I Think I’ll Call it Swamp Goblin

Work Done by Custom Gun Finishes

Last week I introduced you to the very unique Glock 17 that has been dubbed Tactical Cheetah. In that post I made mention that I was planning on picking up my gun this week (I actually picked it up on Sunday). There is a bit of a story that goes along with it, two stories actually.

The first story is how I came to own a customized gun. You see, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Throughout the later portion of the 2011 USPSA Season, I was shooting with the same group of people each match. We made arrangements to squad up together for each match and had a lot of fun shooting together.

As the shooting season wound down, one of my shooting buddies thought it would be a good idea to create a formal shooting team. In creating this team, our goal was to exchange promotion for product and match fees, making it easier for us to shoot more frequently.

This shooting buddy of ours turned to Custom Gun Finishes and pitched the idea. They liked the idea and decided to sponsor us. We would receive a custom gun finish of our choosing, some ammunition, and some funds to cover match fees. Their offer was precisely what we were looking for and we were eager to begin promoting them.

With a shiny new sponsor helping us out, we all needed to come up with a design concept for our guns. This is where my second story comes into play. Back in July of 2011, I shot my first USPSA match at Topton Fish & Game. While shooting that match, I laid eyes on the most beautiful Glock 17 that I’ve ever seen. It was a stock gun with a tan frame (which from what I understand has been discontinued). I found myself staring at the hip of the woman shooting it. In retrospect, I probably looked like a bit of a creeper.

I decieded then that if I were ever to own a Glock 17, I wanted it to have a Tan or Olive Drab frame. When it came time to design my custom gun finish, the frame color was a no-brainer. The slide, on the other hand, was difficult. I looked at a variety of colors and patterns before settling on a digital camo pattern to compliment the frame. With some suggestions from Custom Gun Finishes, the darker green colors were selected and the only thing left to do was wait for the work to be completed.

In addition to the cosmetic upgrade on my Glock 17, I decided to make a couple of other small changes. First, I knew that I wanted to dump the stock plastic Glock sights. The white ‘U’ shape on the read sight was very distracting and I opted to go with a minimalistic Warren Tactical Rear with a Fiber Optic Front. I had trouble reaching the magazine release so I had the Glock 34 Extended Magazine Release installed in its place (I’ve since found that it cuts into my hand and may need to be re-shaped slightly with a Dremel tool). Last was the installation of the 3.5 pound connector. Dry-firing, I can’t tell the difference between the stock connector and the upgrade.

Photo from the Custom Gun Finishes Facebook Page

The end result is the Glock 17 that you see above. I’m very happy with the work and can’t wait to start showing it off this USPSA Season. This makes three out of four guns ready to rock. You’ve seen Tactical Cheetah, Desert Fox will be posted in the next couple of days, one gun needs to be dropped off for finish yet, and we have my Glock 17 without a name. I’m not the clever naming type, so I’ve chosen a tentative name of Swamp Goblin (mainly because it is multiple variants of green). We’ll see how it fits and revisit if necessary.