Why Buy An Aftermarket Glock Slide

If you've been around firearms for any period of time then you've probably heard of Glock. It's one of the most popular handgun designs in existence. Most cops across the country carry a full-size Glock 17 as a duty gun and almost every gun buyer grabs a compact Glock 19 at some point in his or her life. 

One reason Glocks are so popular is that they're simple and dependable designs, but another reason is that they're easy to modify. They consist of just 34 components and field-strip into only four (slide, frame, barrel, and guide rod). While there's a wide range of aftermarket gun parts, probably the easiest modification you could make is replacing the pistol slide.

Why Should You Replace a Factory Glock Slide?

There are two main reasons to replace your Glock slide. However, it's worth mentioning that Glocks are built very well. The company touts that the slides and polymer frames are interchangeable between Glock models. With that said, Glock encourages Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts, but won't stand behind your gun's performance if you use aftermarket gun parts.

Nonetheless, the first reason is you might want to change the aesthetics of your Glock handgun. Many aftermarket Glock slides are available in a variety of colors and finishes, as well as materials, so you have full control over how the gun looks. The other reason is that you might want to improve your gun's overall performance and accessibility. For example, you can get an optic-cut slide that is ready for a red dot sight. There's a third option as well, which you may have guessed, and that's to do both. 

What Does The Slide Do?

A pistol consists of two main parts: the slide and the frame. A pistol slide is to a pistol as a complete upper receiver is to an AR-pattern rifle in that it houses the action. While both hold components like a firing pin, extractor, and barrel, the rifle action field strips into a greater number of parts. On a pistol slide, which starts out as a solid billet of steel, the action is built into it, so the most likely person to take it apart by removing the cover plate is a gunsmith. 

The slide fits onto the frame, which holds the pistol's controls like the trigger and magwell, using metal rails attached to the frame. As you hold onto the grip and shoot, the slide moves in a reciprocating motion. Each time it moves back, the extractor spits out an empty case, and then each motion forward, the slide strips off a round from the magazine and loads it into the chamber. 

Custom Glock Slide Features

• Finish - Aftermarket Glock slides come in a range of colors and finishes. For example, you can find a Glock slide in Cerakote FDE, black Nitride, stainless steel, and more.
• Lightening Cuts - These are small cuts milled into the pistol slide to increase the speed of the action cycle so you can use lighter recoiling ammo. You see these most often on "race guns," or competition guns, where shooters are judged on their accuracy and time.
• Serrations - Glocks come standard with rear sight serration, which helps you grip the slide when you're manually pulling it rearward, but some people prefer serrations near the front sights so they can manually pull on the slide from the front.
• RMR Cuts - Ruggedized Miniature Reflex cuts, or the optic cut in common parlance, allow you to add an optic like a red dot sight for quick target acquisition. This is a relatively new feature and big handgun makers like Glock, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson, and more make it a factory option. So, a slide with RMR cuts would be to upgrade older Glock models.

What Is The Best Glock Slide?

At OpticsPlanet, we carry tons of gun parts and pistol slides from a variety of brands. For Glock slides, the most popular models include:

• Statement Defense Overbite Glock Slide with Trijicon RMR Optic Cut - In addition to being optics ready, the Statement Defense slide is available for both the Glock 19 and Glock 17 Gen 3 models and in a variety of colors.
• TRYBE Defense Glock 19 Pistol Slide - The TRYBE Glock 19 slide is available in 17 different configurations. They vary by color, Glock generation, and optics cut. Some models are ready for a Trijicon RMR, Leupold DeltaPoint Pro, Vortex Viper, and others.
• Killer Innovations Velocity Glock 19 Gen 3 Slide - The Killer Innovations slide offers a little bit of everything. Lightening cuts, RMR cuts (for the Leupold Delta Point Pro or Trijicon RMR), and it comes in two colors.
• American Tactical Arms ATA19 Badger Stripped Slide with Optic Cut - This optics-ready sight is available in four different colors and for five different optics, which include Holosun, Leupold Delta Point Pro, Trijicon RMR, and more. 

While these are the top five Glock slides on OpticsPlanet, we carry slides for the Glock 26, Glock 43, Glock 34, and more by the same brands as well as others. 

Parting Shots

If you want to upgrade your Glock handgun or just give it a new look, check out all the pistol slides, gun parts, and new products offered on OpticsPlanet. For more information on Glocks or guns and shooting, check out our library of How-To Guides. And if you have a question yourself, send it our way through our Contact Us Page.