How to build a Glock at Home: Step by Step Guide

Under federal law, it is currently perfectly legal to make your own firearm at home. These homemade firearms (standard rifles, shotguns, or handguns) do not need serial numbers, approval, or registration.

Anti-gunners sometimes refer to these home-built firearms as “ghost guns” because they can’t be traced nor registered and they are actively trying to ban them. In fact, some states have already started making requirements for serialization or registration for these guns.

Therefore, if you’ve been thinking about making your own homemade gun, you should do it now before they’re prohibited.

In this article, we’re going to walk you through how to build your own Glock-style pistol at home.

First, a couple of disclaimers:

1. This applies ONLY to federal law. Your state may restrict this activity and/or certain firearms
2. You must still file for approval with the ATF for NFA firearms (silencers, short-barreled rifles, etc.)

How to Make Your Own Glock

We’re going to walk you through the entire process to build your own Glock 19 at home – however, this process will work for making any Glock pistol.

One of the benefits of making your own custom Glock 19 is that you have a lot of choices you can make about the firearm you are going to build at home.

Of course, all of those choices for each part of the gun may be overwhelming so we are going to help you with lists for three sample builds of a compact or Glock 19-sized pistol:

1. Mostly Glock Build (where every possible part is OEM Glock – except for the frame)
2. Budget Non-Glock Build (where NO parts are made by Glock, not even pins or springs)
3. Ryan’s Build (where Ryan will pick out his favorites for inspiration for your build)
4. Overall Budget Build (this build will only be featured in the final build tables at the bottom of this article because it will incorporate the cheapest option of each of the three builds as we go)

In each step of the process below, we’ll list some of the parts you can choose from and highlight which options match each of the builds above.

At the end of this guide, we’ll share the complete parts list for each!

We’ll start with which parts to get for your homemade Glock 19 and then move into how to make/assemble them!

UPDATE: Polymer80 now makes a COMPLETE GLOCK kit wherein you just purchase the kit and it includes every part you need to make your own Glock 19 at home. This is, without a doubt, the cheapest and easiest way to build your own gun. However, if you’d like to choose each part yourself for a completely customizable experience, keep reading.

POLYMER 80 “Glock-in-a-Box” KIT

Marketplace	Cost
Palmetto State Armory	$369.99

Building a Glock 19

• Step 1 – Choose Your Pistol Frame
• Step 2 – Choose Your Lower Parts
• Step 3 – Choose Your Slide
• Step 4 – Choose Your Barrel
• Step 5 – Choose Your Slide Parts
• Step 6 – Choose Your Sights
• Step 7 – Choose Your Magazine
• Step 8 – “Make” Your Frame
• Step 9 – Assemble Your Homemade Glock
• Step 10 – Have fun!

If you’d like to skip to the end to see the complete build lists to make purchasing the parts for your gun easier and faster, you can jump straight to: Complete Build Lists

Step 1 – Choose Your Pistol Frame

If you’re truly building your own firearm, you must actually “make” the frame or receiver. If you use a factory-made frame or receiver then you will surely be assembling the rest of the gun yourself, however, the gun wouldn’t truly be “made” by you.

Under federal law, only firearms (and their frames/receivers) that are made by a licensed manufacturer (FFL) must be marked with certain markings – these include a serial number.

Therefore, if you are making this firearm for yourself, and don’t intend to sell it, you don’t need an FFL and you don’t need to mark it with manufacturer markings or a serial number (under federal law)!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Your state may require markings.

In fact, you can even decide to sell it later – you just can’t build it with the intent to sell – BE CAREFUL HERE!

If you think you’d like to do this for some side income (or even a full-time business), you really should look into getting your FFL. It’s not as difficult as you might think, you can get it from your own home, and it’s a great way to save money on guns, make money with guns, and be the “go-to source” in your circle of firearms friends.

Polymer 80 Glock Frame

We recommend using the Polymer 80 frame for your pistol build.

The term “80% receiver” is NOT a legal term. Do not be confused here. An object is considered a firearm once it is able to be readily converted to expel a projectile. This means sometime before it is finished, the ATF will consider it a firearm!

Most companies that sell “80%” receivers have obtained approval from ATF that their product hasn’t crossed that magical line yet. This means that when you finish the work, you’re the true manufacturer of the firearm.

