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Old January 1, 2025, 06:45 PM   #1
HighValleyRanch
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Glock 26 to Glock 26X project

A recent thread where someone asked about putting a Glock 26 slide on a Glock 19 frame reignited my desire to do a Glock 26X. Way back in Dec of 2016, I posted a thread where I return my chopped glock 19 back to its original length. In post #4 I photoshopped an image of the idea of a short Glock 26 slide with a Glock 19 length grip frame, way before the ideas of the Glock 43X, Glock 19X, Sig P365x became popular.
https://thefiringline.com/forums/sho...=chopped+glock

So I recently picked up a used Glock 26 for the project. It came cheap and battered from a friend, and made a good candidate for a makeover. I ordered a bolt on grip extension from KM3 and am waiting for it to arrive. But in the mean time decided to work on the frame to experiment with some materials.
Yesterday, I ground the hump (I hate the 26 fat hump) off the backstop, ground off the finger rest, ground off the stupid thumb rest (import points of no real value), and then filled the cavities flat. I research the internet and could not find much on anyone who has done this, so I was pretty much on my own.

I found that Devcon Plastic Welder does a pretty good job imitating the Glock plastic. But it only comes in cream color, so I used Fibrings Analine black dye to color the fill plastic. Also when you stipple the fill plastic, it leave a white plastic burs which the dye can turn black again.

I used a pointed tip woodturner and used a swirl patter to resemble the OEM pattern pretty closely. The fill plastic is harder so takes a hotter temperature to melt than the OEM plastic.

When the grip extension arrives, then the real fun will begin, but doing today's project I am confident I will be able to merge the extension to the existing grip frame and come back out clean with no problem after working with this frame.
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Old January 12, 2025, 11:53 AM   #2
HighValleyRanch
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It took over three weeks to get the grip extension from KM3 but it arrived on Friday. Took some work to get it to fit tight, mostly relieving some of the hump on the backstop for the unit to slide up tighter in place. It catches on the lip in the front and then the supply Allen screw goes into the tongue that fits into the grip rear cavity to tighten it in.
As it is, it matches nicely, but still looks like an add on.
Top photo shows it installed. Pro is that you could remove it and have the stock Glock 26.

But after playing with it installed for a day, I decided that I really liked the 19 length grip on the short 26 frame, and then I probably would never go back to the stock 26 configuration. My original intention was to make a solid grip extension, so that is what I did by using Devcon Plastic Welder to putty over the gaps. After drying over night, I am ready today to grind it smooth and stipple.
I wanted this to match my other Glock 19 so I added material to the "bobtail"
cut at the rear of the grip extension. Tried different bonding stuff like epoxy, JB weld plastic bonder, but the Devcon is the only one I would recommend. It only comes in cream color, so I added a few drops of black leather dye to color it.
Bottom photo shows it ready to grind, sand and stipple to finish.
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File Type: jpg IMG_1787.JPG (523.1 KB, 159 views)
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Last edited by HighValleyRanch; January 12, 2025 at 12:59 PM.
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Old January 12, 2025, 02:10 PM   #3
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sanded and stippled.
Feels really good!
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Old January 15, 2025, 01:55 PM   #4
seanc
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It's kind of fugly, but I like it!

I had a G26 back in the 90's and I seemed to be more accurate with it than my G19. I kept the G19 for the capacity. This looks like it would be super easy to carry with the capacity of the G19. Nice!
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Old January 15, 2025, 10:29 PM   #5
jmr40
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Quote:
I seemed to be more accurate with it than my G19. I kept the G19 for the capacity.
You could have always just used 15 round G19 magazines in the G26.

I took the opposite approach to the OP. I started with a G19 and cut the grip shorter to accept G26 magazines. MagPul makes some 12 round G26 magazines that are only a TINY bit longer than Glock 10 round magazines. Just long enough to get my little finger on the front of the magazine.

That is the magazine I carry all the time but can use any double stack Glock magazine from 10-33 rounds in it. I tend to carry 17 round G17 mags as spares.

By starting with a G19 I get a slightly longer barrel and sight radius and the rail to mount a light on it that's not on a G26. And I'm not limited to just one length mag.

Mine is just as ugly as the OP's pistol and it's hard to make a Glock uglier. But it works.
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