The Glock 19 could easily be argued as a “Do All” pistol. Whether it’s for home defense, concealed carried, pistol matches or even LE/MIL use, the Glock 19 brings a lot to the table. These pistols are accurate, boringly reliable, there is a huge aftermarket available for them due to their immense popularity, and they are easily affordable. I personally have been shooting Glocks in USPSA competitions since 2000 in both Limited and Production divisions. In addition, I carried a Glock 22 for the better part of 4 years for my duty gun and a Glock 27 as a back up and off-duty pistol; but until recently, I had never owned a Glock 19. After over a decade of shooting Glocks, I couldn’t resist any longer and wanted to start a new project to push the boundaries of what shooters considered to be the effective limitations of a pistol.
I wanted a Glock that I could use as an every day carry gun and show up to a Steel Challenge match to burn down stages with. The pistol needed to be able to accept a suppressor so I could use it for home defense, but I also wanted to be able to engage targets out to a 100+ yards with ease and confidence. I already had a surplus of Glock 17 mags and 33rd mags, so working with those was also a factor. Shortly, I wanted this Glock to be able to do anything I could imagine. With luck, I was able to purchase a Glock 19 Gen 3 with factory steel suppressor tall sights and a factory threaded barrel at my local gun shop. The sky was now the limit, enter Trijicon Inc and ATEi.
Glock 19 Gen 3 – Factory Threaded Barrel and Suppressor Tall Steel Sights. Trijicon RMR04 – Dual Illuminated 7 MOA Amber Dot.
I after much research and discussion amongst other knowledgeable friends, I settled on topping the Glock 19 with a mini red dot sight. For my intended and planned volume of use, I determined a Trijicon RMR04 – Dual Illuminated RDS would be best. This RMR has a 7 MOA amber dot which is illuminated by tritium and fiber optics, similar to their ACOGs. A 7 MOA dot covers 7 inches at a 100 yards. This both allowed a small enough dot to get a good sight picture on man sized targets at distance, but a dot large enough that I would be able to pick the dot up quickly for more commonly seen distances in action shooting competitions. At the same time, my pistols get lots of range time. Most weekly competitions are around 200 rounds and I wanted to account for a large volume of rounds going through this pistol. Going with a Dual Illuminated model cut out the need for a battery and has less parts to make it work. After speaking with Trijicon and explaining what I had planned for this project, they sent me an RMR04 to run on the gun.
After I acquired the optic, I began looking at options for having the slide milled. It did not take much time before I settled on ATEi. The staff I spoke with was professional, extremely knowledgeable and pleasant. I again explained where I wanted to go with this pistol and what I had planned. They advised they could do the work and have the pistol shipped back to me in 3-4 weeks and that they would want the RMR sent with the slide. When I inquired why they wanted the RMR, they explained that they actually measured each optic prior to making any cuts on the slide and milled the slide to the exact dimensions of the optic, custom fitting the slide to the optic. This allowed very tight tolerances and added extra rigidity to the optic to ensure it could withstand rough use in the field. In addition to the milling services, ATEi offered coating options and does stippling work for the frames. Not sure quite yet what I wanted done to the frame, I had ATEi mill the slide for the RMR in front of the rear sight and refinish the slide in Black Nitrate. Just under 3 weeks later I received my slide with the work completed.
Glock 19 – factory threaded barrel and steel suppressor sights. Topped with Trijicon RMR04. Mill work and refinishing by ATEi.
Inspecting the work, I was very impressed. The RMR sat low in the slide and the machine work was amazing. The refinishing looked factory new and the suppressor sights were easy to acquire through the RMR. I have shot a few pistol matches with borrowed open guns, but don’t have much time behind pistols with dot sights. That being said, after 20 minutes of dry fire and bringing the pistol up for getting a sight picture, I began to get comfortable picking up the RMR’s dot instead of first acquiring the iron sights to locate the dot. This is still going take a huge amount of practice to master, but it’s not going to be overtly difficult.
Once I got to the range, it only took 8-9 clicks in windage and 4-5 clicks in elevation to get the RMR zeroed at 20 yards. I am still in the process of researching what yardage I want to have this pistol zeroed out, so if you have experience or suggestions, please comment below! You can see from my sight in target, it did not take long before I was able to punch 1″ pasters off the target.
Sight in Target – 1″ paster
With the RMR sighted in, the next step was simple. I made a trip to my friends at the Silencer Shop to buy a metric piston with a left hand thread to fit my Silencerco Osprey 40 to the Glock factory threaded barrel. I have been running this suppressor on my Glock 22 and Glock 23 pistols fitted with after market barrels; however, Glock’s factory barrels are the European design and the piston that came with suppressor when I first bought it wouldn’t fit the threading. As usual, after telling the guys at the Silencer Shop what I was doing and asked if they could help, they were “Johnny on the spot” and returned minutes latter with the piston I needed. After swapping the piston, the Osprey mounted up nicely.
Suppressed RMR Glock 19 with Silencerco Osprey 40
This project is just getting started, but it’s already off to an awesome start. Be sure to check back. In future blogs I will continue to upgrade and advance this pistol, along with shoot the HECK out of it. More pictures and videos will be published as I go so our readers get a better experience and idea of what this pistol is capable of. My next write up on this gun will feature an in depth range report and further go over the RMR and mill work. In addition, a great deal of shooting will be done suppressed for all our stamp collectors! Be sure to comment with any questions or requests on what you want to see modified on this pistol, I will do my best.
– Will
* Pictures by Ashleigh Ashford Photography
Will Moore
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Any chance you bring this by Shady Oaks Gun Range so I can check it out? I am planning a Glock build myself, but had not considered the red dot idea. – Paul Irwin(General Manager of Shady Oaks Gun Range)
I haven’t been by Shady Oaks, however, if you send me a msg, we can work out linking up. I apologize for the long wait in response.
Enjoy your pistol. I have a g19 milled with a rmr02, the zero I chose was at ten yards. With that I can group five spots into one of those little dots and rib the pistol out to 100 yards and hit a silhouette target with almost boring consistency.
It is amazing how well this set up performs outside of 10 yards. The user ease at distance is really impressive. Plus the ability to stay target focused while opening your FOV is a huge advantage.
That is slick! Can’t wait to shoot it!!!