Glock 19 barrel recommendations?

[rtp]

Hi all,

My EDC/'one gun' is a 3rd gen Glock 19C - came across a good deal when I was looking, so the C/compensated wasn't as much by desire, just how things wound up.

As I'd like to start shooting IDPA and local 'Zombie shoots,' as well as the added night flash effect, I'm looking to swap the barrel out for a non-compensated one. (IDPA apparently doesn't allow even OE ported barrels).

I do reload, and I've read on Glock barrels and lead enough to know that while I may wind up using lead projectiles at some point, I'll likely never get to the bottom of the debate on Glock OE barrels and lead..

The only modifications to the gun are a polished - connector and a 6# trigger spring. The intent is to make PF of 125-130 and shoot, train with the same ammo, same gun, all the time...which means accuracy takes a back seat to reliability(must keep reliable), although in an ideal world, I'll gladly take both. If I get good enough at some point the gun is indeed limiting me, then I'll consider another gun, which will become my new EDC..

I'm posting this here to hopefully avoid the fanboys with the "This is what I bought, the only one I've ever had, never compared it to any others, but therefore it's great, buy it!" syndrome, and hoping some of you who have likely tried them all can give some thoughts, while acknowledging it's not a quest to build the most accurate G19 at the expense of reliability.

Options as I see them:

Glock OE: roll the dice on if/when I load some lead projectiles, which I don't have immediate intentions of, but if components don't come back, may happen down the road, or if I start sooting quite a bit more..

Lone Wolf: Not worth arguing about, but I just don't see it as an improvement over OE and am not interested.

KKM, Storm Lake, Bar-Sto ?

OE is around $130

KKM 'drop-in' seems to be ~$165.

Bar-Sto - semi-fit at $210 -

Storm lake seems to be drop-in at $160 (retail), can add black finish for another $20 (which I would probably do...it's a Glock, should look like a Glock..)

Wilson Combat ? (Guessing they likely just relabel someone else's, which may be good, or bad, $-wise)

I don't mind if I need to do some relatively minor filing, but am not looking to decrease reliability. A gun that doesn't go bang if/when you need it to...is just a dangerous toy. Nothing 'wrong' with that if it's not also your EDC, of course, but that's not the plan at the moment..

Am I missing one I should consider?

Are they all so much tighter chambered that reliability would be decreased from OE, and truly 'match only' barrels?

Thanks in Advance!

Edited May 10, 2013 by rtp

[Steven420]

Bar-Sto/Wilson Combat

KKM

Storm Lake

EFK

Lone Wolf

OEM Glock

in that order... I have owned them all, I run BarSto when I can get em and KKM when I cant. I wont waste my time with anything else anymore.

Steve

Edited May 10, 2013 by Steven420

[Calishooter]

I replaced my glock 17 and glock 34 with KKM, so far It has performed flawlessly with factory and reloads. I also have a 40/9 conversion barrel for my Glock 23 from Lone Wolf

[rtp]

Are the Wilson Combats made by Bar-Sto, or just similar?

No reliability issues due to overly tight chambers? In other words, would you keep an aftermarket in your EDC (assuming quality reloads or PD rounds)?

[Blue Jacket]

I had good luck with KKM as well

[Steven420]

Are the Wilson Combats made by Bar-Sto, or just similar?

No reliability issues due to overly tight chambers? In other words, would you keep an aftermarket in your EDC (assuming quality reloads or PD rounds)I think they are just similar

I think that they are just made very similar. If I remember correctly Jarvis makes the Wilson Combat barrels.

I have only had one round of Dillon Square deal .40 reloaded ammunition not fit my KKM barrel. Square Deal resizing dies are not the best so I blame my press for that one.

I live in Texas and round here we don't care what barrel you shoot someone with. The only thing I would worry about is the liability of having to use your EDC in a self defense situation, and if it comes down to that you got bigger problems. Course it wouldn't hurt to carry with your C barrel and just pack your Accurate barrel for range time as the POI should be the same as long as your aftermarket barrel is fitted correctly.

I'm not a lawyer so take it with a grain of salt.

Steve

[rtp]

Are the Wilson Combats made by Bar-Sto, or just similar?

No reliability issues due to overly tight chambers? In other words, would you keep an aftermarket in your EDC (assuming quality reloads or PD rounds)I think they are just similar

I think that they are just made very similar. If I remember correctly Jarvis makes the Wilson Combat barrels.

