I dont wish to whack a hornets nest, but I am interested in the opinions of those who have Daggers (any) and have put together a P80. A comparison of the finished P80 of course. Full-size, compact, no matter. I want to determine if my conclusions are similar to others. I won’t give that away until others weigh in.
I am not trying troll or bait anybody here. I genuinely want to hear objective opinions.
I have both in compact . love em but not sure about finger bump on dagger.I may remove it.
I also have a micro slide on a single stack poly 80 frame
That I really like it shoots amazing and is a nice size to conceal.
Grips are always so subjective! I like the bump. Then again, I liked the Glock finger bumps. But it wasn’t a major crisis for me when they went away w/Gen 5. I only have one G5 and I’m comfortable with it.
I have a couple of each and all compacts. I shoot the 80 better, and easier.Grip angle I assume works better for me personally. However I much prefer the grip of the dagger though. Feels far better in hand. But once MD banned 80’s especially for carrying, I parked them and spent all range time from that moment forth, with the dagger to really improve myself with it since it was going to be my carry piece.
Having held a P80, I like it’s aggressive texture more, like the actual hand feel of the Dagger WAY more though. Grip shape.
I have however put together an 80% Arms GST9. The Gen 1. It sucked. First one had a jig issue and the locking block had a bad burr on it (easily fixed by me but they also sent an entirely new frame, jig, and locking block. I later repaired the old one by jb welding the holes I made back up, redoing with the correct straight jig.) I had also waited over a year to get my Od version, I called and they said it would be another year, I asked them to just send me a FDE one instead.
I then proceeded to at the time, follow the online con artists hype of recommending Rockslide USA. I have spent more on that gun that I did on a base Dagger, but only one of them works properly. The Rockslide wasn’t heat treated right and the connector was actually wearing a groove into the cam in the slide, making the connector effectively get bent inward more as the cam went farther away and prevented resetting properly, and the trigger pull would get heavier and heavier with each shot until it would refuse to fire at all.
Got another slide from them after arguing that their lifetime warranty should not require me to pay for shipping to them, since THEY screwed up. They sent another. Underside of slide where striker sat was bent DOWNWARD into the trigger group area. I had to file and lightly hammer that bit flat so it wouldn’t catch, then clean the inside so the striker sleeve wouldn’t get gouged. Same issue with the connector cam groove wearing through the slide. The slide catch notches also wore really fast too.
Argued again that their slide was junk and I would not pay for return shipping for a product they messed up twice. They never agreed, and I honestly threw the slide in the trash before they got back to me with their answer anyway. Threw the barrel out too. It survived a few hundred but at that point I didn’t trust anything they made except the optic cover plate.
The frame itself also sucked. Didn’t fit together tightly like it should, with big, easily felt gaps between the grip piece that you attach and the frame itself. Didn’t take modified trigger shoes very well, and the worst part is the locking block/pins/slide stop interaction. It’s a single trigger pin, no other pin in the locking block, so nothing for the slide stop spring to rest on properly. The locking block shape and it being farther away meant that during firing your slide stop spring could slip under the locking block, making your gun lock open every shot.
Now completing the frame, bad batch of internal parts and jig issue excused, was really easy and fun to work on.
I have heard and seen actual P80’s working way better, so I’d stick with those for a DIY build. Or the Strike Industries frame, from what I hear they are similar in feel and style to the premade SCT-9 frame, which I do want but I already love the Dagger too much.
I have since retired the two GST frames and used all the stuff inside as spare parts.
I have one GST-9 and had no troubles with it. I put a Dagger slide on it. Compared to the P80, which also has a Dagger slide, I like the GST-9 grip but I shoot the P80 slightly better. A previous post said something similar. I could probably correct this by shooting the GST-9 more. The P80 definitely has a much higher round count. Quality-wise, I thought the 80% Arms jig was superior to the P80.
My Dagger on the other hand… I love the grip. I shoot well with it. As good as the P80. It’s definitely become my favorite.
I was super careful in preparing my two 80% frames (GST-9 and PF940C) and they worked fine without any major tweaking, but I cant get over the ‘homemade’ look of them internally. I made clean cuts and everything was sanded nice and smooth, but it’s just not factory-perfect. I’m a little OCD I guess.
The Dagger feels more substantial and solid in my hand. I also spent less on the Dagger than sourcing all the parts for the GST-9 and P80. There’s nothing cheap about building your own. Overall I think the Dagger is better value. It’s worth mentioning that P80 took forever to ship. Not the case with PSA or 80% Arms. I’d give them both high marks in that department. I had to pester P80 to get updates on when they would ship. It took weeks. This was after the reprieve they got on the flap with the ATF so I dont know what the issue was. I tried to be understanding/patient.
