Customizing your gun has almost become the norm. Most people don’t have purely factory-built guns anymore. The market has made it easy to do – accessories for firearms is now a multi-billion dollar industry. You’ve got companies—entire industries, even—that make aftermarket parts for just ARs. You can do some really interesting things with your guns. Some are easier to customize than others. So here is a list of the four guns that are best for customizing.
(a huge thanks to Eric & Barry for the inspiration)
1. Remington 870
One of the most popular shotguns on the market, the Remington 870 has tons of potential to build on. You can start with the trigger group and safety (but be sure not to lose the spring and detent). A popular option for the trigger is the Timney sear unit, which allows for small adjustments in the pull weight after its installed.
2. Ruger 10/22
When we said industries are formed around accessories for specific guns, the 10/22 is a huge example of what we were talking about. The Ruger is so customizable they make parts we don’t even know about: folding stocks, barrel shrouds, scope mounts, receivers, and triggers, etc. You can spend upwards of $2,000 to find different parts.
Read: 4 Must-Have Gun Accessories
3. Glock 26
The Glock’s a great gun to customize because you can find tons of accessories for it. You can get magazine extensions to add a few more rounds to your magazine, many different types of sights. One of the more popular add-ons is the 3.5-lb. ghost trigger set, which makes for a much lighter and smoother pull.
4. Remington R1-1911
Even beyond the Glock, the Remington R1-1911 is one of the most customizable guns around. It’s been around for so long, it might’ve been the first gun ever customized. The list of aftermarket parts for the 1911 is almost endless: grips like Magpul or VZ, extended mag release, mainsprings, extended slide release, we could go on and on.
Remember though – the customizing is only as good as the gun. It’s hard to take a crap gun and turn it into something beautiful. The quality has to be there first. And with accessories, we always recommend just buying what you need. You don’t have to overcomplicate things.
That said, we love it when people go to the nines with customizing their gun. So if you have something special you want to build, go for it! Any questions, feel free to stop in our shop in Vancouver, WA. We love these types of conversations and always like to help people get the parts they need.