Don’t start from scratch – use one of these kits! This is because the percentage has nothing to do with the determination of a firearm – if you did the wrong 10% first, you’d have a firearm even though it’s only 10% complete.

If you’d like to learn more, check this out: 80% Receivers

The Polymer 80 frame kit comes with a polymer pre-frame, a jig to help you finish the pre-frame into an actual firearm frame, the necessary drill bits to create the firearm, and the front and rear inserts for the frame rails. This is not the same as the full kit that includes every part – that is the Polymer 80 AFT Glock Kit.

The Polymer 80 frame is available in various colors and grip textures:

Colors: The Polymer80 kit is available in Black, Flat Dark Earth (FDE), Coyote, TacGrey (Grey), OD Green, Robin Egg Blue, White, and Cobalt.

Textures: The Polymer80 kit is available in a standard textured grip, an aggressive texture, and ReadyMod variant that comes with a smooth grip that is ready to be custom textured via stippling with a soldering iron or with a laser.

PAY ATTENTION TO THE SIZE OF YOUR FRAME!!!

If you purchase a “19” sized frame like me for a Glock 19 build, you MUST ensure that you are purchasing parts for a “19”-sized Glock as you go.

For example, if you weren’t paying attention, it would be very easy to accidentally purchase a barrel or a lower parts kit for a “17.” Neither will work properly with your “19” build!

	Part	Cost
Mostly Glock	Any Polymer 80 Frame Kit	$149.99
Budget Non-Glock	Any Polymer 80 Frame Kit	$149.99
Ryan’s Choice	Grey Aggressive Texture 19	$149.99

Step 2 – Choose Your Lower Parts

The lower parts are what will be installed in your pistol frame.

The frame parts for a Glock include:

• Magazine Catch Spring
• Magazine Release
• Trigger Housing Pin
• Locking Block Pin
• Slide Lock, Slide Lock Spring
• Extended Slide Stop Lever with Spring
• Trigger Housing with Ejector
• Connector
• Trigger Spring
• Trigger with Trigger Bar
• Trigger Pin

You can either purchase all of these parts together in a kit or you can purchase each part individually.

The simplest (and least expensive) option is to purchase a complete kit. However, if you’d like to truly customize your pistol build, purchasing the parts individually might be your best option.

Some of the most commonly customized parts for Glock pistols include triggers, connectors, and magazine releases. We’ll explore each option below.

Glock Lower Parts Kits

There are two options for lower parts kits:

1. Kit with Glock parts
2. Kit with non-Glock parts

Glock Parts Kit: This kit includes all of the parts listed above. The connector is a factory 5 lb connector and the magazine release is the factory extended-release.

Non-Glock Parts Kit: This kit includes mostly non-Glock parts. As far as I know, nobody makes a non-Glock trigger housing. Therefore, I guess it’s impossible to make a truly non-Glock Glock…but we can get close. This kit comes with a 3.5 lb connector, extended slide release, extended take-down lever, and an extended magazine release.

If you’d like to customize these parts other than what the kits come with, you’ll need to purchase each part individually or purchase one of the kits above along with whichever custom part you want and then simply not use the replaced part from the kit above.

Individual Glock Lower Parts

We’re going to cover the most popular upgraded parts. If you buy one of the kits above, you don’t need to purchase any individual parts below.

TRIGGER:
If you want a Glock-style trigger, you might as well go with one of the kits above. If you’re going to go with a custom option, however, purchasing an individual trigger is your only way to go.

Zev Tech Trigger Kit – $180.00

The Zev Tech trigger is amazing. However, I have adjusted these too light and had reliability issues. Therefore, I use these for “fun” guns (plinking/competition) and not defensive guns. This trigger kit comes with a neat feature: a set-screw in the trigger housing that allows you to easily adjust for over-travel.

If you go with this trigger kit, you’ll also get a trigger housing with an ejector, trigger spring, and connector. You’ll also be getting striker springs and a firing pin safety and spring. This is something to keep in mind when we’re covering the slide parts below.

Timmy Triggers Alpha Glock Trigger – $149

Timney is known for making quality after-market triggers for many firearms.

Although I have no personal experience with this particular trigger, I have no problem recommending it for your Glock build.

