Complete Pistol Build With Strike Industries [Glock Gen 3 Clone]

With serialized fire control units like the ones found in the SIG P320/P365, Springfield Echelon, or Ruger RxM — Glock builds have lost favor as the flavor of the month with your favorite influencers. But that doesn’t mean Glock-builds have gone anywhere.

As much as I love the new FCU trend, a good not-a-Glock-build still makes me happy. The new Strike Industry frame has some great features that caught my eye, and Strike was nice enough to not only send out a frame but a complete gun’s worth of parts for me to build out.

BUILD LIST

• Frame: Strike Arms Pistol Compact Frame
• Slide: LITESLIDE for GLOCK™ G19 GEN3
• Barrel: Strike Barrel for GLOCK™ G19
• Iron Sights: Strike Iron Sights – Suppressor Height
• Completion Kit: Slide Completion Kit for GLOCK™ G19 GEN3
• Magazines: Strike Magazine – Clear + Extended Magazine Plate

THE COMPLETE SLIDE

All of the parts of this build are Strike Industry, from the stripped LiteSlide, to the Slide Completion Kit, to the barrel — all of it is SI. 

Assembly was as simple as any Glock-clone; the SI parts are well-made and fit together without an issue. 

The problem came when it was time to shoot it. This would turn out to be a break-in period that worked itself out, but for the first couple of magazines it was hard to get more than 2 consecutive rounds off before a failure to feed. Ammo didn’t matter, magazine didn’t matter, the problem was universal for that first ~30 rounds.

After that, it happened once a mag for a few mags until it finally went away with about 100 rounds downrange. Since then, it’s been a couple hundred rounds of problem-free shooting.

Annoying? Yes, it was, but it was not a problem in the long run. Tighter tolerances and stacking tolerances often mean that sometimes a new gun needs to be run hard so it can settle in. 

Outside of that little problem, this is a solid slide. Serrations are deeper than they look and provide a good amount of grip. Optic mounting was easy. And the Strike Iron Sights are really pleasant to use and provide a great co-witness to a red dot.

For a Glock clone, it is pretty decent.

Downside? This slide doesn’t fit normal Glock holsters. Or barely does, depending on the holster. Of my Glock holsters, the only one the Strike slide kind of fits is a Dara Holsters G19. With every draw the SI slide shaves a small amount of polymer from the inside of the holster. Not a big deal and actually easy to solve with some sandpaper, but just shows how poorly the Strike slide fits.

THE FRAME

This is the main star. While Strike Industries has offered Glock parts for a long time, the frame is rather new, released in 2024. This was the main part that caught my interest since what I hate most about Glock is the frame.

For me, for my hands, Strike’s frame solves almost every point I don’t like about a Glock frame.

The texture on the grip is aggressive without being painful to carry, it’s in helpful places, including the front and rear of the grip.

Strike has a deep undercut behind the trigger guard, helping the shooter get a solid grip. And while not a true double-undercut, the frame is at least shaped so that there is material on both sides of the support the hand’s knuckle, giving what almost feels like a double-undercut.

Instead of Glock’s annoying single point of attachment under the dust cover, Strike’s grip has a full 1913 Picactinny rail. Perfect for mounting a StreamLight TLR-1 HLX.

The bottom of the grip has a small flair to it giving your pinky somewhere to rest, but the grip is still G19 length, so there isn’t much there for larger hands like mine. Normal for G19-sized grips.

The frame combined with any of my Glock-clone slides except the Strike Industry LiteSlide fit as expected in a wide range of holsters.

This has quickly become one of my favorite frames to shoot. Combined with a Radian Ramjet+Afterburner and this makes for a very capable compact pistol. 

THE MAGS

Made for Strike by ETS, these have actually performed well for me so far. I’ve had mixed results with ETS branded ETS mags, but I’ve had no problems with these. The Strike Industry extended baseplates provide an extra 5 rounds per mag. While I’ve only had these plates for a couple months, I’ve actually been using Strike Industry extended base plates on my other Glock mags for years, and they are still going strong. My first CCW was a G19 and Strike’s baseplates were the first ones I ever bought. 

The main thing the Strike mags have going for them is the price. At $10 per mag in a pack of 5, these are easy to stock up on to keep you going at the range.

For carry, I would opt for something with a better track record than ETS. 

LOOSE ROUNDS

I don’t really recommend the Strike LiteSlide because of the holster fitment issue. The Strike completion kit, iron sights, and springs are all good to go and come in at a reasonable price. If I build more Glock slides, I could see myself using these parts.

The barrel is what I suspect was the main culprit in the break-in period, and that’s… not ideal. If you pick one up, don’t expect to shoot a match the next day.

The Strike Arms Pistol Compact Frame is the hero of the build. I really dig it. The texture is aggressive, undercut in the trigger guard deep and useful, and the true 1913 Picatinny out front is great. No complaints about it at all.

Trigger feels better than a stock Glock trigger but isn’t as good as some of the nice aftermarket options. For $150 from Primary Arms, this is a solid deal for a good frame. 

If Strike Industry comes out with a G17-sized version of this frame, I’m almost positive I’ll be building another not-a-Glock. Glock-pattern frames aren’t the new hotness these days, but a good frame goes a long way and Glock-clone builds won’t go away anytime soon.