferred carry round. Nothing even hiccuped over those 1000 rounds, through three range sessions, though I felt the variation of pressure between brands.
I have no complaints of any kind, other than the fact that I now want to send the other, still-stock 17, and both Glock 19s away for the same treatment soon, and I feel confident it will be worth it. That’s the highest praise I can give the G19L - I have seen the light on the full-custom Glock and this one will stay on my hip for the foreseeable future.
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