When you want better performance from your gun, the best aftermarket Glock slides have the features you need to shoot better. Custom Glock slides are a beginner-friendly upgrade that lets you tailor your pistol to meet the shooting needs your OEM slide just isn’t helping with. Whether you want a gun that’s better for concealed carry, puts up better scores in competition, or helps you protect and serve, we have the aftermarket gun parts you need when you have to make every shot count.
The OEM Glock Slide
The efficient design of the OEM Glock 19 slide isn’t the best looking or most feature-packed. In true Austrian fashion, Gaston Glock engineered it for reliability and consistency over everything else. While both are important, that leaves a lot of room for improvement. The bare, boxy design has shallow serrations, a squared-off nose that’s prone to hanging on holsters, and traditional iron sights. While the MOS models have an optics-ready design, all other features remain the same, and for many Glock 19 owners, that’s just not good enough.
The Case for Customization
Choosing the best Glock slide for your gun can help you change its lines, improve your accuracy and precision, lighten the weight, and reduce the risk of snagging on draw. Customization takes the theoretical question of what a gun would look and perform like if you designed it yourself, and makes it practical. Custom Glock slides used to require taking your OEM slide to the nearest gunsmith for expensive, warranty-voiding work that risked leaving you with a paperweight. Aftermarket slides are made to the same exacting fitment standards as Glock’s stock slides but offer more features at a lower cost.
Considerations When Choosing a Glock Slide for Your G19
Before you spend your hard-earned money on a slide that won’t meet your needs, take the time to understand what you want from your gun. There are plenty of custom Glock slide options available with a wide range of features. You can find everything from a minimalist replacement for a well-used OEM slide to a fully featured slide with top-of-the-line modifications. Every shooter has individual needs, and your build should be planned around those needs.
Size
You want to choose from custom Glock slides that are compatible with your frame. The Glock 19 is a compact handgun, meaning its slide is shorter than the full-size G17 and longer than the subcompact G26. The G19 also has a wider footprint to accommodate a double-stack magazine in the frame, so G43-compatible slim slides aren’t an option either. Pay attention to the generation when ordering. Glock has tweaked their design over the years, and you want to be sure your slide will fit properly.
Optics-Ready Milling
The best Glock slides when you know you’ll be adding a reflex sight or red dot are optics-ready models with a widely-used mount pattern pre-milled into them. Whether you choose MOS, RMR, or ACRO, pre-milled footprints make installing your new optic easy. This gives your upgraded sight picture a secure mount that holds zero for improved accuracy and precision. Buying an optics-ready slide saves you the expense and risk of taking it to a gunsmith for custom milling if you want to add a red dot.
Serrations
The serrations on your slide help you get a firm grip for racking a round into the chamber. On OEM slides, these are shallow groves cut toward the back of the slide, but on the best Glock slides, the serrations are deeper and more plentiful, giving you a better grip for tough environmental conditions or through gloves.
Cutouts
Slide cutouts can serve several purposes on a customized firearm. First, they significantly lighten the slide’s weight, which is one of the heaviest handgun components. They also increase the airflow around the barrel, which can keep it cooler to help reduce thermal stresses during longer, more active range visits. Finally, if you’ve invested in one of the best Glock slides out there, you may have a fancy match-grade barrel that deserves to be shown off, framed by the slide cutouts that modify your gun’s lines. After all, there’s nothing wrong with a gun looking as good as it shoots.
Manufacture, Materials, and Finish
You want to make sure you’re getting a quality custom Glock slide that’s made to stand up to real-world use. Durable materials like heat-treated stainless steel offer the weight and hardness your gun needs for reliable operation. A finish that helps reduce the risk of corrosion and superficial scratches should be a baseline consideration. Nitride treatment is a cost-effective option that infuses the upper layer of the metal with a titanium and nitrogen blend. Custom coatings, such as the ceramic-polymer compound Cerakote, can be added for additional protection.
State of Completion
Lastly, you want to make sure the slide you choose is in a state of completion you’re comfortable with. Some of the best Glock slides are available as a stripped slide with no internal parts, as a slide with the internal parts kit included or installed, or as a complete slide that adds a barrel and guide rod. Finishing a slide assembly with internal parts isn’t difficult, but it can be a surprise if the reason your slide was so cheap is that it was a stripped slide, not just on sale.
Order the Best Aftermarket Slide for Your G19
We offer several different custom Glock slides for the G19 and compatible pistols and frames. Each one is available as a stripped slide, slide with internals, or as a complete package with a forged barrel and reliable guide rod assembly.
The Judah 19
Designed to be the best stock-type Glock slide for your money, the Judah 19 is made from heat-treated stainless steel, has a nitride finish, and serves as a drop-in replacement when you want to keep your slide simple and straightforward. It has serrations and iron sights comparable to an OEM slide, and an optics-read version is available from some retailers with or without a premium red dot sight installed to complete your slide package.
The F2 Compact
The F2 takes the best OEM Glock slide features and kicks them up a notch. This includes deep, wrap-around serrations and the option of a match-grade barrel to complete your upper receiver. The sights can easily be swapped for aftermarket Tritium options to upgrade your sight picture in low-light settings.
The Revelation 19
We engineered the Revelation line to be the best Glock slides for your money, period. This optics-ready custom Glock slide has muzzle-cut outs and deep serrations for aggressive aesthetics. The revelation is available with a match-grade barrel in nitride black, TiN gold, or Chameleon PVD finishes. You can even add a reliable Gideon Optics red dot sight for a discounted price to give your gun the complete upper assembly it deserves.
Premium Slides at Fair Prices
We’re proud to offer custom Glock slides you can count on to deliver a better shooting experience. Build a better gun while saving money. Order the best Glock slide for your build from Patmos Arms today.