I know that if you make an ar15 from a 80% lower you must make it with a heavy barrel  of now you would be making a banned assault rifle.

What is MD law for building a pistol ? I see some 80% lowers for glock 17, glock 19 and 1911 pistol.

You can build a pistol for personal use, legally. I just ordered another frame for a G-17 and have a lower ready to turn into a .300 Blackout pistol soon. I did a G-17 last year and want the newer frame for the next build.

Maryland is totally without logic on the gun laws. It is illegal to buy an AK-47 rifle in any form unless it is a pre-ban rifle but it is fine to buy or build an AK-47 pistol! This is on my list of future builds:)

How hard was the G17 to do?

It was really very easy and it required milling the rear rails. The new version has drop in rails for both the front and rear making it even easier. A hand drill and a Dremel tool is all you need. The rest is just putting parts in.

You can always build an 80% AR pistol.

Who do you recommend for the Glock builds?  I'm thinking of doing a nightstand build...

Regards

I suggest you do a version 2, Polymer80 Glock 17. Parts are easy enough to find at a reasonable price. It also has a much better shape for your hand and is available with or without factory stippling. I just completed my second Polymer80 and the version 2 is much nicer.

I also suggest using a drill press to drill the holes in the sides of the frame to insure they will line up. Just lay the jig on it's side, hold it down with slight pressure but allow it to center itself before lowering the drill bits. Do not drill too far into the frame! Just enough to go through one side! Most problems with P80 builds will be due to misalignment of these holes!

The first one I did was a version 1.5 and the grip was terrible for my hand. I did a major grip and magwell reduction on it and now it is very comfortable to shoot and feels perfect in my hand. Since my hands are too shakey to do a decent stippling job, I have elected to cut a piece of 1.75" diameter bicycle tube and slip it over the grip. This gives me the feel of a rubber grip which was needed since the grip on my first build is now very smooth all around the it's  circumference.

The price difference when on sale is around $60 between the frames. In my opinion the new version is worth the extra bucks unless you have very large hands. The squareness of the v1.5 makes it quite uncomfortable to shoot without modifications. I shot mine before deciding to do the grip reduction. The difference when shooting it now is quite noticeable and I can shoot it all day without discomfort in the joints of my thumb and forefinger.