I have only had one round of Dillon Square deal .40 reloaded ammunition not fit my KKM barrel. Square Deal resizing dies are not the best so I blame my press for that one.

I live in Texas and round here we don't care what barrel you shoot someone with. The only thing I would worry about is the liability of having to use your EDC in a self defense situation, and if it comes down to that you got bigger problems. Course it wouldn't hurt to carry with your C barrel and just pack your Accurate barrel for range time as the POI should be the same as long as your aftermarket barrel is fitted correctly.

I'm not a lawyer so take it with a grain of salt.

Steve

Thanks. The Bar-Sto is just out of my range at the moment.

A bit more random reading, and it seems the KKMs have the fewest negatives reported and a good number of positives.

I think more than a few would agree with Steven420's list, although I'd probably put OE Glock > LW.

Wilson Combat is the 'new guy,' have seen a few people say Jarvis makes them, and at least one or two people saying Storm Lake or KKM makes them. The biggest proponent for them seems to be an outfit trying to sell you their own Glock flavor. Seemed legit enough, but I haven't seen all that many first hand reports on the Wilson.

I guess we're down between the two of them, though - KKM or Wilson?

Great comment RE: Texas/don't care which barrel, BTW.

Edited May 11, 2013 by rtp

[mpom]

Have a Jarvis in both my 19 and 27. Bought them mostly because I reload, often using lead bullets, and to avoid the Glock Bulge in 40. Reliability has been 100%, as long as I check reloads in a chamber gauge and cull the odd fat one.

Chamber is a little tighter than factory, but not to the point of any issues. Accuracy is good. Don't have a ransom rest; factory barrels are very similar in accuracy to Jarvis from bench rest at 50 ft, but could be more accurate, I just have not tested them rigorously or scientifically. Like the fact that Jarvis barrels are black vs SS and cheaper than Bar Sto. I ordered mine slightly "long" and a couple of strokes with a fine file on the hood and fitting was done.

Bottom line, compared to factory, main advantage to Jarvis is ability to shoot lead with no worries, disadvantage is possible chambering issues with rare reload that would chamber in a loose factory chamber.

Mark

[rtp]

Thanks, all. Going to go check to see who has what in stock, KKM or Wilson it is.

[KyalSharpe]

I have a lone wolf in my open gun, barrel has never missed a beat, increased the accuracy by a large amount. i dont see what everybody has against lonewolf

[GlockCanMan]

My vote goes for KKM,

However I shoot a LOT of lead (Bayou bullets) through my stock Glock barrels without any problems.

[rtp]

I ordered a KKM, direct from KKM. It will be interesting to see the turnaround time.

I have a lone wolf in my open gun, barrel has never missed a beat, increased the accuracy by a large amount. i dont see what everybody has against lonewolf

This is where people will potentially get pissy, because everyone wants to believe their individual choice 'is the best.' It's natural.

I have no doubt that you believe your accuracy has improved with a LW barrel. It may even be true. (while others will argue that anything not a fitted barrel will do nearly zero for accuracy.. )

Short of buying each and putting them all through 'real' first hand testing, someone can either trust 'random Internet guy,' trust a well-respected (and qualified) source or friend, or look at the bigger picture, which means lots of collective comments online.

Talking to a few gunsmiths, and digging up whatever I could in the way of positive and negative comments, plus the guys posting online whom obviously have the experience to back up their comments...LW was out from the start, for me. Why? A few threads asking outright where they were made with not so nice responses. As far as I can tell, LW doesn't actually make them, and they may or may not be yet another China import. There were also far more reports of people needing to send their barrels back for reaming out, or jams/FTE, etc. And no, I don't think you should pay extra just to remove their goofy logo from the barrel, sorry.

We can leave it at - I didn't want a LW barrel, instead, if you'd like?

There were few few reports of problems with Bar-Sto and the other true smith to fit barrels, but now you're into real $, and I can't out-shoot the current barrel....just didn't make sense to put $400 of barrel + fitting (Bar-Sto) into a $500 gun..for me.

Storm Lake had a few more reports of issues than KKM - not a lot, but enough that it swung my personal decision. KKM drop-ins were almost universally - no issues, with the various 'more accurate' or 'no difference' depending on the person and potentially the individual gun/barrel.

