Need Advice on Tricking Out My G17

I have a Gen 3 G17 and it works great. I'd like to gear it a little more toward target / competition shooting. What would you suggest to "speed" it up a little?

Go to LWD Lone Wolf Distributers and get the trigger kit to lighten it the trigger pull and limit the length of pull. Then get to Wulff Springs and get a lighter recoil spring and steel guide rod so the slide will slide back faster for a quicker reload. While you are on the LWD sight look for replacement sights. Good luck and have fun its hard not to fix Glocks up.

I like Heinie slant pro sights (plain black... if you are an old guy, thin the sight width to .090"......for reliability I did not change any trigger springs on my G34 (my G17 is fitted exactly the same as it' my backup) which comes with a pretty good connector...stainless guide rod, ISMI recoil spring(17#)....I have relatively small hands, and don't usually recommend changing to an extended mag release, but the JP mag button made all the difference in my reloads....butt plug... grip tape especially in the thumb swells...highly polish the firing pin safety plunger, trigger bar, striker and connector

for USPSA style competition, I'd recommend... BladeTech dropped offset (DOH) holster... 2 Blade Tech kydex TechLok mag pouches.... 5 magazines (replace springs every year)... good belt/underbel

Leave it alone. If you want to spend money, buy another Glock. Aside from sights, there is nothing you can "add" to the gun that will improve it.

[facepalm] The gun doesn't need speeding up, you do. [/facepalm]

I used to say "leave it alone" too until I started shooting competitively, at which point I started to play with my Glocks because I'm playing with them at the range and gun games.

ETA: I say "my Glocks" above, when in reality it is a singular Glock that is not in the carry rotation and never will be with any modifications other than sights.

Carry gun? Leave it alone, add good sights.

Competition/range toy? Trigger/spring kit, sights that work for your gun game/application, extended controls if you NEED them, lots of mags and ammo. I don't do the whole guide rod/recoil spring swap, at least not at this point. I can return my other G19 to stock configuration in about 10 minutes. Life's short, if you want to play with your gun, play with it. Hang on to all your spare parts and go have a good time.

Don't

I won't disagree with this but...

I have several Glocks in addition to many other pistols, and they're all just toys to me. I shoot for fun / hobby. If I ever decide to start carrying one, I'll carry my G19 from 2007. And if I ever need a gun, I hope I can get my hands on a rifle. I'm just looking to tinker with one and, in particular, maybe make the trigger a little lighter for more precise shooting. Yes, i know that I should be able to rely on my own awesomeness for that, but if that were always the case then there wouldn't be a market for this stuff now would there?

The truth is the best thing you can do to speed up the Glock is speed up the nut behind the trigger. Buy ammo. Practice lots. You can shoot it stock as fast as you can see the sights and smoothly manipulate the trigger. This only comes with lots of perfect practice. Dry fire is key.

Not required but I love to do the following to any Glock I get:

$.25 trigger job, it's easy and does make the trigger just a little more crisp to me
Extended mag release and slide stop
Sights of my choosing

The rest is just more ammo and a couple more mags every now and then.

Lighten the trigger and shorten the reset distance ...
Ghost Rocket Trigger

If you want a target gun, why not start with a G17L?

OP I think what these guys are wanting to convey and I will agree with them, is that if you said "What do you like most about Glocks?" 99.99% of people will say "reliability." They work as is. Any modifications done beyond that are very likely going to affect that. Just realize that issues may arise from it, but it is your gun.

Just realize, OP, that I've polished the innards of every Glock that I've owned for the past 20-yrs-or-so; have installed aftermarket connectors in every one of them, and have fired over 300,000 of my reloads through them...with absolute reliability. I also tailor my (gasp!!!) recoil springs to the loads/calibers that I'm shooting.

If your primary reason for owning a pistol is to treat it as a toy, I can't help you. I have owned, carried, and shot pistols ( as well as rilfes and shotguns) all my adult life. I have engaged in serious training both as student and instructor, and I used to be decent at IDPA. At the end of the day though, I own and carry a gun for one primary reason: to protect myself and my family. I had a family member killed in an armed robbery when I was a teenager, and it made an indelible impression on me. I stopped shooting IDPA because I didn't like spending my Saturdays hanging around with guys who locked their guns in the trunk of their car to drive home.

Given those assumptions, reliability is the most important thing about a handgun to me. I shoot and carry mostly Glocks because they are readily available, pretty close to perfectly reliable (as much as a production gun can be), and easy to shoot. I spend my time and money on ammo, practice, and training.

If you want to improve your shooting, then do so. Bolting after market crap on your gun is no substitute. I suck at golf. Buying more clubs has never made me better at it.

Check six.

I take the same approach to my game guns as I do my business guns. They both have to work.

They both need to work. If I drop $100 on an entry fee to a major match, my 34 better be able to perform as well as I need it to.

95% of all hardware malfunctions I have seen (the majority have been in competitions) have been caused by after market add ons.

Personally, I use the standard connector. I understand the desire for the minus connector, and if you want to add a factory one, I'm good with that.

Plenty of master class shooters have classified on stock pistols.

Who was making after market connectors 20 years ago?

If you're shooting near a half million rounds, I don't see why you're bothering to polish anything...

Well said.

I was actually surprised at the bolded part. Aside from those traveling from Illinois and the cowboy guys, most of the action shooters in these parts always gun up post match and as far as I know, are fairly avid ccw'ers.

