I had the chance to stop by Battle Cock Tactical's shop and speak with the head Battle Cock himself about a bunch of things and I wanted to post what we spoke about showcase some of his work. First and foremost I want to say that he has closed his books for the time being. Specifically because he wants focus more on big projects and unique work, so if you are looking for a run of the mill stipple job on your Glock, are you barking up the wrong tree as he wants to do serious work for serious shooters. But, you are in luck as his books will soon be opened again (month or so) and you can send an email to see if he will take on your project.
The above "fishnet" pattern is one which he can easily accomplish, the purpose of this specific type of stipple design? Understand, before answering or considering the reasons behind it that it is smooth to the touch and is designed to work in conjunction with other modifications to the grip and frame, it also specifically designed to be a concealed carry texture, which does not irritate or snag.
There is a very specific reason there is a sole finger groove attached to a serious undercut of the trigger guard. The trigger guard needs to be changed to work for a specific purpose - control of the pistol in your hands. Controlling a pistol is very important, and a pistol is usually designed around a generally acceptable grip design/angle and trigger guard design which will work for the average person. Generally this is good for the shooter who does not want specific things from their pistols, for those of us who know exactly what we want from a pistol we will need someone who understands the same concepts to do the work.
There is a reason every single stipple dot is done, every curve and every contour. Only a legitimate shooter will understand what needs to be done properly and if a person does not you get abortions for stipple jobs, essentially those which may or may not look good and are clearly overpriced. When I see a stipple job, I always ask "what is the reason for it, and how much does it cost?" That is usually met with "but it's awesome! and $1 million dollars!" or something like that if I am speaking with someone who is not Dr. Evil.
What makes a specific stipple job better than others? What makes a specific type of design better than others? Why are some more aggressive when others are smoother? Are they equal? There is a reason why Battle Cock Tactical produces excellent work and that is because he understands the concepts of shooting and what is required for a pistol to have done in order to control it better for you. Different hands need different grips, and we are all different we need a specific design to our specific hands. Some guys need more undercut than others, some do not need it at all. How do you know? Well you talk to him and he will explain to you what needs to be done and why.
The above is my Gen5 Glock 19. The only thing I wanted done was to have a trigger undercut and I wanted to make sure I found the right person to do it as I have done it myself and its rough looking, since I am not a stippler and while I understand the concepts and what I want, it is definitely not show quality. The above photo is the finished product of Battle Cock Tactical's handy work. If you looked at it and did not have another Gen5 Glock 19 to reference you may have believed it was an OEM feature. His work is that good.
I was fortunate enough to be able to watch him work and I was really interested in the level OCD involved in his work, every tool and stroke of sandpaper application was meticulously done with purpose. Aesthetic is not the sole purpose of the modifications done and there was a good bit of back and forth about what else I would like done. One of the concepts discussed that a trigger undercut by itself without a middle undercut for your other hand may allow your "support" hand (other-strong for the rest of us) to not move inline with your strong hand while gripping the pistol. This is a concept I knew about but did not understand (as I do not generally have stippling on any of my pistols), but the way he explained it and asked me if I wanted it done or not based on shooting grips, style of shooting and reasons for modification, this is very important to me as I want to know why a modification exists or is suggested, he explained it in great detail to a very satisfactory level which I understood easily.
There was great attention to detail in order to make it look as OEM as possible, since I was only getting an undercut on a trigger guard and not a full package modification - just because I really like the way the Gen5 grip is designed.
Lookin good...
One other modification he did was to round out the front cutout on the Gen5 grip. Not that I need it done, not that I have any issues with it being blunt, but because it should have probably been done from the factory. Even guys who have larger bear mitts take a hold of this modified Gen5 Glock 19 can feel that the edges are not sharp as they are from the factory. He said you can just do this at home with a high grit piece of sand paper carefully. You should probably look into this if you are bothered by how sharp the cut out is.
He also has a good aggressive pattern which I really like when done with his specific undercut and first groove cut. It really locks the hand in with these modifications.
All detail and cerakote work was done by KM3 Solutions on the above pistol. Check them out if you are looking for everything from traditional gun smithing to cerakoting and modification of firearms.
As you may have seen with this specific pistol, the rear grip is thicker than your average grip, when compounded with the modifications stated above, the grip becomes very comfortable, but not just that. It allows the shooter to retain the gun with more force, especially if the undercut and finger groove cut are done.
If you are looking for very custom work as mentioned above, you should give Battle Cock Tactical a shout, but just understand as I stated above, his books are closed and he is only looking for unique and specific levels of work. If you want something non-standard and unique you should definitely be looking to have him make the modifications to your gun. There are not many people in the stipple/modification industry who understand shooting and would be comfortable teaching classes on how to stipple pistols and the reasoning behind each type of stipple and concept of those modifications. The reason you want a stipple, a specific type of modification, should be made very clear to you through exact articulation and definition of a specific problem you want to solve through such modification. Someone who does modifications to pistols should be able to easily explain the reason for every single modification. If that modification even remotely touches on aesthetics then the modification is pointless and the person doing it should be disregarded instantly. I am happy to say modification Battle Cock Tactical just so happens to look really good while focusing on function, first.