Has anyone had any experience with the Desert Sand finish on the Gen-4 Glocks.

I have a chance to pick one up, and I was wondering how they wear?

Thanks,

Understand that it's not a factory slide finish. It's just Cerakote/Duracote that was added by a distributor, retailer, or previous owner. It will show wear with use and holstering. But underneath, it still has the standard Glock finish, so the slide remains protected even if the coloring is worn.

The durability of these types of coloree coatings varies, based on what coating was used and how well it was applied.

I have a Full FDE G21 Gen 4, which was a limited run made by Lipseys (one of the major gun distributors) a few years ago. They bought FDE-framed Glocks from the factory, then had the slides Duracoted to match. The Duracote job is very well done, but it's still less durable than the standard Glock finish. It hasn't seen much holstering, but the Durakote FDE finish is already thinning on the corners of the slide.

The only Glocks to come from the factory with a non-black slide finish are the brand new G19Xs with their tan nPVD finish.

What I have noticed:
MOST of the time, if the serial number plate is bare metal, the frame was injection molded that color. If the s/n plate is the same color as the frame, it was done aftermarket.

Was it Lipsey’s that I saw that got different colored frames straight from Glock?
Or Great Southwest?
And most other distributors had them cerakoted aftermarket?

Correct. There have been various colors of frames available from the factory, including a few shades of green, FDE, and gray. But no factory colored slides, until the G19X.

Any Glock can have its slide or frame coated to be a different color. The tip about looking to see whether the serial number plate is shiny or coated is a good way to tell if the colored frame is factory or just coated.

The sand color ones were acusport exclusives. They would send black guns to a cerakote finisher, who would paint them.

I have a G43 in the sand coating, the slide is holding up very well, there is some black showing on the frame where my Kydex is tight on the trigger guard.

I went with a Gen 5 G19 instead of the sand Gen 4, and the traditional black finish.

Thanks for the replies.