Polymer 80 Glock 19 Style Build

[vuitton]

Hi guys,

Over the past year I've seen couple of my favorite YouTube personalities talk about and show some of their own Polymer 80 builds. I've been interested in building one myself for quite sometime now and I feel like I have finally made a decision to do so. I've built couple of AR-15 rifles and pistols before and they came out great. I just haven't built any handguns myself and being a guy who always uses Glock, I think P80 will be a perfect first build.

I would like to ask for some recommendations and suggestions based on your experience. Have you built Polymer 80 pistol before? If yes, was it hard? Was it easy? What are the challenges you might face on the way of building one? Any pro tips? Reliability of the product?

Who sells the TOP QUALITY aftermarket products for handguns?

I am doing a research on couple of companies but would love to hear what you guys have to recommend. I will keep this thread going and document my journey of getting and putting together the build.

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say.

[Catshooter]

The P80 is pretty simple to build. Just take your time, double check your actions before you cut.

Mine is a G21. It needed about a hundred rounds of ball to break in. Then it smoothed right out. Fifty foot one hole groups with S&B ball. Seems like a good product . . . almost.

The con: Oh Lord. The rail. The slots in the rail are not all the same width, (for some clever reason) and they are too wide (by .007 to .016 for either Glock or Picitinny norms. So my Olight light will shake (by hand) and then fall off under recoil. To make it worse is their customer service rep is amazing. Lisa has obviously never been presented with such a technical problem before and her suggestions show it. She thinks I should go out and buy some TLR-1s, that'll solve my problems. Very slow to answer an email. So, we'll see how it shakes out.


Cat

[mtnbkr]

I built one a couple years ago (don't recall if I finished it in 2018 or 2019, but it was well before Covid). I used Glock small parts, an aftermarket trigger (that had been in use in my G19 before), a Brownells slide, and a 3rd party barrel. I have a Holosun red dot and a Streamlight TLR (don't recall which one, but it is pretty basic). I've put about 1000 rounds of various loads (steel cased ball, various brass-cased ball loads, different self-defense loads, etc). It just works and is accurate, more accurate than my other Glocks, though the RDS plays a big role there.

Build-wise, it was straightforward. I did have a minor issue with the pins, but managed to clear that up by running the drill through them again. One of pins walks a bit over the course of a couple hundred rounds, but not enough to impact operation.

I use it exclusively with Magpul mags.

I didn't have the rail issue @Catshooter mentions and when I did contact support, they responded quickly. But, this was a few years ago, things may have changed.

Mine is now my "woods carry" gun.

Chris

[fatdog]

No drama to report, I followed their Youtube instructions and used my drill press since I don't own a mill. Brownells slide and barrel, rest was OEM Glock parts I purchased back when they were plentiful and I had armorer privledges to buy them at half price. Everything went together and it runs. Brownells sells (or did) a gen 3 G17 length slide and barrel for a G19 frame, a configuration I like and that is what I used.

[3-7-77]

I just finished up a G19 and G17 build. I was skeptical and didn't "want" them initially. I bought both along with a pistol brace this spring as a middle finger to Uncle Joe talked about banning them.

I used Brownells RMR slides for both, snagged some blem barrels from Aim Surplus for $29.99/each (can't find the blems). Since these are purely toys, I went cheap on the upper and lower parts kits just to see what I could get away with. On the G19 build I ended up installing an OEM (-) connector to get it to function. On the G17 I put in an OEM (-) connector off the bat and needed an OEM slide stop. Both had a few fails to feed in the first mag with my handloads. Using factory 115 gr then ran fine.

Pro-tip from the Internet, I used flush cut end nippers to cut the rails. No filing needed. All my pins fit very tightly, I needed to use a hammer to get them in. All in all, it was a fun experience and I can see how they can be addictive. It certainly wasn't the economical way to go and I don't think I'd ever carry one. But I enjoyed every minute of it and recently bought a G21 frame. I have a metric tone of 357 Sig ammo from my agencies soon to be prior issued gun, so I might build up a G31 for shiggles and gits.

Botach has frames for $89.99 right now. GO for it!

[Catshooter]

So as a follow up to my post #2 and as some advice to the OP: buyer beware.

I bought P80 frames, all Glock clones. I bought Olight lights as I like their magnetic charging.

The two do not work together. I assumed that since they were Glock clones they would have a Glock rail. Wrong. Or at least the Picitinny standard rails. Wrongo again bucko. They are neither. I have no idea what fucking rail they're supposed to be, but their rail slots are all (and I mean all, I measured them) different sizes.

In dealing with Lisa at P80 customer service her suggestion was buy TRL-1s. So no help there. If that were my company we'd be having some serious Come-To-Jesus meetings long about now.

So, there you are. Just FYI.


Cat

[Caballoflaco]

So as a follow up to my post #2 and as some advice to the OP: buyer beware.

I bought P80 frames, all Glock clones. I bought Olight lights as I like their magnetic charging.

The two do not work together. I assumed that since they were Glock clones they would have a Glock rail. Wrong. Or at least the Picitinny standard rails. Wrongo again bucko. They are neither. I have no idea what fucking rail they're supposed to be, but their rail slots are all (and I mean all, I measured them) different sizes.

In dealing with Lisa at P80 customer service her suggestion was buy TRL-1s. So no help there. If that were my company we'd be having some serious Come-To-Jesus meetings long about now.

So, there you are. Just FYI.


Cat

I would guess that the owners of P80 don’t care that their pistols don’t work with olights and being angry with Lisa is like being angry with the cashier at Walmart because they don’t sell AR ammo anymore.

[Catshooter]

I think you misunderstand me, I guess I wasn't very clear.

I'm not angry with anyone, especially Lisa. She wasn't at all technical so I doubt she had a thing to do with design calls. More than anything I'm puzzled by their choice of rail slot size. Have I missed out on some really excellent reason why they didn't go with Glock slots on a Glock clone? Who knows. I quit knowing everydamnthing a long time ago.

Plus, the OP asked for recent experiences, so there I went.


Cat

[vuitton]

After a week or so research I came across multiple websites that sell either Polymer 80 frame separate, or Glock 19 aftermarket parts individually. Although I did came across few websites that sell complete P80 build kits. 80p Builder, 3cr Tactical, JSD Supply and Steel Fox Firearms. The best options that I found out of these 4 companies were the 80p Builder and Steel Fox Firearms. All these companies have decently good reviews. I am not sure if you guys have bought from any of them or are familiar with any of them but I am going with the option steel fox has available. It's the Polymer 80 Complete Kit with Glock 19 RMR cut slide fully back. I am going to place an order something later this evening and try to update you guys on my journey of putting together my first p80 build.