DIY undercutting trigger guard

[DonovanM]

I would like to undertake this - in a minor way - at a minimum of risk and without it ending up looking like garbage.

How do you guys do it?

[Poppa Bear]

I used a Dremel for the rough stuff and a variety of different grades of sandpaper (100 up to 600) to smooth it out. Most of mine was to bevel the right side of the guard so that I had less of a hard edge pressing against my middle finger.

[amccallister]

I used a sanding drum approximately the same diameter as my index finger on a dremel. Just go slow and then finish it up with some really fine sandpaper.

[eric nielsen]

The constant radius (side-side) on the bottom of the CZ Shadow trigger guard is very comfortable (compared to a Glock or stock STI) - I wish I had seen that before hacking on the underside of my Glocks (all are sold to other people now). Think of the radius on the top of a 1911 slide and flip that upside-down, that rounding plus a 2nd pass to break the edge is what's on a CZ, ask someone to show you at a match. I'm going to do the same thing on my Open & Limited STI's with a strip of Emory cloth and the frame upside-down in a vise.

[Anything you do to a frame with abrasives knocks that frame out of Production division forever]

[Steven420]

I start with a half inch diameter Dremel sanding drum and finish with progressively finer grits of sandpaper up to 12000 grit. Go slow with the drum. The more patient you are, the better your results will be.

Steve

[Fitzghan]

I plan to do this very soon as well. I'm comfortable sanding down the grip and stipling but this will be my first go at the double undercut. My carry glock has a trigger guard that was undercut by Boresight solutions that I plan to use as a rough guide. Do you guys mark the trigger gaurd before hand to ensure you don't go to far and to give you a rough outline or do you just do it by feel a little at a time?

I also read some people using a wooden dowel with sand paper vice the dremel. Anybody use this technique?

[Ultimo-Hombre]

I have worked over glock frames both with dremel and by hand. My reccomendation for undercutting is sandpaper over a dowel or the like. A sharpie works pretty good. With a dremel it is too easy to remove material in the wrong spot when doing smooth radius work. For knocking down the finger bumps dremel is fine but using the dowel trick makes it easier to slowly work to a symmetrical radius on both sides of the trigger guard.

Also when using a dremel go literally slow as in slow rpm speed. Too fast and you will begin to melt the poly and get all sorts of trouble.

Good luck.

[Fitzghan]

Thanks Ultimo....that is sort of what I was thinking. It seems the dowel may take longer but I suspect it would be harder to foul up and produce a more uniform result.

[McGlock]

Even pressure and slow speeds with the dremel will work great.. Just dont spin too fast or you get the frame all gooey.. Fine sandpaper to polish it up

[Atlgentlegiant]

I did my frame with the sanding wheels on my dremel. I kept it at the lowest speed and took it very slow. I kept at it until it fit my hand correctly but took off very little material at any one time. Next up is removing the finger grooves.

[DonovanM]

I did my frame with the sanding wheels on my dremel. I kept it at the lowest speed and took it very slow. I kept at it until it fit my hand correctly but took off very little material at any one time. Next up is removing the finger grooves.

Very nice, I think this is is the way to go.

I did a little work on my 35 with a dremel & sanding wheel, plus a bit of 1000 grit to finish it off (which made it very smooth and even pleasant to grip compared to my other Glocks).

I have a little more finish work to do but I am very pleased with the result.

[GigG]

Anyone have an idea what the minimum final thickness should be before you get into breaching the integrity of the trigger guard?

Gig

[Fitzghan]

So I returned home picked up the G35 and took the plunge. I ended up using a combination of dremel and various grits of sand paper (220, 400, 600, 1200) wrapped around a wooden dowel and a sharpie marker. I used the dremel on 5k RPM (lowest setting) initially, and found it worked well at about 10k with the sanding wheel I was using. I particularly liked using the sharpie marker and found it to be the optimum size to do precision work. I could not be happier with the results. Below are some pictures of the process.

Here is the frame sanded down in preparation for stippling. Slight grip reduction and reduction of finger grooves

Here is the double undercut

Here is the frame with the stippling complete and ZEV magwell attached

Finished product

TTI Sights

GlockTriggers Edge trigger

ZEV Extended Tungsten GuideRod

ZEV magwell

[Steven420]

Beautiful.

[ParkerNash]

I did a full grip reduction, double undercut and the silicon carbide grip. All the frame shaping was done with dremel sanding drum.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=174856&hl=

Edited May 17, 2013 by ParkerNash

[McGlock]

You did a great job! I just did one for a friend.. Check it out below.

[Fitzghan]

Nice work gents! I’ve never even considered the silicone carbide option……Great……now I need another Glock!

