Grey Ghost Precision is a Lakewood, Washington based manufacturer that is most well known for making a nice selection of AR-15 rifles to fit the needs of Law Enforcement, Military Personnel and responsible armed citizens. The company makes rifles and uppers in the most common rifle cartridges used on the AR-15 platform, ranging from 6.5 Creedmoor all the way up to the full powered .308 Nato. While you may already be familiar with the company and their stellar reputation for quality, what you may not know about them is that they also produce aftermarket slides for several varieties Glock pistols.
Not long ago the team over at Grey Ghost Precision was nice enough to send us one of their G17 Glock slides that feature an insert to support the Trijicon RMR pistol optic. Since we have just started a new cheap Glock build dubbed Operation Glockenstein I was very excited when the slide was offered up to me. The timing of these events has resulted in the launch of a series of articles that will review all of the components used in this build. The first of these components is the slide we are featuring today. The market for pistol optics is red hot and it’s nice to see more manufacturers like GGP getting into the market, more manufacturers equal more competition, which of course means better deals for consumers. Let’s take a look at the Grey Ghost Precision G17 V1 RMR slide for our Generation III Glock 17, and see why our readers should take notice.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Manufacturer:Â Grey Ghost Precision
- Place of Manufacture:Â Lakewood, Washington
- Material:Â 17-4 Billet Stainless Steel
- Finish:Â Matte Black Nitride coated inside and out
- Textures Available:
- Waffle pattern (Version II)
- Angled serrations (Version I as tested)
- Available with or without RMR cut
- Comes stripped without sights
- RMR version includes custom G10 cover plate and screws
- Available for Generation IV Glocks also
- Lifetime warranty
- Price:Â $399.00-$429.00Â
Initial Impressions
My initial impressions of the Grey Ghost Precision slide have been overwhelmingly positive. There are a ton of small details that the company has gotten right that add to the overall feel and effectiveness of the test slide we were fortunate enough to get. When I first opened the package the weight of the slide was the first thing I noticed, the slide felt heavier than other stock Glock slides I have handled. This might be because of the 17-4 Stainless Steel that it’s manufactured from. Stainless steel is heavier than carbon steel and has a lower strength to weight ratio. There’s a lot of science and math behind it all.
Now that we briefly touched on the metallurgy and perceived weight of the slide lets take a look at the feel and details of it. There are angled serrations that go completely through the slide at both the 3 and 9 o’clock positions. These are to assist the user in weapons manipulation drills and lighten the slide a tiny bit. The cuts themselves are functional and add to the ascetics of the slide without going overboard or compromising it’s structural integrity. There are an additional six serrations on the top of the slide just behind the front sight post. These differ from the other ones in that they do not go all the way through the slide and are cut horizontally instead of at an angle like all of the other serrations on the slide.
Assembly and Sight Selection
After looking over the fit and finish of the slide and the previously described details I set out to finding the necessary components to complete the slide. Grey Ghost Precision sends the slides stripped so that the user can add their favorite components to finish it off. Since I like simple and affordable I contacted my local gun shop Eagle River Gun Cache and Chugach Custom Gunworks LLC to hook me up with the parts I lacked. A little conversation and a 1/2 hour later a Lone Wolf Distributors completion kit and a set of Trijicon night sights were installed on the slide. The slide was complete and ready for testing.
This is where the only snag in the entire operation happened, I was unable to mount the Trijicon RMR red dot optic to the GGP slide because the screws I have were too long. Once I realized this was an issue I quickly sent an email to the customer service department of Grey Ghost Precision to request a set of screws that were the appropriate length. The issues with the screws only mean that I can’t test this slide with the RMR attached, it doesn’t stop the evaluation of the slide while using the Trijicon hard sights in any way.
Moving past the RMR issue, once the slide was assembled and fixed on the pistol I began to run some drills with it and see how the gun felt with the new heavier slide in place. The angled serrations at the rear of the slide are cut deep into the slide and really dig into your fingers even while wearing gloves. This isn’t a negative feature or comment at all, in fact, it should be taken as a positive note. The groves are deep and aggressive but not obnoxiously so, they allow the user to grasp the slide firmly even while wearing gloves or while your hands are wet or slippery for whatever reason.
Overall the Grey Ghost Precision is a well-built slide that combines solid engineering, good aesthetics, and functionality all in one package. While the price of the slide may set some people off, for shooters looking for a slide that allows you to run a Trijicon RMR red dot optic and retain your stock sights, this might be the perfect slide. When you stop to compare the Grey Ghost Precision Version 1 RMR with other manufacturers on the market you see that their pricing is pretty much in line with their competition.
The market for red dot optics of all types for pistols is expanding more each week, that being said the market will continue to fluctuate in both price and available options. This will mean it will continue to be a buyers market for the foreseeable future, so there is plenty of time to research companies and options. I would like to take a moment to thanks the team at Grey Ghost Precision for sending us this slide to demo, I’ve looked at a few other RMR slides on pistols in local shops and I will say that the GGP slide has a much higher quality build and design than ones I have seen. If you are in the market for a new slide for your Glock 17 or Glock 19 and want one that is cut to support the Trijicon RMR red dot, then Grey Ghost Precision is the first place I would stop.
If you are a competition shooter or running an optic on your pistol, we want to hear from you. What brand of optic are you running and what slide combo works best for you? What combo hasn’t worked? I personally am just starting on this journey of shooting pistols with optics so I am personally and professionally curious as to what setups others are using. Check back in the near future while I document the planned 1400 round test of the Grey Ghost Precision upper and Trijicon combo and learn the ins and outs of shooting pistols with optics. Drop your comments in the box below.
