Custom Pistol Build Thread

frontsight · August 22, 2022

Another jigsaw puzzle Guarder G19 - steel edition!

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Really like the forced barrel tilt and 15mm cylinder that was added in the G19 design. What I didn't really like was the velvety matte black finish that came with the steel slide, so I took a brass brush and some polishing compound and carefully carded most of it off. Not sure how this will affect the corrosion resistance (if there's any left at this point), but really like how the slide is a lighter shade of grey than the frame much like the real steel models prior to the new deep black nDLC finish.

Referenced pics of heavily used police trade-in Glocks that have a worn-in tenifer/frying-pan finish and tried to match the dark grey and metallic sheen. Not quite 1:1 but still like how it turned out. Now to get some more weathering on it by using the sh*t out of it🙃

This is the Guarder finish that comes as stock. Guarder calls it "P-process" but I've read that its some form of QPQ finish. It's a flat black/dark grey and the texture feels almost parkerized. If there's any metal experts out there please educate us on what this finish is.

Below is an RS example of a heavily worn police trade in gen 3. The light grey hue is more from the reflection at certain angles

On a side note, a company called RST does produce a true-to-spec tenifer finished steel slide for Marui G19's (seen below) but for the price (£100 vs £1,000) I don't think you can really do better than Guarder..

GothicGhost · September 8, 2022

TM glock 26

Nova slide kit with gold barrel.

Prime black barrel ( I prefer this)

Guarder frame OD Green.

Guarder magazine catch

frontsight · September 11, 2022

On 08/09/2022 at 21:23, GothicGhost said:

Guarder frame OD Green.

That color combo is really nice. Shame that Guarder seems to have stepped away from making OD frames for the gen 4

GothicGhost · September 13, 2022

On 11/09/2022 at 13:29, frontsight said:

That color combo is really nice. Shame that Guarder seems to have stepped away from making OD frames for the gen 4

Yeah I never had OD green pistol before and wanted something other then tan all the time.

frontsight · October 16, 2022

Took almost a year and a lot of planning to source everything, but finally finished my grail build - the Springfield Armory Professional

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Fun fact : The late-model versions of the MEU such as the Tokyo Marui or Guarder replicas are based on this version of the 1911.

The USMC took base model Springfield Professional models and modified it to fit their own requirements. These included things such as adding the lanyard loop and forward slide serrations. The photo below of an actual MEU pistol shows how the slide sports the forward serrations added by the USMC's armorers, which was cut over the "custom shop" lettering from the Springfield factory. Another interesting thing is that the slide and frame seem to be a different color. This was because the frame was the original "Black-T" finish from the factory, while the slide was refinished/parkerized after cutting the front slide serrations.

I really wanted the original professional model (RS example, left), but the only similar option available without the front slide serrations was the Guarder Bureau model (RS example, right). They both are essentially the same gun, but the latter was a marketing ploy by Springfield after they won the contract for the FBI HRT's sidearm. They slathered a bunch of FBI lettering and even used FBI in the serial numbers to really let you know this was a cool gun chosen by the FBI. After about 40 or so of these were manufactured and sold as the "Bureau Model" the FBI put a hard stop for their name being used in branding. Due to this, these were extremely rare, and the RS ones can go for 5,000+ USD; I assume that Guarder chose to produce the Bureau Model instead of the bare-bones Professional due to this rarity and backstory.

But still, I really wanted the original model since both the USMC's MEU and the FBI's "Bureau Model" both were based on the Professional. Which brings us back to the fun fact in the first photo: The MEU is the Professional model, with forward serrations added - This gave me an idea. If the forward serrations were skipped from being added on Guarder's MEU slide, it would be exactly what I wanted.

So I pitched this idea to Guarder, with fingers crossed that they would accept something like this.

And by some miracle, they accepted to do the custom order!

And here it is! The only airsoft SFA professional. It was such a long project to complete I now can't exactly remember why I wanted a Professional in the first place, but extremely happy on how it came out. Everything is correct to original Pro model specs, but I never could source the magwell..