.::: Turok's TM G17 AIP Hammer Set and Guarder G17 Slide Combined Tutorial :::.

[turok_t]

.::: Turok's TM G17 AIP Hammer Set and Guarder G17 Slide Combined Tutorial :::.

Welcome to Turok's tutorial on installing the AIP G17 Hammer set and Guarder G17 slides to your existing TM glock. I was inspired to post this tutorial following my experience with a PGC slide on my TM G18C. The PGC slide required minimal to no modifications and cycles like butter on my glock. However, Guarder slides (for TM glocks at least) don't exactly cycle as smooth out of the package due to slight variances in their dimensions. After witnessing how buttery smooth a PGC slide cycles, I HAD to find a way for my Guarder glock slides to cycle just as smooth. Why did I pick Guarder? Because they offer the most variety in TM glock slides compared to other manufacturers, and PGC didn't manufacture the ones I wanted. Hence, I developed this guide.

Mind you, the modifications listed below may not be required or necessary for you (and depending on which Guarder slide you have), but I performed them because I felt they were necessary for my builds. You may not need to perform them as Guarder slides may have differences in dimensions and tolerances given that several revisions have probably been released over the past years. Every modification I performed served a purpose, either to enhance and/or facilitate the performance/functioning of my glocks.

Normally, I would purchase a stock Tokyo Model G17 and upgrade all the parts. I felt that this was simply a waste of money as all the parts would be swapped out anyways, so I decided to purchase each part individually and start my build from scratch. Here is a sample of all the parts I used for this build (still in progress, not completed yet). Most of the parts are 3rd party manufactures or stock TM parts.

Part I: Guarder G17 Slide and Front Block/Rear Block Modifications

For the purpose of this guide, I am using a Guarder Aluminum Custom Slide for Marui G17 GBB (Tan) as an example. The rule of thumb is to isolate each part individually (in the lower frame) and test fitting it with the slide in question to determine areas of friction/resistance. There are three key components the slide cycles along: the lugs on the Front Block (FB; Part# G17-18), the lugs on the Rear Block (RB; Part# G17-22; this houses the hammer mechanism) and the hammer bearing (Part# G26-51). Each of the blocks is test fitted and slid against the slide multiple times in multiple orientations to simulate the cycling of the gun. If resistance is felt (or heard), it is important to locate the resistance and to intervene as needed. Test fit each block individually, then both blocks, and then both blocks with the hammer bearing in the frame to determine the final fitment. I'm going to begin discussing the modifications for a Guarder G17 slide first. Some of these steps may also apply to Guarder G18C slides, but use with discretion.

Looking inside the slide, I'm going to compartmentalize all the sections that need to be sanded as indicated below:


EDIT: Section D should also point to the inside of the lugs as well, not just the bottom of the slide (I did the picture at 2am )

Section A

The roof of the slide (Figure 1) has a small "step" that pushes the outer barrel down when the slide cycles following pulling of the trigger. This results in friction and wearing out of the top of the outer barrel (Figure 2). This is pretty much inevitable since it is a function of the gun, and observed in many other types of pistols as well, but the wearing can be reduced. Slowly sand and smoothen out the "step" to make the transition more gradual to reduce the shearing against the outer barrel.

FIGURE 1


FIGURE 2


Section B

Depending on the Guarder slide you're using, the front aperture on the slide may rub against the outer barrel when the slide cycles (Figure 3). There is significant rubbing along the 3'oclock, 6'oclock and 9'oclock position on the outer barrel reflected by the scratches on the barrel itself. Polishing and sanding the aperture to remove the paint to slightly enlarge the opening can reduce the marks/scratches inflicted on the outer barrel (Figure 4).

FIGURE 3


FIGURE 4


Section C

Looking into the bottom of the Guarder G17 slide, the side lugs where the slide cycles along is not continuous, and contains breaks with sharp corners as shown by the red circles (Figure 5). When the slide cycles backwards, it enters/exits the lugs on the RB (Figure 6) at multiple points. The sharp corners on the Guarder slide may not enter smoothly into the RB lugs, which creates resistance impeding the cycling of the slide (imagine driving on a bumpy road). This is more common in Guarder slides since their lugs are slightly wider/higher resulting in more wiggle/play when the slide cycles. So, what do we do? First, the sharp corners along the lugs on the Guarder slide need to be rounded/ramped to remove the felted "bumps" in order to facilitate a smoother cycling response (Figure 7). Next, we are also going to round off some corners on the rails of the FB and RB so that it smoothens the ride when the slide cycles along it (Figure 6).

FIGURE 5


FIGURE 6


FIGURE 7


Section D

The paint on the actual slide lugs themselves can cause some resistance depending on which Guarder slide you pick up. Lightly sand (ie. 1000 grit sandpaper) inside/outside the lugs and at the bottom of the slide (where it runs along the plastic frame) to further reduce any resistance (Figure 8). However, since the Guarder lugs are slightly wider already, don't remove too much material inside the lugs or else the slide will be even looser and wobble more. Sand enough to remove the paint from the lugs only. Also, lightly sand (1000 grit sandpaper) the lugs on the FB and RB just enough to remove the paint to minimize the friction when the surfaces glide together.

FIGURE 8

Part II: Hammer Set/Blow Back Unit Modification

Looking at the blow back unit (BBU), I will again divide this into Sections A-D (Figure 9) to explain the reason for modifying these areas.

