Best Pistol Upgrades for Competition Shooting

Custom competition handguns can give you an edge by tailoring your firearm for better use of your skills. Pistol upgrades and modifications can help smooth out the rough edges in your gun’s cycling, give you a better grip, provide more leverage, and take your accuracy and precision to the next level. While you don’t need a competition Glock to take the top spot, having a better tool to work with can mean the difference between placing or participating. You can count on us to help you build a gun that has you taking home the right kind of trophy.

Skills Vs. Equipment

We don’t make any bones about the importance of skill in shooting competition, and any aftermarket gun parts seller that says otherwise is doing a disservice to you and the sport. Fundamental shooting skills are the basis for every shooting competition, and mastering those fundamentals will do more than customizing a competition handgun will do by itself. Skill trumps gear nine times out of ten.

What if skill levels are equal, however? Then, the advantage goes to the person who has a better gun that helps them do more when the whistle blows. All other things being equal, a competition Glock will be more comfortable in your hand and perform better than a stock model fresh out of the box. That slight advantage isn’t the only reason to choose competition handguns.   

Building proper firearms skills is best done with a high-performance firearm you can count on because repetition breeds success. Customized weapons are built to suit individual tastes and preferences, often with parts built to more exacting tolerances than OEM components. That means you’ll receive the same finely-tuned handling every time you squeeze the trigger, which lets you hone your fundamentals for better performance with any gun.

Before Building Your Custom Gun

• Know the Rules – Before you start looking at builds for competition handguns, look at the rules you’ll be competing under, particularly those related to allowed gun modifications and shooting classes. The two most common governing bodies in the United States are the United States Practical Shooting Association and the International Practical Shooting Confederation. Both oversee competitions coast-to-coast, and both have online rulebooks that will help you make sure you’re keeping your competition pistol within guidelines.

• Get Some Range Time – Before you start tinkering, take your competition handgun to the range as-is. It’s important to understand where you are before you can set a goal of where you want your pistol to be. This can take several boxes of ammo or several sessions. Even if you’re building a competition Glock from a gun you’ve owned and used for years, running a few boxes through with the intent to plan a build feels different than just putting in your standard range time.
• Plan Your Build – If you’re not familiar with gun customization, start by considering the aspects of your gun’s performance that you think need to be tweaked to help you shoot better. If you already know your way around your gun’s internals, you can start planning which components aren’t performing up to your standards.
• Prioritize for Impact – Most competition handguns will be constrained by the owner’s budget. Decide how much you have to spend and plan on upgrading no more than one to two components or groups at a time. To choose the next upgrade in your sights, consider which improvement is most likely to give you the most immediate benefit to your shooting lifestyle.
• Be Methodical – Build, test, retest, and practice. Never give into the temptation to build your competition handgun too much or too fast. Every modification you make is going to change how the weapon handles. While that’s the general idea behind the upgrades you’ve chosen, you may find that less is needed for your final build than you initially thought. Far too many shooters have turned a serviceable firearm into an ever-jamming paperweight through overzealous modification. After every upgrade or two, get your gun ready and hit the range. Test it for reliability, accuracy, and overall performance. Then come back and do it all again until you know your next step toward the competition handgun you need.

Top Upgrades and Modifications for Competition Handguns

Sights

One of the most-modified parts of competition handguns is the sights. While traditional iron sights are serviceable, during fast-paced competitive events, they may not give you the visibility or speed of target acquisition you need. For more limited shooting categories, a fiberoptic or otherwise highly visible front blade with an all-black notched rear sight gives shooters a visual focus that draws attention to the front sight for better aiming. 

If allowed under the rules, high-performance optics like red dot sights can improve both your speed and accuracy. This simple customization takes less than an hour to install, and then you’re ready to zero it in. The Gideon Optics Omega has a large aiming lens, adjustable brightness, and a 3-32 MOA selectable circle-dot reticle, so you can get both lightning-fast target acquisition and pinpoint accuracy.  

Recoil Springs and Guide Rod

Your Guide Rod and recoil springs help absorb the slide’s backward momentum to reduce recoil and guide it back forward, cycling a new round into the chamber for the next shot. Competition handguns often feature heavier springs than OEM models. Better-controlled recoil moves the gun off-target less, and the stronger resistance offers a slight increase in the speed of your gun’s cycle. Our recoil spring and guide rod set for either full-size or compact competition Glock pistols give you an upgrade to both. Your OEM spring is replaced with a heavier model, while the stock plastic guide rod is replaced with a heavy-duty stainless steel version. This increases reliability and adds a small amount of muzzle weight to help control flip.

Magazine Extensions

Extended magazines are a must-have for practical shooting because they give you more rounds between reloading–saving crucial seconds when every tick counts. In addition, the longer magazine and baseplate offer more leverage for better weapon control.

Match-Grade Barrels and Cut-Out Slides

If you want to put tight groups together, your barrel needs to give you a reliable spin for superior accuracy and precision. While the slide plays little role in accuracy, aggressive cutouts can make racking, clearing, and handling the weapon easier under adverse environmental conditions. One of the best slide and barrel combos on the market is the Revelation 23 from Patmos Arms. The Revelation series is built to distill aftermarket barrels and slides down to their core essence and fine-tune them for performance. The forged barrel is made from nitride-coated stainless steel, and the heat-treated and nitride-coated steel slide features fearsome cutouts, deep serrations, and optics-ready milling.

Order Your Competition Pistol Upgrades Today

When you need aftermarket parts and accessories that help you shoot better, we have you covered. We work with some of the most trusted manufacturers in the business to give you the performance you need at a price that leaves you plenty of ammo money to get ready for your next tournament. Order the parts your competition handguns need from JSD Supply today.