Feat of the Week: The Splinter Camo Glock
Welcome to our weekly blog post! Each “Feat of the Week” features firearm(s) we have worked on recently. These are showcases of our repair work, custom machining, Cerakote, or a combination of services. We are excited to share our gunsmithing feats with you!
The first ever Feat of the Week is a Splinter Camo Glock 19 with custom machined front slide serrations and a top faux window cut. We did this work for one of our buddies and can’t wait to show it to you. So let’s get started!
The Splinter Camo Glock
Make/Model: Glock 19 Gen 4
Caliber: 9mm
Finish: Splinter-Cam Cerakote by McCluskey Arms
Optic: Delta Point Pro with AOS Cut by Agency
Flashlight: Surefire X300 Ultra
Custom Features:
Forward Slide Serrations by McCluskey Arms
Faux Window Cut by McCluskey Arms
Frame Stippling by Flayed Customs
Trigger by Agency Arms
Slide Release from KagWerks
The Story:
We had to start with this gun. It’s been one of our favorite projects so far: creating something visually striking with custom machined features while still preserving reliability. And doing it for a buddy.
Justin is one of my co-workers at Mazama and also photographs our gunsmithing work at The McCluskey Arms Company. In fact, he has taken most of the pictures on our Instagram and in the website gallery. He’s an outdoorsman with a knack for taking awesome photos of guns and gear. Give him a follow on Instagram and TikTok @541outdoors.
Justin has been in the gun industry for more than six years and is one of the best shooters I know, regularly crushing my times in speed steel competitions at the Albany Rifle and Pistol Club. This is his concealed carry gun and his speed steel competition gun. A trusty Gen 4 Glock 19 with a Delta Point Pro Optic with AOS Cut by Agency Arms, slide release from KagWerks, and a Surefire X300 Ultra Flashlight.
Another cool feature of this gun is the stippling on the frame by Flayed Customs for added traction in wet conditions—which is almost every weekend in the winter at speed steel. TMAC recommends Flayed Customs for stippling jobs. You can follow him @flayedcustoms.
Custom Machining
Justin wanted to add more customized features to his Glock. He reached out to us asking for some machined features to help with both aesthetics and function. So we added forward slide serrations for traction and slip resistance—a necessity for Oregon’s wet climate. He didn’t have anything specific in mind so he gave us a little creative license. We kept the Glock lettering intact, obviously, and added a rounded cut framing the factory engraving.
Top Faux Window Cut
Justin also wanted custom machining on top of the slide but wasn’t quite sure exactly what he wanted. The only direction he gave us was “put something on top.” I suggested we do something similar a window cut. Because it’s his EDC and competition gun, I didn’t want to do a full window because it would allow in dirt, compromising the reliability. Instead, I suggested a faux window cut. This gave us the look of a top cut but without the ingress of dirt and lint.
I love the custom machining jobs where customers give me creative freedoms! Machining might be my favorite part of gunsmithing. It combines all the things I love. Designing in CAD. Coding in CAM. And the machining itself. Though, with how often I use my CNC, I do miss manual machining sometimes. Luckily the Bridgeport I have is a conversion so I can always machine by hand if I need to or want to.
Splinter camo
Finally, Justin asked us to Cerakote the slide with a splinter camo pattern in Black, white, Tungsten, and Midnight Bronze. Many will recognize splinter cam from Modern Warfare—allowing you to make longshot kills—but it was first introduced in Germany between the World Wars.
Originally, the German splittermuster (splinter pattern) was overlaid with what looked like rain. Almost all regular military units at this time were issued this pattern, and the Luftwaffe had their own pattern, darker with rain overlay. After the Second World War, Germany continued to use splinter pattern for their Army and their Border Guards who, during the 1950s and 60s, were especially active along the Iron Curtain. Other countries including Bulgaria and Sweden adopted the German splinter pattern or created their own.
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While the German and Swedish patterns have interlocking shapes with two or three colors and no clear background color, we kept our polygons separated and showing a distinctive background. Additionally our design diverts from these because we didn’t include the rain overlay. This would’ve been a classy nod to all the history buffs out there, but we think it would’ve crowded our design and made the gun look too busy.
What do you think of splinter cam? Should we have included a rain overlay? What camo pattern would you paint your Glock? Let us know and comment down below!
Next Up
We hope you enjoyed our first gunsmithing feat of the week. Thanks for following along! Our next feature will be posted Monday, August 10th at 9am. Comment for any content you want to see. And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mccluskeyarmsco.
If you loved the products and services you saw today, check out our online store! You can start shopping by clicking here. Or drop us a message here. We look forward to meeting you and gunsmithing for you.
Links:
Flayed Customs: https://www.facebook.com/flayedcustoms/
Albany Pistol and Rifle Club: https://www.arpc.info/