Wilson Combat Glock 17 barrel experience

[LtDave]

I have a franken Glock that I put together from a Gen2 G22 frame and a TSD Systems (One Source Tactical or now Suarez International) G17 upper with an RMR. The upper came with a proprietary threaded barrel. I don't know where TSD sourced the barrels. The setup has always run 100%, but I was never satisfied with the accuracy I was getting out of the gun. I tried over 50 different hand loads thru the original barrel and was only able to find 2 that would shoot under 2" at 20 yards. I found an original Glock barrel and dropped that in to see if there would be any improvement. Out of 15 different hand loads that shot well (under 2") in other guns, only one load would go sub 2" with the factory barrel. I finally made the decision to try a Wilson Combat barrel. It dropped into the upper without any drama or fitting. Took it to the range today. Out of 11 hand loads tested, 6 were sub 2", with one at 1.0". A definite improvement in accuracy. The very first round I attempted to chamber from slide lock stopped on the feed ramp. I cleared the round and put it back in the mag. The gun chambered the round on the second try and ran 100% with the remaining 125 rounds I fired. BTW, I was using a new MagPul Glock mag.

[JBP55]

The Wilson barrel I tried in a new Gen 4 G17 showed no improvement over the OEM barrel so I got rid of it at a loss.

[okie john]

I have two Gen3 G17's with fitted Wilson Combat barrels. Both passed the 2,000-round challenge with flying colors, and are much more accurate than the same guns with OEM barrels. One of the WC barrels was fitted by the TigerSwan pro shop as part of their Instructor's Glock package several years ago. I bought the other from Brownell's, who sold it as a drop-in part, but it was actually oversized. I had to fit it myself, which was nerve-wracking, but I got lucky and it's accurate, too.

Both WC barrels show dramatic increases in accuracy with most loads, although I did find a load that shot better in one of the factory barrels than all but the very best loads shot in the WC barrel. It uses a cast bullet, so it's a complete outlier...

The WC barrel that I tried in a Gen3 G22 Frankengun was actually worse than the factory barrel, but it was a true drop-in.


The Wilson barrel I tried in a new Gen 4 G17 showed no improvement over the OEM barrel so I got rid of it at a loss.

Not surprising--many users report that Gen4 guns are more accurate than Gen3 guns. My one Gen4 G17 easily hangs with my Gen3 guns and their WC barrels, but without the extra cost. Knowing what I know now, I'd just go straight to Gen4 guns instead of putting WC barrels into Gen3 guns.


Okie John

[Savage Hands]

The Wilson barrel I tried in a new Gen 4 G17 showed no improvement over the OEM barrel so I got rid of it at a loss.


Same here, IMO the barrel needs to be fitted to the Gen 4 Glocks for an improvement.

[JBP55]

Same here, IMO the barrel needs to be fitted to the Gen 4 Glocks for an improvement.

I agree, the OEM barrel in my Gen 4 G17 had a tighter lockup than the Wilson barrel.