EFK - neat technology, but way too many reports of problems with their barrels for me to go that route.

Wilson was intriguing,..they have a good reputation in general, and as a semi-drop-in I wasn't opposed to doing a bit of filing and polishing, but it seems to remain unknown as to who actually is making their barrels, either Jarvis or Storm Lake seem to be the wisdom of the collective at the moment...neither of which (for drop-in) had real advantages over the KKM..to me..and just not enough real data from non-vendors on the Wilson that I could find.

Bear in mind, this isn't one of many pistols sitting in a safe, for me - I have no desire at the moment to have to send my slide or entire gun back to someone with the barrel.

Were I a better shooter and wanted to build something solely for range/competition, well, it probably wouldn't be a Glock 19, and would be a G17 or G34 or similar, and I'd have a fitted barrel.

Again, this was my logic, feel free to love < whatever vendor you'd like > more than the route I chose to go.

[Th3Un4givin]

+1 for the KKM.

[Mac38]

I have KKM barrells and Storm Lake in 2 different Open guns.

In my opinion no difference between the 2 in accuracy.

In my G35 the KKM barrell has an extremely tight fitting chamber and I have had some isues with DC and Atlantic Arms ammo in that barrell.

I posted this in another thread.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Mac38

[4Rules]

Am I missing one I should consider?

I've had only good experience (meaning no issues whatsoever) with IGB.

[rtp]

Am I missing one I should consider?

I've had only good experience (meaning no issues whatsoever) with IGB.

That's an interesting one, never even heard of them before, maybe because it's an Aussie company (nothing wrong with that, but they don't seem to have a US distributor/marketing). Extra options for 'added chamber support', and looks like the barrel itself is coated/blackened...a bit of $ at current exchange rates from Euro.

What gun(s) do you use it in, and for what purpose(s)?

[rtp]

The KKM barrel showed up yesterday, so right at 2 weeks. No shipping notification, just receipt on payment (direct from KKM).

I haven't had time to shoot it yet, but it definitely locks up tighter in the slide/hood than the Glock OE barrel.

Doing a bullet drop test, it doesn't seem to be significantly tighter in the chamber although it may be in the barrel itself.

The chamber ID seems to be around .384 using an inside caliper, will check the Glock when I get a chance out of curiosity.

Pushing a 'dummy' loose round into the case with a MG 124gr JHP shows a chamber length of roughly SAAMI max - 1.17" was the result of a bullet in an already fired case.

The feed ramp is well polished, and overall it looks nicely machined.

Looking forward to shooting it.

[rtp]

I got curious, my Glock OE barrel chamber ID is .388 by comparison, so the KKM is slightly tighter in the chamber, but not my much.

Measuring the hoods, flat top plane that locks up into slide:

KKM: 1.2195"

Glock OE: 1.2165"

My slide opening: 1.2215"

Not much difference at all, but the KKM locks up into the slide noticeably tighter.

Top of hood to bottom lug:

KKM: .9565"

OE Glock: .955"

[rtp]

Just reporting back - have since shot some 500 rounds or so through the Glock w/KKM, including a 3 gun match.

All OK here. I had a single mis-feed/failure to eject, but it was during single hand shooting, likely a limp wrist.

Accuracy is good - I can't say for sure it's any significant difference vs OE, but it definitely isn't less accurate.

Will report back in a while after another 500 or so rounds and some swapping back and forth with the OE barrel.

[RaylanGivens]

Thanks for the updates... What kind of bullets are you shooting? Lead?

Do you run your match ammo through a chamber checker? Curious to see if that might help...

[rtp]

Shooting mostly 124gr JHP Montana Golds, ~4.9gr WSF, 1.085" OAL.

I may and should play with load tweaking a bit more, but it's reliable, relatively soft shooting, and makes minor PF.

I do gauge most rounds - I can't say 100% because I've slacked slightly after seeing very good consistency/no rejects for some time.

In this case, I'm quite sure it was me limp-wristing it one handed and trying to get the shot off quicker, which was confirmed by the RO as I was pretty surprised to have a failure at all.

Went out this past weekend and ran another 100 or so rounds through it, zero problems (two hands).

I'm just getting into 3 gun, so add in the 'added nerves' that comes along with it, so I'd put money it was me.

[rtp]

Another 500 rounds or more since the prior post, zero issues; happy with the KKM to date.