15 Best Upgrades for Pistols


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Perhaps you own a fancy new handgun and you’re starting to get bored with its stock design. If you just want to add something small to make it stand out from the crowd, or go all out and redesign your entire pistol, here is a few ideas to help you get started with upgrading/modifying your pistol!

*This post is relevant for both airsoft and real gun owners alike.

1. Neon Sights

kimber-sights
My Kimber Ultra Carry II with Neon Sights

Adding Neon sights to your pistol is one of the cheapest and most obvious performance enhancing upgrades you can do to your gun. Not only does it make your gun look instantly 10X cooler, but it aids in faster target/ sight alignment and might improve your accuracy.

Had these sights installed by our awesome friends at OC Custom Coating.

The sights pictured above are Truglo Fiber Optic Sights, you can check them out here.

2. Polished Barrel

This is a smaller improvement, but it can definitely make a difference in the overall shooting experience. Not only will it make your barrel look nice and shiny, but having a polished barrel, especially the feed ramp, can decrease the chances of a jam or ejection failure. It’s a very simple procedure to keep in mind.

3. TiN Barrel

tallinn-s
Source: Tallin S. from the GGA

Titanium Nitride is an extremely hard coating that can be applied to steel and other components. Not only does it look cool (to some people), but it extends the lifetime of your parts by adding a protective coating and scratch resistant coating.

However, one of the greatest benefits of TiN coating is the generally smooth surface of the finish, it will combat against gunk buildup with extended use.

TiN coated barrels is one of the most common things I’ve seen.

Have a Glock 17 / 19? Get a TiN Barrel here!

4. Custom Grips

tallinn-s-2
Source: Tallin S. from the GGA

This is a matter of personal taste, but having a customized grip is usually done for two reasons: customized appearance, and more comfortable grip. (Having a better grip on the gun can help improve your shooting accuracy and followup shots.)

5. Custom Trigger

Along the same lines as above, having a custom trigger can have the same effects as customizing the grips. You can get a better grip and having a tighter trigger can improve shooting accuracy and followup shots.

6. Compensator

andy-y
Source: Andy Y. from the GGA

A compensator can help reduce recoil on the gun by adding weight as well as redirecting the muzzle blast upwards, combating the back force of the slide/recoil.

7. TiN Coat Other Parts

douglas-t
Source: Douglas T. from the GGA

TiN coat other parts of your pistol if you want to make those parts stand out and add a stylish look to your gun.

8. Slide Porting

andy-e-2
Source: Andy Y. from the GGA

Slide porting is the act of cutting away at the slide in order to reduce weight. On an airsoft gun this can help reduce recoil considerably and help the gun cycle faster. However, there is much debate as to whether a ported slide (without a comp) has any significant effect on performance, especially on very compact pistols.

But it does look really sweet!

9. Mag Well / Mag Skirt

Adding a mag well can help for faster reloads, and for those with larger hands, it may also help with a better grip.

10. Hydro Dip

andrew-w
Source: Andrew W. from the GGA

This is a matter of personal taste, usually this is done on rifles, but sometimes it can pull off a nice look on pistols.

11. Silencer

hugh-c
Source: Hugh C. from the GGA

Depending on whether or not it is legal in your state to own/use a silencer, a silencer (or suppressor for technical freaks) always looks awesome and is helpful for obvious reasons.

While a compensator generally makes the gun louder, a silencer will do the opposite. However, some high quality suppressors can reduce the recoil of even the most nasty of guns and make them feel like a .22 plinker!

Regarding airsoft silencers: generally speaking they are used to cover an extended inner barrel for increased accuracy. Especially on a GBB pistol, even when foam filled, they will have almost no effect on the sound. Using a foam filled silencer on a non-GBB may yield better results in terms of sound reduction.

12. Stippling

Stippling (see the gun pictured above) is enhancements made to the texture of the grip in order to allow for a tighter grip on the gun. As mentioned before, a tighter grip may result in better shooting performance and accuracy.

13. Optics

(See the gun pictured above) Optics are cool, and it is also a matter of taste. Most performance and competition shooters prefer to use them in order to get faster target acquisition. For personal defense and conceal carry, it may not be the best option.

14. Flashlight / Laser

Add some tech to your gun, blind your enemies, or have a laser because lasers are cool!

15. Do it all!

andy-e
Source: Andy E. from the GGA

(Picture, minus the silencer/comp/hydrop dip)

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