Oregon Shooter

A pictorial of the DIY way to make your G17 more concealable by chopping the grip area down to accept G19 mags.  I have also included the trigger mod I do to all my Glocks.

Why would anyone care to chop a perfectly good gun down? Why not buy a G19 to start with you may ask?

Well for me the G19 in 3rd Gen (finger grooves) configuration does not fit my hand well. The grooves are in the wrong places.

Second Gen G19s are hard to find, and in this case I got the G17 on a trade.

Although the extra 1/2" in barrel length really does not affect anything, but the "feel" of the gun is a bit nicer in my opinion.

With xacto knife, lightly scrape trigger safety bar until it is flush with trigger when held all the way back.	Trigger bar all the way back on factory trigger. The ridge causes a blister on my fingers when shooting several hundred rounds in a day. I found that contouring this part helps the trigger feel greatly and it does not negate the safety feature in anyway.	Contoured bar.
I like to put mirror finishes on my feed ramps with a felt bob and jewelers rouge.	Stock G17 with trigger guard material removed for higher grip and to prevent blisters on middle finger knuckle. Be very careful not to remove too much material on the grip side.	Sacrificing a Clinton mag to use as a sanding depth indicator.
I drilled holes for the max depth. When the holes disappear you have sanded far enough.	Filling the holes with bright crayon helped.	Use a block under the grip to keep it even.
You have to sand a little and flip, sand a little and flip, or it will sand off unevenly.	Rough depth accomplished.	Even on front
Even on rear	Even on side	The rough profile. Using my G23 as a model made it easier to see the correct upswept angle on the backstrap.
Rough sanding gauge.	Grip plug needs to have the convex part sanded off since there is no longer a matching section in the grip.	Rough fit
Sanding after the plug is inserted.	Eyeball the area to drill the hole for the plug.	I started to bevel the magwell with emery tape and a flat brush handle, but it was not precise enough. This kit worked well for the job.
You can see the uneven attempt before I went down and bought the precision sanding kit.	Finish with a cylinder felt-bob and j-rouge.	Done
The camera makes the surface scratches look much worse than they are. I may try using some wax to fill in the minor scratches though.
		I wanted to start small with the cutouts so I referenced off the "4" in 2004 and the "t" in trust (can't see in this photo) for where the arc would land on the edge of the magwell.
Using a pencil, I scribed a rough outline.	Starting with a small drum sander in the middle of the arc, I slowly sanded keeping true to the arc as much as I could. I tried a mag in the well several times during this stage to be sure I didn't remove more material than what I needed to for a secure grip on the mag.	Gauging the roundness.
Marking the other side.	Using the Nickel again, I scribed the arc to land between the cross over marks.	By the time I got the arc to the size I wanted, I was able to use this polish stone to make the arc perfect.
"It is ALIVE!"