I'm really against the "gaming" mindset, and that's the main reason I don't shoot much USPSA.

Excellent! Whatever you do, don't do anything that might make owning a particular gun more enjoyable. There is only one reason for owning a gun, and you know it, OP.

+1

Though I get the comments about affecting reliability, I think this thread has gotten away from the spirit of what I was trying to explore.

This is a good thread. I like a lot of what's been posted here.

OP, since you don't carry, and if you decided to, you already have a gun set up for that (your 2007 G19), I don't think there's anything wrong with you modifying your G17 if you want to. I'm not into that personally, so I don't really have any recommendations for you.

I've never really been bitten by the competition bug. I am always carrying, and I love to shoot and train. I've been to a few local matches and always leave with a kind of attitude. I don't know if it's the other people there, or the fact that it's a game, or all the standing around all day for a few minutes of shooting, or that I've just not given it a fair shake. I don't know if I can put my finger on it. I'd rather go out and train. And I do that on my carry pistols or exact duplicates of them.

A lighter recoil spring so that the slide locks back faster for faster reloads...never heard that one before but its a pure gem...

To the OP. Are you shooting factory ammo? If so, the only real changes you can make to the gun to make things EASIER for you is to tune your trigger to your own particular needs/wants. Try some different connectors and springs and run the different setups on a known particular drill on the timer to assess any changes that might occur.

Other than that, as others have said continue training. Hardware doesnt make you faster as much as an upgrade in software will.

OP, you might ask over at the 3 gun nation boards for competition ideas.
There is the tab at the upper right of of the screen.

I've been a game player (IHMSA, bowling pins, Chevy Truck Sportsman's Team Challenge, USPSA, 3 gun, skeet, 5 stand, clays, action rifle, action shotgun),for about 30years now, and other than a Bill Roger's school very early on, haven't had the opportunity for professional instruction...I am, however, satisfied with the minor skills I have gained.... for those of you that do not play any of the action shooting games ,and don't attend one of Uncle Sam's boys schools, how do you determine your skill level? ie.. what standard do you compare your skill against?

Got my first Glock 20-yrs-ago. Installed an aftermarket connector as soon as I became aware of them, and I honestly don't remember how long ago that was. However, I do know that I don't like the pull of any of Glock's factory connectors. I don't have 300,000+ rounds through one Glock, Einstein!!! Shooting 1M rounds through a Glock won't do the same job as judicious polishing by somebody who knows jack about Glocks, with a Dremel, Simichrome polish, and the proper polishing wheel. Shooting a bunch of rounds through a Glock also won't lighten the trigger pull appreciably. My Glocks' triggers pull from 2 3/8# to just under 4#.

My Glocks work. I like my Glocks. End of story.

Here are three options.

1. Shoot against known firearms standards like the old Air Marshal TPC, FBI, Marine COF, Wichita SWAT, etc. In general these all require accuracy against a clock. Once you master each on demand every time. Speed up the par times. Don't speed up unless the accuracy standard is there. These COFs cover reloads, drawing, multiple targets, etc. I use 8" paper plates and 3x5 index cards for cheap targets.

2. Shoot with other good shooters head to head on steel. Plate racks, dueling trees, gongs at distance, etc. are a fun way to shoot that doesn't involve organized games. Shoot for dinner, drinks, ammo, whatever.

3. Measure against yourself on the specific skills you want to test. 1st round hit from holster from concealment. 1 rd, reload, 1 rd. Malf dummy round drills. Multiple target transtions. Transitions to/from strong to weak side. Shooting barricade strong and weak. Positional shooting - standing, kneeling, prone, around different sides of multilevel barricade. Etc.

This. Shoot it, a lot. Go to a few professional shooting classes. Shoot in some IPDA/IPSC matches or 3 guns.

The only mods a Glock needs out of the box are steel sights and extra magazines. I've been carrying a G17 for 2 years and I've taken 3 classes and shot some competition with it. And only now am I starting to actually mod the pistol. I just switched to a heavily stippled G17 with much better sights and internal modifications. I have a reference point, because I shot it a lot, and under stress at speed, and I know what I need to change to make it work for me more efficiently.

Fulcrum trigger and decent sights.

+1 I used the Ghost rocket 3.5 connecter. It shoot great and trigger pull is smooth and light.

I always wondered why some folks like mods and some don't. Now I know. Other than sights, I have never modified a Glock, never felt the need to. I shoot them well with the factory everything, so I leave them alone.

Last night, I installed a Ghost 3.5 connector and a competition spring kit in my non-carry G19. This G19 is pretty new and compared to my well-used carry gun, the trigger is horrendously heavy.

First, the connector only. It most definitely DID lighten the trigger pull, but since it was lighter, it felt "mushy" to me. Also, if I would press the trigger to the point of where it was just about to break, then release it, the trigger safety would not reset itself. Everything was installed correctly, I swapped connectors back and it worked fine.

So, I went ahead and put in the connector + spring kit and it definitely made it around that 3# mark. I played with it for a bit, but ended up swapping it back to the factory parts. I'm going to the range on Saturday and may put the connector and/or springs in for a little test, but there's just something about Glocks that in the back of my head still says "Don't dick with it."

I usually just shoot the hell out of them and if I find a problem that I need to fix, then I address it. I well used factory trigger is still about my favorite.

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