Steve, tell me about the sights on your 40. Thanks
My Glock is actually a Gen 3 Glock 21 I first got back in early 2004. The slide is a custom German steel frame one I originally got for my G21 from Lone Wolf Distributors in July of 2004. (You can tell it's not a G40 or newer stainless slide as they all have a rounded nose while mine has the squared off nose like the Glock slides.) The slide came as shown with a target Bo-Mar rear and metal Glock style front sight. I added the internals from a set I got from Lone Wolf, a Jarvis blued steel 6" 45acp barrel, and I was set.
Shortly after converting it to a 45 longslide, I got the itch for a 10mm, in part because of hearing MarkCO talk about his 10mm and putting down an elk with it when we were both over on Glocktalk. The itch grew quickly and in the fall of 2004, I'd done some mockup work using the barrel from my G22 and realized that it might just be possible. After meeting Dave Humke, owner of Glockparts at a local gunshow (he lived not far from me in the mountains) and finding out that he was a Master Armorer at Glock for years, I told him of my idea and asked his advice.
I explained that besides the .050" larger bolt face, it looked like the G21's slide would work just fine with the thicker 10mm barrel used on the G20 (Glock apparently designed the G20's slide with the G21 in mind) so that all I needed was a 10mm barrel with a hood that fit the 45's wider breach face. He listened and agreed that I had an idea that was possible.
In addition, we checked his parts and discovered that the G20's extractor gave no greater purchase on the case rim than that of the G21's but that then new LCI extractor had a canted claw vs the older design with the straight one and that made for a better grip on the case. As my G21 came with the old flat style, I picked up an LCI extractor from Dave and I was set with the exception of a 10mm conversion barrel. So I set out to see if I could talk a barrel maker into making me one. The first few refused but undaunted, I pressed on.
I called Kevin of KKM Precision (RIP) and asked if he would be willing to take on my project; a one off, 6" 45-10MM conversion barrel for my Glock G21 Longslide. I explained that my investigation seemed to reveal that all that was different from a stock Glock 20 barrel besides it's length was that the hood over the chamber needed to be about .050" wider than stock to fit correctly in the wider 45 breach face. After checking his drawings and confirming that the only difference between the G20 and G21 barrels was the chamber and bore as well as the hood, he said it was a simple NC machining command change. So with the proviso that if the barrel didn't work, I couldn't return it, he agree to make me one. I didn't have a problem with that as it was a unique part so I ordered one and soon thereafter it arrived.
3 Minutes after I put it together, here is the world's first G20 Longslide.
Not long after putting it together, testing it and finding that the target chamber opening needed a tiny bit of relieving (more of just breaking the sharp corners), I took my newly named G20/21L up to Dave's home where he had a large range in the valley behind his home. We both gave it a run off of his back porch and he agreed that I had a winner. I subsequently replaced the front sight with the thin BO-Mar FO front sight you see in my first post above.
Over the years I've updated it, adding a custom trigger job and parts to use it for some USPSA Limited competitions. I added a magwell for competition that I remove when out in the woods to save weight, +2 mag extensions to give me 17+1 rds on board, added a Grip Force Adapter to fill-in the deep cutout that makes all Glocks grips feel different from my 1911s, and then I had the slide hard chromed just for grins. I found that I didn't shoot 45acp in it hardly at all even though I added +1 extensions to the 45 mags as well giving me 14+1 rds.
However, a few years ago I also got a few 45 Super cases for the heck of it and loaded up some 45 Super ammo to see how it performed in the 6" Jarvis barrel. While powerful, to reach the 45 Super's full potential you need to have a muzzle break and I'm not a fan of those so I stick to it as a 10mm platform. I like the 10mm loads better anyway as they are far more flat shooting with lower recoil for the performance and as I like to shoot longer distances, it was the choice for me. In addition, I can carry 17+1 of 10mm vs only 14+1 of 45 Super out in the woods and with my 180grn hardcast 10mm loads packing almost 900ft/lbs of ME, it's a potent defense against any 2 or 4 legged threat.
Currently, at over 16 years old and with thousands of rds of full power 10mm through it, it still turns heads. It's always a ton of fun to shoot and the throaty roar of my Power Pistol handloads still gets heads to turn at the range.