Glock Racing.

It doesn’t get a lot easier than this. Push the shroud/comp into place, replace the trigger pin, go shooting.

Six Amplitudes of Glock Modulation Building Your Own Glock Open Pistol BY PATRICK KELLEY, TY-14401 alued for their reliability, magazine capacity and serviceable accuracy, Glock pistols are the pistol of choice for the majority of shooters in the Production Division (57% at the 2007 Nationals), and have an enviable place in the L-10 and Limited Divisions as well. The question now is can the Glock platform contort to serve the needs of Open Division?

V

Specialists like SJC are already creating purposebuilt guns like the CCF raceframe monster shown in our January issue. One of the hallmarks of the Glock platform is the ability to take the thing apart with little more than a ballpoint pen, replacing each module with a new and possibly improved part, without the help of a gunsmith. Is this level of modularity possible in Open Division? Read on and we will explore six financially graduated do-it-yourself approaches to building an Open Division Glock on your kitchen table. Three will be chambered in 9x19mm, the remaining three in .40 S&W. In each case we’ll use a “base gun” that includes most of the things an Open gun would need. Using that base gun, I will try different compen26

FRONT SIGHT • May/June 2008

sators and porting systems to get an idea how each system would perform. For simplicity of installation and availability, JR Shepard at Lone Wolf Distributors supplied most of the parts used in the tests, including a Carver “Hunter” model scope mount with Weaver rail. Bobby Carver’s mounts are common in GSSF, and have a reputation for quality. This well-crafted unit is assembled and secured with a two-screw attachment plate at the frame’s light mount rail and a third screw that replaces the trigger pin. For an optic, I opted for a 4 MOA TruPoint mini-dot. Together, the fixed cost of this sighting assembly was $380. There are other mounts and optics available, but this choice fit into the doit-yourself theme at a price point that fairly represented the cost of any viable alternative. It was also one I could borrow and return. I used this set-up for all three 9mms and one .40 cal pistol. On an Open Division project a magwell is a “must have,” so we add $75 for the funnel of your choice (I opted for the brass magwell sold through www.customglock.com). Adding $20 for Eric Wesselman’s TruGrip tape raises our total fixed cost to $475.

reliability problems were traceable to erratic velocities from a particular lot of .40 S&W. I switched to a different lot and the problems vanished. To get an idea how the compensation systems performed, I fired multiple 5and 10-shot strings at paper plates at 10 yards, noting Lone Wolf’s two-ported barrel was…underthe ease with which I could whelming. keep the shots on the plate and splits between shots. Again, my ent, so I will not report numerical valskill set and yours may be vastly differ- ues, just my observations.

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With the base gun established, the only variable left is the compensator.

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Accuracy is an objective and measurable analysis that I am comfortable reporting. “Facts are facts” so to speak. Controllability is a subjective, theoretical item that relies on the shooter’s ability, experience, and opinion. In this area I’ll share my opinion, but that’s all it is, my opinion. Yours may (and probably will) differ. Accuracy testing was conducted indoors at 50 feet (due to winter weather). The photos represent a repeatable average group among five 5shot groups fired from sandbags. I do not have an ammunition sponsor, so aluminum-cased CCI Blazer 115-grain FMJ 9mm and 180-grain FMJ .40 S&W were used for all tests. The only May/June 2008 • FRONT SIGHT

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Amplitude #2 $615 Base Gun (G35) with .40 S&W Lone Wolf Distributing Six Port Barrel. $140 + $475 in Fixed Costs This barrel configuration at .40 S&W pressures did offer an improvement over the “Buck Rogers” or no, the Lone Wolf G17 6-port- stock barrel in rapid-fire comp worked surprisingly well. (Lone Wolf tells strings, but should not be us the design drew on artillery compensators.) used with the Carver mount as two of the rear ports exAmplitude #1 $575 haust gas under the bridge of the Base Gun (G17) with Lone Wolf Dis- mount. This barrel ranked last for actributing (LWD) G17 Two Port Barrel. curacy of the six units by a consider$100 + $475 in Fixed Costs able margin with an average group of I did not expect much from a couple of 2.75” at a measured 50 feet. slots cut in the last inch of barrel and I got everything I expected, and less. This barrel placed 5th in accuracy as it managed 2” groups at 50 feet. As far as recoil or recovery goes, swapping the two-port for the stock barrel back and forth I could tell “some” difference but I could not put a finger on “a” difference. Chalk up $100 for some added

Amplitude #3 $625 Base Gun (G17) with the 9mm LWD barrel and Six-port comp. $150 + $475 in Fixed Costs This “Buck Rogers” style compensator looks like a movie prop, and I expected it to perform like one. Instead

of baffles, it has a big expansion chamber that vents gas out through two gill plates (making two slots on each side) and two holes in the top. The additional false gill made me look at this comp like a toy. Shockingly, this baffleless comp works! It gave a noticeable improvement in my ability to place holes in targets at speed, making this is a fun gun to shoot fast. This combination worked well, and for little more than the plain ported number. Accuracy was excellent at 1.75 inches.

Amplitude #4 $765 Base Gun (G17) with 9mm KKM Barrel and 3-port comp. $290 + $475 in Fixed Costs Although we’re working with fairly sedate 9mm loads, the muzzle pressures that did not seem to offer much help with the simple 2-port barrel worked well against the surface area of the 3-port KKM comp’s baffles. I only own one G17, so the modularity of the Glock pistol and the precision machining employed by both KKM and LWD allowed me to swap back and forth again and again. Swap as I did I cannot in good conscience offer you a clear winner. They both work very well. However the accuracy edge goes to the KKM tube with consistent 1.5-inch groups collected.