I had issues with p80 frame parts kits a few times. Then I Piece mealed oem Glock parts as I found them in stock, in that first p80 frame. Once all was I nstalled it was nothing but reliable. So the 2nd and 3rd p80’s were done from the get go with oem Glock frame parts. I wanted functional, and it worked. The 3rd p80 I did, has a dagger slide assembly. Things hadn’t quite cooled off post covid, and I couldn’t find any slides anywhere, til I saw them on the PSA site. That was the first taste of a dagger. Then my LGS had a complete dagger c on the shelf. Asked to see it and fell in love with the grip immediately.
I didnt have any troubles with the P80. But I have read about a lot of reliability issues. I used OEM Glock parts in the frame, as was recommended. Some people are better with tools and doing precise work than others so I guess you have to factor that in. But some people I know that are very skilled said they had problems with P80s. Especially the trigger.
Still, I dont consider 80% anything to rise to the level of reliability you get with a factory made pistol. My EDC is a P365. I’ve been super happy with the Sig. I just bought a Dagger Micro. I’m going to give that a shot at being in my EDC rotation. It’s arriving tomorrow.
The newer Mod-1 of the GST-9 may have fixed the non user error problems I encountered with it, not sure. But they won’t offer a free upgrade nor do I want one at this point. The locking block/slide stop interaction is a big flaw with it. I know they tightened up the grip insert gaps.
Speaking of rails/locking blocks… I spent the money to get Rook rails for the P80. Way better than the MIM locking block and stamped rear rails that come with the frame. It’s like night and day improvement quality-wise. The slide runs like butter. I also put in the no-walk fancy pins from Rook. Some range friends with P80s have said it positively improves the gun.
I’d like to upgrade the pins on my Dagger but the singular roll pin makes doing them all a bit of a challenge. I cant find a pin that size. I could just leave the roll pin alone but like I said I’m a little OCD. If I cant upgrade them all I’ll just leave it as-is. A cosmetic change that doesn’t improve a thing. So it’s no big deal.
Second spammer gone…
I have a question: Years ago, I built a G23 and G19 clones using P80 frames ( and build kit) along with G23 slide and some clone slide for the G19… Both P80 build kits were identical, (could swap G23 and G19 w/o an issue)… Does the Dagger Compact accept a G23 slide, and will it accept G23 mags?
(Sometimes there are differences in ejectors with some build kits)… 40S&W vs 9mm…
I have both. As much as I love my P80s, I have to admit that the Dagger feels better in the hand. The contours are more comfortable and ergonomic than the blockier P80. That said, I don’t know if you can get ahold of P80 frames anymore; they went under a few months ago, right?
Now that’s a good question. I would think it does. The exterior dimensions between the 19 & 23 are pretty much identical; it’s the barrel width that is larger. G22s and G23s have been easily converted into G17s and G19s with just a barrel and magazine swap.
The P80 frame is a turd internally compared to the complete assembled Dagger frame. The fitments for the front and rear rails on the P80 was a ■■■■■ to get right when done DIY. And even when I purchased the serialized P80 frame and the rails and locking block were already installed by the factory, my OEM Glock slides would not work smoothly on the p80 frame. (BTW, buying the serialized frame from the P80 factory, did not include any frame internals - just the frame and the rails and locking block- SURPRISE!!!).
I never liked the grip of the p80. Prior to the dagger frame i never liked the glock angle. I broke my wrist in college and it just isnt comfy to shoot.
Like you, I like my P-80 G23 and G19 builds, I screwed up my G43 build, the frame just is not a reliable shooter, so I am looking at the Micro Dagger frame to use with my G43 slide…any thoughts?
What is the issue with the p80 frame? Maybe We can help figure out the problem.
I would get a micro if I did not trust the p80.
I have had 100% reliability with the p80 frame thats why I have not gotten a micro… yet
I have also had great reliability with both of my P-80 Compacts (G23 and G19) and continue to use them without problems. I think that my problem with the G43 P-80 frame came from poor alignment of the pinholes… I am not sure, but it was difficult to assemble, and I had to wrangle it together, and as such the slide and frame assembly never seemed to work properly… I was frustrated and put them all in my “parts” box, where they sit… Seeing the Micro Dagger, and its’ ability to use G43 parts, etc, gave me the idea to resurrect the old project and pick up a micro dagger frame, and get some use of the G-43 slide…
I usually carry my S&W Shield, as my edc… and probably won’t trust the P-80 G43 frame, now that I have screwed around with it so much… The Micro Dagger frame, seems like a solid way to go as it gives me reliability, as well as a 15 rd capacity when I am not in California visiting family…(Shield still works for me in California and other 10 round capacity States…),
I will pull out the P80 G43 frame and take some pictures though…look for another post in about two weeks…Thanks Again for your help!