Living in CA you have to navigate through a series of retarded rule sets when buying a gun. If it’s a pistol, it must be on a magic list. If it is a rifle, it cannot be on the magic list. This is a Vickers Tactical RTF2. Getting it was a hassle at the time and the “loophole” that allowed for it is now closed. At this point in time you must find a Police Officer to sell you their previously owned off-roster pistol for a considerable fee.
I benched my M&P and grabbed one of these as soon as they were available. For years I was Team Smith and Wesson for the sole fact that I owned one and wasn’t into glocks. I don’t even remember the reason why I avoided Glock pistols for as long as I did, I think it was because how they felt in my hand. Looking back it’s a stupid thing to even think about.
First of all let me start this off by saying no one shoots at me for a living. Your use case is probably different than mine and your gun will probably look different.
Sights
You don’t really need to do much to a Glock pistol out of the box. Most will agree that the sights are garbage and that the end user should find some that work for them. I share that sentiment and run black rear, red fiber front. The Vickers tritium sights were measurably better but I swapped them out for a set of Dawson’s and eventually a Heinie rear. In its current form it doesn’t have irons sights at all. I took them off after never experiencing an issue with my RMR/SRO and it’s a risk that I have accepted. I will be sure to edit this article at a later date when I eat my hat.
If you haven’t installed a Microdot on your pistol let me remind you that it’s _arbitrary_year_ and you need to get with the times, grandpa. It is a huge force-multiplier and an enabler for people that are learning to shoot. Put the dot on the thing, pull the trigger. It’s easier to put a microdot equipped pistol in the hands of someone new and get them having fun than to explain sight alignment and blah blah blah.
The trigger
I should have listened to seasoned shooters when they told me not to fuck with the trigger. I spent hundreds of dollars on different trigger systems over the years and currently it’s a OEM smooth-faced glock trigger with slightly lightened springs and polished surfaces.
There are plenty of great trigger systems out there and you will be happy with most of them. I don’t recommend anything anymore because the advice I give is to shoot your pistol. The gun will break in and your weak little muscles will get stronger.
Frame modifications/etc
Even though it started life as an RTF2 that texture didn’t last long with how often I shoot and how much I abuse my gear. It’s been cut and stippled twice, the second as a cover-up to the first job that looked great but didn’t last long.
The finger grooves have been deleted, the trigger guard has been undercut and beveled, and an aggressive pattern was applied all over the gun.
Over the life of the stipple job (going on a year and a half) it has dulled slightly with wear and use but still grips my palms pretty fiercely.
I run a Dawson Ice magwell because that was what was available years before Magpul and other companies were offering them en masse. It’s heavy and solid. It’s currently on the gun but sometimes I remove it for whatever reason. A comped magwell will not fix a bad reload but it will help with a sloppy reload.
Weapon lights
Put a light on your gun. Seriously. Spend the money and buy something nice like Surefire. There are numerous companies out there making lights now. Do your due diligence and google around before you spend your money on one.
Trust me when I say you probably don’t need a strobe feature and that eventually it will irritate you and your friends when you activate it on accident over and over.
Other
I ride the gun pretty high and sometimes activate the slide-stop. This was fixed by installing a Kagwerks extended stop. It works for me. Might not for you.
I use an extended magazine release. It’s a metal version of the G34 release.
Closing thoughts
Shoot your gun. Don’t worry about triggers and other stuff.
Tools and Tombstones 