Amplitude #5 $735 G35 with SJC Custom Comp/ Mount with Doctor Dot. $395 + $240 respectively + $95 Fixed Costs (TruGrip and magwell) This clever device combines the mount and compensator into a single bolt-on shroud that looks like something you’d see at the Bianchi cup. The whole affair is precisely machined from T6061 aluminum and weighs less than six ounces. It attaches securely through an interference fit between pistol’s light rail and two mating rails within the mount. To keep it from backing off in recoil, the trigger pin is replaced with a machine screw that secures the shroud. The “comp” half of the shroud is a clone of the 5-port compensator used on SJC’s state-of-the-art 28

FRONT SIGHT • May/June 2008

Open G17 that when installed just “kisses” the muzzle of the barrel. The “mount” is a small flat section designed to fit a J-Point or Doctor Dot style optic, or bolt on a Weaver rail if you like. Design-wise, this unit is a winner. Shoot Limited in the morning, then slip this unit on to shoot Open in the afternoon! No change in zero, no change in reliability, no change in trigger, and as accurate as your current barrel and load! Performance-wise, I had little difficulty running this unit at speed. I thought at first that much of this con-

Amplitude 3 LWD 6-Port 9mm

Amplitude 1 2-Port barrel

Amplitude 5 SJC Combo

Amplitude 2 6-Port barrel

Amplitude 4 KKM 3-Port system

Amplitude 6 Complete top

Using the Docter, the dot sits low enough that the transition from notch and post to optical sights only took a However, an equal weight benefit few minutes. And in those few minutes was provided by the Carver I was able to cluster a number of 1.25” mount in Amplitude # 2 groups with the CCI Blazer 180’s! The and it did little there to as- SJC comp/mount is a brilliant idea and sist me in controlling the it works. Currently available for the gun. This is a neat way to G34/35 and soon to be on the shelf for compete in Open Division! the G17 and G20, this offering from SJC could be a USPSA USPSA/IPSC meets Bianchi Cup. The SJC contender in a G17 Comp/Mount incorporates the comp into prepped to handle 9mm an external shroud, letting you leave your major loads. Add some iron sights in place. It works! Bianchi barricade

trollability could be attributed to added weight of the mount.

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wings, your best handloads, and try your hand at NRA action pistol. Can you say versatile?

Amplitude #6 $765.00 G35 with 40 S&W LWD G22 complete Open Division top end. $670.00 + $95 Tru-Grip and magwell While still a prototype as of my testing, this complete package consists of a LWD G22 length slide with a Weaver rail machined in lieu of rear sight cuts, an extended threaded barrel and matching “Buck Rogers” nine-port compensator (this .40 comp has three ports on the top and three working gills on each side), three custom hybrid style holes in the barrel with matching holes in the slide and a Nikko Sterling heads-up optical dot sight made exclusively for LWD. Pull off your top end and replace it with this one…done. During testing I could not help but put a few “extra” rounds through this variation. Something about this gun kept me coming back to shoot it again and again. While the SJC arrangement felt measured and controlled, the LWD felt more like a “race gun” — edgy and alive. (As tested, the SJC weighed 38 ounces, the LWD, just 33.) Bear in mind that I was equally rewarded during speed drills with either unit indicating no real advantage in one over the other. Accuracy was excellent with 1.5” groups again at 50 feet. I was able to enjoy a brief moment of sunshine outdoors with the unit and was rewarded with some 10-shot groups of just under 2 inches off-hand. The .40 S&W assembly should be available as you read this, and a 9X19 version will be hot on its heels. I think JR will sell a boatload of these.

Goin’ Major ATLANTA ARMS NOW HAS “MAJOR 9” AMMO CALLED “.355 SUPER” BY ROBIN TAYLOR, USPSA STAFF or anyone looking at running an Open 9mm, Atlanta Arms’ recent offering is great news. Now instead of handloading your way up close to a maximum load to create reliably majorpower-factor 9mm, you can buy the stuff off the shelf from Atlanta Arms.

F

On request, Atlanta Arms was kind enough to send us a few boxes of their Major 9 for examination. Headstamped “.355 SUPER” this is not typical 9mm Parabellum ammo. The box is prominently marked with red lettering “Not For Use In Standard 9mm.” According to Dann Wisner at AA, the bullet is a 125grain Zero jacketed hollow point, loaded into a custom-

WOW! Pat Kelley did this photo for artisitic value, but it reveals a lot about how and where the Lone Wolf comp vents gas. No wonder it fared so well in his tests. The assembly of any of these compilations required little more than a couple of socket head wrenches, a common screwdriver, a drop or three of Locktite™ and a Glock-appropriate punch. The rest is up to you. Pick your poison, tweak and tune to your satisfaction and hit the range! From mild to wild and most everything in between, this humble Austrian creation is still finding more ways to play. headstamped Starline case. Primers appear to be Winchester. The ammo is loaded slightly longer than standard, lowering pressures, and helping to keep it from being loaded into the magazine of a Browning Hi-Power or other small 9mm. A 10-round sample measured a marvelously consistent 1.146-7 inches overall as compared to samples of Remington Golden Sabre 124s (at 1.124 to 1.129) and PMC’s 124 FMJ (1.124 to 1.134). Three pulled bullets weighed together massed at 375.1 grains, with each bullet weighing 125, 125, and 125.1 respectively. “The development of the 355 Super (9MM Major) was a joint effort between Atlanta Arms & Ammo and SJC,” says Wisner. I don’t have access to a pressure barrel, but if these things stay close to SAAMI spec, GOIN’ MAJOR W/.355 SUPER continued on page 70.

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FRONT SIGHT • May/June 2008