Glock Factory Colors and Finishes vs. Aftermarket

Glock logoWith the exception of the Glock 19X and Portuguese Army pistol’s coyote slides, the 43X and 48’s silver slides, the red slides on the Gen 5 ‘P’ guns, and the blue slides on some of the ‘T’ guns, Glock only makes guns with black slides. If you see one with a slide of any other color, including NiBX, it’s done after the gun leaves the factory – usually by a distributor who does a special run.

Glock has only ever made color-molded frames in

 

  1. black
  2. OD (‘Olive Drab’)
  3. BFG (‘Battle Field Green’) – exclusive distributor is Amchar in N.Y.
  4. FDE (‘Flat Dark Earth’ or simply ‘Dark Earth’) – exclusive distributor is Lipsey’s in LA
  5. gray – exclusive distributor is Lipsey’s in LA
  6. red
  7. blue
  8. coyote (only with the Glock 19X, the 17 made for the French Army, and the 17 made for Portugal’s Army. Also used on the 19MHS and 23MHS guns submitted to the military trials)

Red and blue are only used in training guns (17R, 22P, 17T, etc.). Any other colors (purple, burnt bronze, red & blue, pink, white, Robin’s egg blue, ‘battle worn’, American Flag, dessert sand, etc.) are aftermarket.

If the serial number plate is the same color as the frame and not silver, or the back straps are not the same color as the frame, it’s aftermarket (although some cerakote shops will also do the back straps).

Some gun shops will tell you that these aftermarket guns are factory colors. The best reason I’ve seen for that is because that’s how they receive them. But gun shops get their guns from distributors – who are generally the ones who do these special runs. They don’t typically get them directly from Glock. The gun shop staff just don’t know any better.