Here are a few more of our part recommendations:

CONNECTOR:

Mostly Glock: GLOCK – Connector, 8 lb.

Budget Non-Glock: Lone Wolf Dist. – 3.5 Connector

Ryan’s Choice: Ghost – Rocket 3.5 Trigger Connector

SPRINGS:

Mostly Glock: GLOCK – Trigger Spring

Budget Non-Glock: Zev Technologies – Trigger Spring

Ryan’s Choice: Ghost – Complete Spring Kit

SLIDE STOP:

Mostly Glock: GLOCK – Slide Stop

Budget Non-Glock: TangoDown – Vickers Tactical Slide Stop 

Ryan’s Choice: TangoDown – Enhanced Slide Stop

TAKE-DOWN LEVER:

Mostly Glock: GLOCK – Slide Lock

Budget Non-Glock: Lone Wolf Dist. – Extended Slide Lock Lever

	Part	Cost
Mostly Glock	Glock Parts Kit	$71.99
Budget Non-Glock	Non-Glock Parts Kit	$51.99
Ryan’s Choice	Non-Glock Parts Kit	$51.99
	Zev Tech Trigger Kit	$180.00
	Ryan’s Build Total	$231.99

Step 3 – Choose Your Slide

If you’re wanting to build the “mostly-Glock” option, this could be a difficult step for you. This is because Glock factory slides are available, however, they can be hard to find and are often used.

If you’ve already got a Glock at home…great! You can borrow that slide until you’re ready to upgrade.

I wanted to take this opportunity to have a truly custom pistol so I am opting for an aftermarket slide. Here are the best options for aftermarket Glock slides:

Lone Wolf Alpha Wolf Slide – $174.95

If you’re looking for a budget build, this is the least expensive slide I could find – I have no personal experience with this stainless steel Glock slide.

Brownell’s Front-Cut RMR Slide – $209.99

This slide is an amazing value for your Glock builds!

I was very leery of purchasing it (spoiler alert- it’s the one I went with) because the cost is so low compared to other slides. However, I thought it was worth the gamble because it was so close to being the cheapest slide and it had the features I wanted: forward cocking serrations AND an RMR cut.

I am happy to report that this slide works great! But, its squared-off edges might make fitting into certain holsters an issue.

Of course, these are just a FEW options for your Glock slide. To see the rest of your choices, check out Brownell’s Glock slides.

Here are some pictures of the slide I selected along with the barrel (covered next) and recoil spring.

	Part	Cost
Mostly Glock	Glock Factory Slide	$325.00
Budget Non-Glock	Lone Wolf – Alpha Wolf Slide	$174.95
Ryan’s Choice	Brownell’s Front-Cut RMR Slide	$209.99

Step 4 – Choose Your Barrel

There are MANY options for Glock barrels.

Glock Factory Barrel – $149.99

Glock factory barrels are awesome.

I know that it is popular to upgrade a Glock’s barrel but I encourage you to consider using your factory barrel first if you have one handy because these OEM parts are great.

The Glock barrel is reliable and plenty accurate. I didn’t go with one on this build because I thought it would be fun to avoid Glock brand parts.

However, all of my other Glocks, even those with threaded barrels, have factory barrels.  In fact, I prefer Glock factory threaded barrels because the metric threads allow for a better silencer mount.

So, unless you’re trying to go “non-Glock” on this build (like me), you really should consider one of the factory barrels.

Lone Wolf Barrel – $139.95

The Lone Wolf Barrel is the cheapest barrel I can find for a Glock. Unless you can’t afford to, please consider a better barrel.

In my experience with these barrels, they can work, but they are very finicky with ammo. If your slide’s dimensions are slightly tighter than the factory dimensions (common for a “tighter” lock-up), then this barrel likely won’t fit, and/or function.

So, doing an “el-cheapO” build? Go with this barrel. Want some reliability? Go with a nicer barrel, please.

Bar-Sto Semi-Fit Barrel – $264.99

Bar-Sto is known for making great replacement Glock barrels.

This barrel is “semi-fit” which means that it might require some “fitting” to work properly in your gun.

Many competition shooters swear by Bar-Sto barrels for their accuracy potential.

SilencerCo Threaded Barrel – $178.99

This barrel seems to be the best value for a threaded Glock barrel.

