Too much shine?

[Yolomanolo]

I was planning on purchasing a Glock sometime soon and I wanted to get the slide nickel plated. After I mentioned my intentions to my boss, he told me he wouldn't get the gun plated because the glare on the gun may bother my eyes while aiming. (we live in the middle of Arizona) Is there any truth in this? Has anyone ever had a problem with too much shine? Thanks

 

[Steve C]

The tennifer finish on the Glocks is one of the toughest finishes there is. One doesn't want bright shiny finishes on defense pistols as they reflect light and can give away your location to an opponent in addition to reflecting light of the top sight track that can cause difficulty in seeing the sights. Nickle plated guns that come from the factory usually have a mat finish, blue, black or checkered sighting surface to avoid this.

 

[loop]

Don't believe that crap about glare from your gun obscuring your vision. For some reason it only comes up when someone wants a high polish on the slide, but a dark frame.

There are millions of high polish, plated guns out there. No one ever said my fully plated gun might blind me, but when I wanted a plated slide and black frame the gun smith warned me about glare...

When I aim one of my guns with a plated slide I actually don't see the top of the slide. I see the sights and they are black.

If you want to see glare you have to look down on the top of the slide. I've never found myself in that position while trying to aim.

It may be true that it gives away my position to a BG, but I kind of think that my shooting at him is more likely to give away my position. Besides, if he doesn't know my position why am I shooting? What am I - a sniper?

Do what you like and make it look the way that makes you feel good. When I'm pulling the trigger that last thing I'm thinking about is - what color is my gun?

 

[Oro]

When I aim one of my guns with a plated slide I actually don't see the top of the slide. I see the sights and they are black.

Bingo. S&W had some problems in the early 70s when they introduced the all-stainless 66 and 67 for LE use. The stainless sights were annoying to use in daylight. They retrofitted many of them with black rear sights, and installed red inserts on the front ramp. Problem solved. I've used these old, original SS guns and the all SS sights are indeed annoying. But even with a polished frame/barrel/etc., the black rear and red front sights make it like any other gun - you can tell.

There's also a certain argument in favor of shiny guns as defensive pieces. I have heard more than a few cops say they noticed that the "intimidation" factor dropped noticeably when their departments made them switch from big shiny revolvers (686's, Pythons) to smaller black wondernines. People did not "cease and desist" quite as quickly to the smaller, dark guns. This is anecdotal, but it passes the sniff test and I've heard it from multiple street cops who spent a lot of time on the beat.

I also would make an argument just like loops - your gun is not an offensive weapon you are carrying into battle. Set the gun up the way you want, and if that's a nickel slide, there's really no harm in putting some bling on your Glock.

 

[colt1903]

I don't think I have ever seen a nickle plated Glock slide. You might want to consider Robar's NP3 finish but it you do nickle plate it please come back and post some photos.

As for glare...that is much ado about nothing from my experience. As others have said, leave the sights black and have the top of the frame done in a matte satin finish and you will be fine. Glare is not a problem with my CZ 75 High Polish Stainless:

 

[schmeky]

Colt1903,

Good-gosh, googlie-moo, that's a really great lookin' CZ.

Agreed on the other posts, if you want the slide shiny, go for it.

 

[psyopspec]

I don't seek out stainless finishes on my pistols, but I've never had it be a problem with one I own. Given the choice I go black out of aesthetic preference, but I've never hesitated to own a stainless gun because of practical issues. This is mostly because it stays concealed (and thus non-reflective) unless I draw it, in which case the sheen won't matter since I've already decided it's time to use it.

 

[armoredman]

I have never seen a chromed or nickled Glock, but I did see one glod plated, with a synthetic ruby front sight. No joke, the guy had EVERYTHING gold plated - even the rails. Wanna bet how long that lasted?
It's your gun, but I've been shooting in AZ for a long time, and never had any glare of any firearm, short or long, blue, plastic, or shiny.

 

[Ash]

Besides, the Glock slide is already matte. It won't really be shiny unless they polish the snot out of it before plating. With the normally matte Glock slide, the plating will be matte. Why not chrome-plate it?

 

[cchris]

I wish I could find the gold-plated and chrome-plated Taurus someone was trying to sell. That'd probably make everyone agree there's such a thing as "too much shine".

 

[jackstinson]

From the title....I thought this thread was about drinking white lightning in excess.

 

[amkus]

I've fired my friend's shiny 1911 and glare was never a problem.

Plus, shiny guns = high hotness factor

 

[krs]

I'm waiting on Ford's to return my 1968 Colt National Match that they're going to make over as a shiny nickel plated Colt National Match like the one that Mohammed Ali's big black bodyguard had showing at the end of the Foreman fight in Ziarre - I've been fascinated by such a pistol ever since I watched that absolutely great fight.

 

[Yolomanolo]

When it comes to a glock I wouldn't want to chrome it. I like the idea of a metal look, but I don't really like the "bling" factor. Seems like a lot of good responses though. If I decide to go for it I'll throw some pics up. There are some pics on the net of glocks with nickel slides. fyi

 

[andre73]

Here is a very polished glock... Glock

 

[edelbrock]

from the title....i thought this thread was about drinking white lightning in excess.

lol.

 

[wrs840]

I don't much care for "bright-shiny" guns.

I don't understand the attraction. Even blued Pythons look better to me than the nickle-polished ones.

...Of course, I'm not a fan of big gold chains or big gold diamond-studded teeth either...

Les