Before The Gen6, There Was the Robar Custom GLOCK 22

Gather round my children and let me tell you about one of one of my favorite African-Americans: Robbie Barrkman. Mr. Barrkman was born in South Africa and emigrated to the United States in 1977. Soon thereafter he became a citizen. Like many of my friends in the industry, I feel like I’ve known Robbie forever and I can’t recall exactly who introduced us. Nonetheless, my friendship with Robbie goes all the way back to the old dead tree gun magazine days, when we used to spread ink on paper, staple the pages together, and sell them on newsstands. 

Robbie came from a family that embraced firearms, both his father and mother being accomplished shooters. Growing up and being encouraged, Robbie became a dedicated shooter himself. So dedicated, in fact, was he that Robbie hosted the late Col. Jeff Cooper of Gunsite fame at his home in South Africa when Jeff flew there to conduct training. 

When I met Robbie he was running Robar Companies, Inc. (now closed) a business that performed custom gunsmithing and finishing on firearms. Today, Robbie is the President of Coating Technologies, LLC. located in Phoenix.

One of their specialties at Robar was GLOCK pistol upgrades. The current GLOCK Gen6 with the reconfigured frame and texture is all the rage today. However, remember that back then, when it came to the GLOCK pistol, you either ran it as is, or you sent it off to a gun wizard like Robbie Barrkman. Of course, if you were issued a GLOCK pistol for duty, you left it alone and learned to live with it. To be honest, that wasn’t too difficult, it just required a little effort.  

Keep in mind that at the time of this project, the GLOCK Gen3 was the current standard. It just so happened that a friend of mine had purchased a GLOCK 22 Gen3 and after a short time, he decided that he no longer wanted it. I bought it from him at a fair price knowing that it would be my next project gun. A quick call to my favorite African-American was made and we arranged to have the pistol shipped to Arizona for Robbie and his guys upon which to work their magic.  

Custom Upgrades

Having previously converted my original Gen2 GLOCK 23 to shoot 9mm with a drop-in barrel, I knew that would work for the G22 as well. Before shipping the pistol to Robbie, I made arrangements to get a conversion barrel from KKM Precision. KKM offers numerous aftermarket barrels for GLOCK pistols with fully supported chambers. I’ve used their barrels in the past and been impressed by the inherent accuracy and reliability they provided. For this particular project I ordered a G22 match conversion barrel chambered in 9x19mm.  

While in the shop, the Robar technicians took down the GLOCK 22 pistol and put their special touches on most every part. On the outside, you’ll have noted that work was done on both the slide and frame. Regarding the slide, Robar machined forward cocking serrations on both sides (that wasn’t a thing back in the Gen3 days). At the front you’ll notice their “bullnose” procedure.  The squared slide face is trimmed down akin to what you’d find on the sub-compact G26. 

Robar was known as much for its metal treatments as it was for its gunsmithing. All the steel components of the pistol — slide, slide lock, takedown — were coated with Robar’s NP3 finish. The NP3 has a duct tape gray color and provides tremendous corrosion resistance. The finish isn’t a surface coating that can be scratched off. NP3 penetrates the steel giving it a finish that’s tough as hippopotamus hide while at the same time being self-lubricating. Dirt and carbon simply wipe off of NP3 surfaces.

On the polymer frame, Robar conducted a number of operations. One of the most striking was the fabrication of a beavertail tang where there was none. Both the front and back straps were reduced and textured. The triggerguard hook was removed and the outside textured.

During the process of reducing the back strap the hole in the back of the frame was filled. The stock trigger components were removed and expertly “polished up” and reinstalled by Robbie’s master gunsmith. Also, while the gun was in Phoenix, I had them install a set of tritium sights to replace the original plastic factory sights. All of this work was accomplished back in 2009 and the pistol remains the same save for new Night Fision Accur8 tritium sights that I installed myself a couple of years ago.

Shooting It Today

I often find myself shooting the latest guns and the older ones tend to be neglected. Last summer I pulled the Robar custom G22 out of the safe and was reminded of not only how good the gun feels, but how well it shoots. From a distance of ten yards, the KKM barrel will put rounds in a ragged cluster on demand. The trigger, having had a requisite 500 Round Trigger Job (and more) is crisp and well broken in. 

For my range time I loaded up a can of ammo with a bunch of Black Hills Honeybadger, my go-to defensive load. My pal at XTech Tactical sent me a couple of their G17 magazines to try out last summer and I’ve been working with them since. These mags have what they refer to as an “extra power” spring. A GLOCK mag loading tool is good to have to coax the last few rounds in there. Having just checked their website, I see that XTech is now offering their own loading tool. Good for them. 

For my range trip, I looked in my box of holsters and found a Blade-Tech G17 version done in a limited edition “denim” finish. For auld lang syne I took it to the range with all the other kit.I won’t bore you by telling you that the Robar GLOCK ran like a champ, but it did. 

Now that GLOCK is putting the most striking upgrades on their factory pistols in decades, it’s really not necessary to ship them off to a gun wizard like Robbie Barrkman. But, kids, that’s what we used to have to do. Consider yourselves fortunate.   

 

Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.