Wire Brush vs Glock...

[JohnKSa]

This is a picture of my latest acquisition, a used G17L. It had seen some use and had been disassembled by someone who didn't know what he was doing. The result was that I replaced a few parts, primarily for cosmetic reasons. That cost me maybe $20. Glock parts are cheap.

The rear sight was unsatisfactory, and I typically replace the front plastic sight with a steel sight so I made those changes as well. The rear sight is now an LPA adjustable sight from PSI. Those changes were a bit more expensive. The LPA sight was about $70 with shipping.

That left only some wear on the parkerizing overcoat that Glock puts over the Tenifer to make the slide & barrel non-reflective. I could have sent it off to Glock and had it redone but I went the cheap route. I took off ALL the parkerizing with a heavy wire brush and some elbow grease. That was harder than I thought it would be, but the result is definitely acceptable--and as expected there's not a trace of damage to the tenifer coated metal from all that scrubbing with the steel brush. Not even any detectable scratches.

The gun looks like new at this point and has a finish that is somewhat unusual, if not exactly eyecatching.

 

[hottbarrell]

Nice Tool

But I wouldnt carry my snapon torque wrench for Defence either,smartassP99er.

 

[9x19]

John',

It looks pretty good from here. How's it shoot?

 

[NCHornet]

did you put anything back on the metal to prevent rusting? It looks sharp.

 

[quickcanary]

Nice work, John. I bet that thing shoots great.

 

[RsqVet]

Looks great, though in all honeslty looks more even but similar to some high use / wear glocks that I have seen.

 

[RevolverLover]

Does it have importation marks on the slide?

 

[Dj Dust]

You can polish the slide with some stainless steel polish and it will look really good.

there is no need to put anything on to prevent rust the treatment of the metal is enough.

 

[JohnKSa]

did you put anything back on the metal to prevent rusting?

The black finish on Glock metal parts is a type of parkerizing that is there primarily for cosmetic purposes. The tenifer metal treatment actually converts the surface of the metal (underneath the black finish) to a very tough and corrosion proof "shell". Removing the black overcoating only changes the appearance of the gun, it does not alter its resistance to wear or corrosion.

Does it have importation marks on the slide?

Yep, importation marks on one side, Austrian proofmarks on the other. I don't think that the G17L pistols have ever been made in the U.S. but I couldn't swear to it. I can tell you that this one wasn't.

though in all honeslty looks more even but similar to some high use / wear glocks that I have seen.

The goal was just for it to look more even--no more worn spots! There were wear marks on the slide & barrel that I didn't care for. Now the whole gun is that color...but it was CHEAP! But you're right, it should say: "The gun looks like new at this point based on there being no apparent wear on the gun and as long as you don't know what a new glock looks like..."

How's it shoot?

Good question. I MIGHT get it to the range sometime soon, but my favorite range closed this year which has cut down on my shooting a good bit.

You can polish the slide with some stainless steel polish and it will look really good.

Now THAT sounds like work! Seriously, I didn't think it would be as hard as it was to get the black off. I was pretty happy to be done with it and that's almost the same thing as being thrilled with the way it looks now.