Frankengun Rising: A Gucci Polymer 80 Built by Clay

Polymer 80 Build

I am eating a little bit of crow this week, which I know you all enjoy. You see, I was never on board the Polymer 80 train. Not that I was opposed to such a thing. I think you should be able to buy RPG’s and belt-fed weapons at your local gas station, personally. I was opposed to them due to cost, as well as I didn’t really believe they would work.

But the situation has changed. First of all, given our current political climate, I believe it benefits all of us to have a little homemade, off the books magic stashed away. Red Flag horror stories are becoming a daily occurrence, across the nation. And our rights are under assault by an unrelenting swamp. Given all that, as well as the reduction in the price of some parts of an 80% build, I felt like it was time to take the plunge.

A cost analysis shows that building an 80% isn’t much if any, cheaper than buying a factory gun. But, there is a difference. If you build a Polymer 80, you get exactly the gun you want. And a detailed cost break down at the end will show how that works out.

This was my first every Polymer 80 build, and I hope it inspires confidence if you have been thinking of trying it out. I am in no way a gunsmith, and arguably not even a decent gun mechanic. I used simple hand tools, that I would wager everyone has laying around. No drill presses or lathes around these parts.

We ended up making this a two-part deal, for reasons that will be obvious at the end of this week’s video. For this week, we will go now to a parts list, and why I chose the ones I did. Next week, with the follow-up video, I will provide greater depth on the building process.

Brownells Exclusive Polymer80 Aggressive Texture frame – I was already looking at Polymer 80 brand build kits, and happened to see this one at Brownells. Considering a Glock factory RTF-G22 is one of the things in life I deeply regret not buying, this was a no brainer. RTF stands for Rough Texture Frame, and are among the most sought after of the Glocks. They were always limited runs, and I saw this as my chance to have something close to it. I also went with FDE as a color, though several other options are offered. The FDE is a darker brown than has ever been offered on a Glock factory gun, so it also gives it a unique look. MSRP $149.99.

Brownells Slide for Glock Pistols – This is arguably the part that makes the entire project affordable. Not that long ago, the cheapest way to get a new Glock slide was to buy a police trade-in Glock and throw the frame away. Seriously. Today you can still spend up to $1000+ on an aftermarket slide, with cheaper ones around $400. Brownell’s broke the market wide open earlier this year when they released their house brand ones at $199.99. Not only is that cheaper than any other option, but it is also Brownell’s brand. I have always had excellent success with Brownell’s house brand parts, and consider them the gold standard in things like AR-15 magazines. I have a lot of faith in this slide, because of the name stamped on the side. I would have a hard time trusting a $200 slide from anyone else. For our build, we did Gucci it up a little. We went with the RMR cut, and well as a lightning window milled in. But, even for the flagship Brownells slide, the price is still right. MSRP $229.99

Silencerco Threaded Barrel – Another advantage of a home build, you can get a threaded barrel from day one. Not only might you want to run a suppressor from time to time, but threads help with my all-time favorite pistol add on. A compensator. More on that in a minute. It seemed logical that if a company specializes in suppressors, they should certainly be able to build a pistol barrel. Also to my knowledge, Glock has never offered a threaded barrel as a factory option. So this is really a win-win. You get the barrel you wanted and don’t have to pay for a stock one. MSRP $185.00

Delta S Kabuto Compensator – Delta S is a new player in this market space, but they are coming correct on accessory parts. The Kabuto not only works well, but it is very small, more appropriate to a tactical gun. This comp is small enough to still fit an IWB holster, as the profile is basically the same as a ¾ inch slide extension. If you have never shot a comped gun, I recommend it highly. It keeps the gun so flat and the recoil so minimal, you will think you are shooting a 22LR. This is becoming standard issue on pistols in military circles, at least in the kinds of units that might actually be using a pistol for serious work. This is a highly recommended item. MSRP $100

Apex Tactical Specialties Action Enhancement Kit for Glock Pistols (trigger) – Apex has long been the King of Triggers in the M&P world, they are second to none. So I REALLY wanted to try one of their Glock triggers, and this build seemed like the time to do so. Let’s be honest, even among us Glock fanboys. The weakness of the Glock factory gun is the absolutely abysmal trigger. Yes, you can learn to use it. But it’s 2020, and I want something better. Now I have made some homebrew triggers for my race guns, and they are pretty good. But I have nowhere near the engineering expertise of Apex. I am happy to report, the Apex Glock/80% Trigger is absolutely amazing. It costs more than a Glock factory set of trigger components, which is no surprise. BUT… again, you are saving some $$ if you wanted the upgrade anyway. The Apex kit costs $129.00, per Glock. And I swear that by years end, all my factory Glocks will be wearing the same upgrade. MSRP $129.95

Dawson Precision Sights – If you’ve been on this channel for any length of time, you know I prefer Dawson Sights anytime I can. I ran them for years on both my competition and combat guns, and they are absolutely my first choice in iron sights. Some of the higher-end factory guns, such as the SIG P320X5, are now wearing them from the production line. Dawson is excellence personified, and absolutely what I would be putting on a Glock anyway. Let’s be honest, the Glock factory plastics are placeholders. Literally the first thing anyone does is replace them. Hell, I usually have it done before I bother to pick it up if it’s one of mine. This did, however, create one of the unique problems of this build.

Dawson doesn’t like to do anything half-assed. If you call them up and tell them what slide you are using, they will send you the correct sights, that hit where you aim. You see, despite attempts at mimicking, many aftermarket slides have dimensional anomalies. Dovetail cut a little further forward, front sight hole cut deeper, whatever. The problem was, the Brownells slide was so new, they didn’t know EXACTLY which sight height to use. And they weren’t about to let me be on camera shooting Dawson sights and hitting high or low. A dedication to the craft that I can respect. MSRP $78.95

So we settled on a compromise. They sent me the appropriate G-19 rear, which I put on matched with a Glock factory plastic front. (I was using a bag of them as a doorstop. Don’t judge me.) We shot a group on paper, I measured the height it was off, they did some magic with chicken bones and then sent me the corresponding front sight to make it hit the point of aim. And it worked. Also, for all you guys buying the Brownell’s slide, we now know the sight combo you need. You’re welcome. (That answer is Rear Fixed, .270 Tall, .140 Notch. Front .220 Tall, .115 Wide)

Other – With all the big parts covered, we still needed the internals. All the little springs and other stuff that is easy to overlook. And while I probably could have built one or two Polymer 80 kits with what I have in my Glock spare parts bin, better safe than sorry. Brownell’s once again has this covered, and they make it easy. For the lower, we ordered the Glock Lower Parts kit, minus trigger. Kudos to them for making one both with and without the trigger, depending on your needs. We had the Apex, so we saved a couple of bucks here. MSRP $ 54.99

Same with the slide completion kit. Brownell’s has that covered, including easy to forget parts like the firing pin channel liner. MSRP $89.99

In part 2, we are going to talk more about the build, and what I thought of the finished product. But for now, we need to talk about function. If you watched the video, you know how initial testing went. Our gun did go bang and worked at about a 95% success rate. But we did have some failures to go into battery, and one slide lock with ammo still in the magazine. Fear not, all is not lost. I have some ideas about how to fix it, and we are going to do just that. Tune in next time, when we try and redeem our FrankenGun build.

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