[Fate0n3]

You guys did a great job.... Sheesh they are killing me mine needs to be done I think me and the dremel are going to have a date soon lol...

[Klemmer]

Handsome work. I guess that I have some more sanding to perform on my G34.

[SpaceFlunky]

So I returned home picked up the G35 and took the plunge. I ended up using a combination of dremel and various grits of sand paper (220, 400, 600, 1200) wrapped around a wooden dowel and a sharpie marker. I used the dremel on 5k RPM (lowest setting) initially, and found it worked well at about 10k with the sanding wheel I was using. I particularly liked using the sharpie marker and found it to be the optimum size to do precision work. I could not be happier with the results. Below are some pictures of the process.

Here is the frame sanded down in preparation for stippling. Slight grip reduction and reduction of finger grooves

sandedframe.JPG

Here is the double undercut

doubleundercut.JPG

Here is the frame with the stippling complete and ZEV magwell attached

Stipeledframe..JPG

Finished product

TTI Sights

GlockTriggers Edge trigger

ZEV Extended Tungsten GuideRod

ZEV magwell

FinishedProduct.JPG

Do you feel that the finger grooves do not line up as good now that your hand sits slightly higher due to the undercut? Im contemplating doing this to my G24.

[knedrgr]

For me it was mostly with a large curve file. And then various grit sand papers, finishing up with used 600 grit.

I also hate the square cut guard, so that had to go.

[Fitzghan]

So I returned home picked up the G35 and took the plunge. I ended up using a combination of dremel and various grits of sand paper (220, 400, 600, 1200) wrapped around a wooden dowel and a sharpie marker. I used the dremel on 5k RPM (lowest setting) initially, and found it worked well at about 10k with the sanding wheel I was using. I particularly liked using the sharpie marker and found it to be the optimum size to do precision work. I could not be happier with the results. Below are some pictures of the process.

Here is the frame sanded down in preparation for stippling. Slight grip reduction and reduction of finger grooves

sandedframe.JPG

Here is the double undercut

doubleundercut.JPG

Here is the frame with the stippling complete and ZEV magwell attached

Stipeledframe..JPG

Finished product

TTI Sights

GlockTriggers Edge trigger

ZEV Extended Tungsten GuideRod

ZEV magwell

FinishedProduct.JPG

Do you feel that the finger grooves do not line up as good now that your hand sits slightly higher due to the undercut? Im contemplating doing this to my G24.

The gun feels like magic in my hand but I had to go pull it out of the safe and really look at it to make sure before I answered your question. No issue with the finger grooves at all. I did reduce them a little bit but even if I hadn’t I think it would be fine. I’ve actually been using this frame with my 34 upper and internals for 3 gun and I love shooting it. My new favorite by far.

[SpaceFlunky]

So I returned home picked up the G35 and took the plunge. I ended up using a combination of dremel and various grits of sand paper (220, 400, 600, 1200) wrapped around a wooden dowel and a sharpie marker. I used the dremel on 5k RPM (lowest setting) initially, and found it worked well at about 10k with the sanding wheel I was using. I particularly liked using the sharpie marker and found it to be the optimum size to do precision work. I could not be happier with the results. Below are some pictures of the process.

Here is the frame sanded down in preparation for stippling. Slight grip reduction and reduction of finger grooves

sandedframe.JPG

Here is the double undercut

doubleundercut.JPG

Here is the frame with the stippling complete and ZEV magwell attached

Stipeledframe..JPG

Finished product

TTI Sights

GlockTriggers Edge trigger

ZEV Extended Tungsten GuideRod

ZEV magwell

FinishedProduct.JPG

Do you feel that the finger grooves do not line up as good now that your hand sits slightly higher due to the undercut? Im contemplating doing this to my G24.

The gun feels like magic in my hand but I had to go pull it out of the safe and really look at it to make sure before I answered your question. No issue with the finger grooves at all. I did reduce them a little bit but even if I hadn’t I think it would be fine. I’ve actually been using this frame with my 34 upper and internals for 3 gun and I love shooting it. My new favorite by far.

Thank you for the great response!

Hopefully i will be getting my frame work done here within the next couple of weeks.

[billdncn]

Worried I may have gone a little too far with the undercut for my support hand. It's at .105" thick. Think I'm ok?

Fitzghan..... We seem to be very close in our mods. How do you like it?

Here is the double undercut

doubleundercut.JPG

Edited July 28, 2013 by billdncn

[Fitzghan]

Worried I may have gone a little too far with the undercut for my support hand. It's at .105" thick. Think I'm ok?

Fitzghan..... We seem to be very close in our mods. How do you like it?

Here is the double undercut

doubleundercut.JPG

Hard to tell from the photo…but at this point it’s either good or it’s not! Time will tell