This is the barrel I chose because I wanted the ability to add a silencer and perhaps a muzzle brake.

I wasn’t sure about the quality of it, but I can tell you that I’m already 500-rounds into mine and it works great!

Storm Lake Barrel – $232.99

If you’re looking for a threaded barrel, Storm Lake is another option that won’t break the bank.

However, you will be gambling a bit with quality. I’ve seen AMAZING Storm Lake barrels and I’ve seen HORRIBLE Storm Lake barrels. You might get a good one and you might not. I personally avoid these and the AAC branded barrels because they are also made by Storm Lake.

As you know, I went with the SilencerCo barrel and I am very happy that I did!  I can shoot with a silencer and my non-Glock Glock functions great!  You can see pictures of the barrel above next to my slide.

	Part	Cost
Mostly Glock	Glock Factory Barrel	$149.99
Budget Non-Glock	Lone Wolf Barrel	$139.95
Ryan’s Choice	SilencerCo Threaded Barrel	$178.99

Step 5 – Choose Your Slide Parts

Glock Slide Parts Kit – $89.99

Let me save you some trouble…unless you want “upgraded” parts, just go with this kit!

Even if you want to upgrade your striker, it still may be a better option to get this kit and use your replacement striker and save the factory one as a backup.

Lone Wolf Slide Parts Kit – $79.95

In my effort to have a non-Glock Glock (for no reason other than novelty), I went with this kit.

I should have gone with the Glock factory kit above. Not only would it have been cheaper, but the parts would likely have been better.

Most of the parts in this kit seemed ok (who really knows) but the striker looks like a piece of junk. It has worked for me so far but I might end up “upgrading” to the factory part.

	Part	Cost
Mostly Glock	Glock Factory Kit	$89.99
Budget Non-Glock	Lone Wolf Slide Parts Kit	$79.95
Ryan’s Choice	Lone Wolf Slide Parts Kit	$79.95

Step 6 – Choose Your Sights

Trijicon RMR Adjustable – $489.99

AmeriGlo Suppressor Height Sights – $44.99

	Part	Cost
Mostly Glock
Budget Non-Glock
Ryan’s Choice	Trijicon RMR Adjustable	$489.00
	AmeriGlo Sights	$44.99

Step 7 – Choose Your Magazine

Magpul G19 Magazine – $13.99

I went with this Magpul magazine to keep up the non-Glock theme of my build.

I must admit, I never knew the appeal of a MagPul Glock magazine when the factory magazines are relatively inexpensive and extremely reliable (I think that part of a Glock’s reliability is its excellent magazines).

Glock Factory Magazine – $27.99

You can’t go wrong with OEM Glock magazines.

Especially if you’re looking for “high-capacity” magazines like my personal favorites, the Glock 33-rounders.

	Part	Cost
Mostly Glock	Glock Factory Magazine	$27.99
Budget Non-Glock	Magpul G19 Magazine	$13.99
Ryan’s Choice	Magpul G19 Magazine	$13.99

Step 8 – “Make” Your Frame

Making a Polymer80 Frame into a firearm can seem daunting – but don’t worry….it’s actually very easy!

Polymer80 frames come with instructions that are very complete/detailed. You can view/download their pdf instructions here.

They also have a great video that walks you through, step by step, how to complete a Polymer80 frame.

https://vimeo.com/672533721?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=139105410

However, a mill or a drill press is NOT necessary – we completed the frame in this build with a cordless drill (for the holes) and used hand files to complete the frame. The hand files may have taken a bit longer (not much) but we were VERY happy with the results.

Doing it by hand gave us all the control we wanted whereas a drill press may have gotten out of control.

Here are the files we used:

Flat file set

Rat-tail hand file

Step 9 – Assemble Your Homemade Glock

For help assembling all of the parts you just purchased for your home-built Glock pistol, here are some videos:

Assembling the lower (frame):

Assembling the upper (slide):

Step 10 – Have Fun!

Build Lists

If you’re looking for the absolute cheapest option to have a homemade Glock, I recommend that you purchase a complete Glock (new or used), then purchase a Polymer80 kit and then replace and sell the factory frame. It just isn’t possible to beat that price.

Ryan’s Build

Mostly Glock Build

Budget Non-Glock Build