FIGURE 9


Section A

Modifying this section isn't really necessary (especially if your trigger pull has been reduced) since it barely comes in contact with the trigger resetter on the trigger lever (however, if you're using guarder steel trigger lever or other brand, you might need to modify it). But you can round off this corner to facilitate depression of the trigger resetter (resetting it below the sear) so the slide doesn't get stuck when you remove it from the frame.

Section B and Section C

The edges of these areas were rounded/ramped to help depress the trigger resetter (B) and disconnector (C) when the slide begins to cycle backwards. Again, not really required, but it helps with the cycling to minimze any resistance to produce a frictionless glide.

Section D

Now, this is probably the main section that needs to be modified. The hump here pushes down the hammer bearing to lock it with the sear. A lot of people remove some material here (as well as the rear of the bbu right where the air nozzle sits) to reduce the resistance when pulling the slide back, or they use a smaller hammer bearing (ie. Action 6mm bearing). For me, not only did I use a smaller hammer bearing, but I removed some material from this hump as well. Mind you, if you plateau this hump too much, the hammer can not be cocked back since it is not depressed sufficiently to be locked by the sear (at this point, you can try to use the Action 8mm bearing as a remedy). As such, remove the material slowly and test fit it each time to ensure that the hammer can still be locked. Furthermore, I found that the tip of the hump also rubs along the top surface of the RB (Figure 10). If you manually simulate this movement, the slide tilts upwards as it cross this point. This may be caused by the Guarder slide sitting too low resulting in this contact. Nonetheless, remove enough material from the surface of the RB to reduce any contact that may impede the cycling.

FIGURE 10


For the AIP hammer set, this is what is included in the package: sear, hammer, hammer bearing (8mm I think), valve knocker, disconnector, disconnector spring, hammer spring, sear spring (Figure 11). I didn't use the bearing that was included in the package as indicated above.

FIGURE 11


This hammer set is actually pretty decent. There only two places that need to be modified for this set to operate: sear and valve knocker. A side by side comparison between the AIP vs stock sear shows a key difference (Figure 12). On the stock sear, the slant on the protrusion allows the trigger lever to slide upwards between the sear and RB to release the hammer. However, if you look on the AIP sear, there is no ramp. What does this mean? This means that you will probably need to pull harder in order for the trigger lever to squeeze in between the tight space between the sear/RB. As such, carve a small ramp ("/") to facilitate the trigger lever in moving upwards (Figure 13). Conversely, if you carve too much at the top of the ramp, pulling the trigger will not cause the sear to release the hammer, so be careful.

FIGURE 12


FIGURE 13


The second modification is done to the valve knocker. A side by side comparison between the AIP vs stock valve knocker shows a very small difference in the cavity where the disconnector engages (Figure 14). The width of the cavity where the disconnector hooks into is narrower on the AIP valve knocker. Normally, when the valve knocker is installed into place, a portion of the notch is hidden where it protrudes out of the RB, but is still wide enough for the arm of the disconnector to lock the valve knocker into place. However, this does not occur on the AIP valve knocker since the cavity is slightly smaller (resulting in the valve knocker unable to be locked into place by the disconnector arm). As such, widen the cavity on the AIP valve knocker so that it can be engaged/locked by the disconnector arm (Figure 15). Alternatively, you can also use Shooters Design valve knocker as that seems to be made more to spec with it's stock counterpart. I opted out of the Shooter Design valve knocker since I didn't want to mix brands for the hammer assembly.

FIGURE 14


FIGURE 15


Anyhow, these are all the modifications that I have preformed thus far. This guide is by no means an "end all, be all", but a work in progress in order to improve/facilitate the cycling of several Guarder G17 slides. Following these modifications performed above, my Guarder slide is buttery smooth now, and on par, if not better than, my PGC slide. I might post a video later if you guys want to see the cycling in action. I'm currently building two glocks at the same time, one steel and another aluminum, both on Guarder frames. Let me know if you have any questions, comments or concerns, I would be more than happy to address them.

[.Zo]

Really detailed guide turok. I enjoyed reading it and have done so several times :P

This is really helpful to me especially the aip parts sections, such as the sear modification and bbu modification

[turok_t]

No problem at all, glad it was helpful I probably have more tips and tricks that I didn't post, but let me know if you need any help.

[Nocturnal]

omg full tan Glock.. <3 damn sexy!

[e-luder]

Great Guide Turok.

One thing to note is the fitting on the Guarder frames as well. The recent batch of frames that I've received required a ton of modding to zero impedance with ANY slide i put on. Even Their own Guarder slides didn't quite sit properly and would stick the slide. No matter how much sanding I did to the slide, the frame would latch unto it. Even the holes on the body pin didn't align properly with the front chasis. Lemons?

But all in all. This is sex.

Bookmarked.

[turok_t]

Thank you for the kind words and your approval

[drewroud]

This was great, Ill take the knowledge and apply it to my stock we. I thought I hit up everything but it looks like I forgot to round it out in a few places.

[laminkiaHD]

Hello, how does the AIP spring set (hammer spring specially) works or have been working so far? I ordered une set because of the hammer spring and I have not seen any review so far. Reply would be much appreciated.

Beautiful, glock BTW

[BioRage]

Originally Posted by laminkiaHD

Hello, how does the AIP spring set (hammer spring specially) works or have been working so far? I ordered une set because of the hammer spring and I have not seen any review so far. Reply would be much appreciated.

Beautiful, glock BTW

Holy shit, Necro batman.

[turok_t]

all links/images to tutorial back up

[tiger111]

Tutorial :borg: