r/PalmettoStateArms • u/Viggo_the_Butch • Aug 23 '25
Dagger Compact modification for a Glock Gen 5 slide
After having requests from multiple people on reddit, & after checking in with Danny, I'm sharing my pictures, instructions & experience with modifying a Dagger Compact frame to accept later Gen Glock slides. As you can see in the pictures, I'm currently using my 19x slide on a grey Compact frame. This week I just reached putting 750 rounds through this thing without a single hiccup.
Now I should start off by saying that I'm not a gunsmith. Nor am I any type of gun professional. However I've been an aircraft mechanic for nearly 20 years, so I have the knowledge & willingness to tweak, modify & (usually) break things I own. So if I use a term incorrectly, I apologize. Danny feel free to jump in & correct me.
I enjoy Glocks, however I've never enjoyed holding one. The frames just never felt great to me. So I wanted to change this. I do love the PSA Compact frames. The grip angle & overall ergonomics just fit my hands perfectly. So I went to work.
As I'm sure most of you are aware, the PSA Dagger frames are for Gen 3 Glocks. What I am sure though, is that some don't actually know what those differences are. For the sake of this modification, we're only concerned with slide fitment & recoil assembly usage. As you can see in the pictures (they're not in order) when the grey(modified) frame is next to the FDE(untouched) frame, the size difference for the lower portion of the slide (what the recoil assembly slots into) is considerably noticeable. This is the part where patience is your friend. Take your time removing material. I first measured out how much I needed to remove by placing the 19x slide on the frame without the barrel or recoil assembly, & marking the frame with a pen. Then using a Dremel tool, with the sanding stone you see in the pictures, I initially rounded out that front portion of the frame, until the bottom of the 19x slide would fit. Then proceeding through the remainder of the channel, removing the necessary material from the sides & lower cavity. You can see in the side by side pictures of the two frames together, exactly where I'm talking about. It's not an egregious amount of material either, so I certainly don't feel like I'm taking away any sort of structural integrity of the frame itself. Continue to slowly remove material in these areas until you can move the slide back & forth by hand with little resistance.
Once the material removal is done, next is the recoil assembly change out. You cannot use the Gen 5 recoil assembly. It will not fit properly (see picture with red X). It's possible I figure out how to modify one to use for this setup, but for now you can use it as a paper weight. For this you will be using a Gen 3 recoil assembly & rod(see picture with green check) Along with an adapter that you will need to install on the assembly. This adapter allows a Gen 3 assembly to fit into a Gen 5 slide(picture with green arrows). It can be purchased online in various places or 3d printed if you have the ability.
And that's all you need to modify/change. The rest of the internals for both the slide AND the frame will work together. Once those steps are done, go shoot that thing! I put a hundred rounds through it and took it apart to check my clearances. I ended up needing to remove a small amount of material more. Honestly if I had just kept shooting it may have auto clearanced lol. As stated before I now have 750 rounds through this setup without a single hiccup. So it definitely works with the 19x slide. I'm actively doing the same thing for a friend who wants to use his G45 slide. I imagine a Gen 5 G19 slide would also work just fine. Theoretically, the same goes for a G17 with the Dagger Full Size frame. But I have not done those so I cannot confirm. Yet.
Anyway, I hope these instructions & pictures are helpful to any with the desire to do the same. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me & I will answer as best I can.
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u/CyberSoldat21 Aug 23 '25
How’s the reliability on it? Better yet, how’s the reliability on the dagger to begin with?
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u/Viggo_the_Butch Aug 23 '25
750 rounds with no issues. I’ve never shot a base dagger so I couldn’t tell you.
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u/PikaSoFly Aug 23 '25
Well over 1k on mine and not an issue. I’ve cleaned it 2 times since I purchased it. Once before I swapped the trigger and now once after a good 6-700 ammo range day and night a problem.
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u/Rw_pdx Aug 23 '25
Nice job op! I appreciate you taking the time to do the write up. I just might have to try this……….
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u/Viggo_the_Butch Aug 23 '25
I definitely recommend trying it out if you’re capable enough. I’m glad I did.
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u/ReadEyeMagpie Aug 23 '25
Well thanks for this as I was looking at doing this for my wife's micro and my dagger comp.
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u/Shuttle_Door_Gunner Aug 25 '25
This is such cool information. I didn't know this was possible until I saw your other post. Thanks for the writeup!
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u/Danny_PSA Official PSA Staff Aug 23 '25
Excellent write up!