Why Glock?

Too much emphasis is being placed on Glocks Marketing. All companies market their products, ever see Sig and Kimber ads? They are everywhere.

After all these years it is not marketing that has caused Glocks success. This could never be so if the product was not of high quality.

Oh, and 1911's and Glocks go hand and hand at my range.

I don't own a Glock but I do remember about 8 or 9 years ago. My neighbor was working as a corrections officer & had started carrying when he was off duty. He carried a G-23. At the time I carried a XD-40. We hunted together some back then. We had talked guns. We were walking out of the woods & he pointed at a knot on a tree & told me to shoot at it. So I fired 5 rounds from somewhere between 15 & 20 yards from my XD. The he fired 5 rounds from his G-23. I had shot a better group than him. Then he offered to let me shoot his 23. I proceeded to shoot a better group with it than I had with the XD I had owned a couple of years & had a couple thousand rounds through. It ruined the XD for me although I kept it a long time after. When I replaced the XD I went with a M&P 2.0 but the biggest reason I did was the price difference between a new M&P and a new Glock. Love them or hate them Glocks tend to work.

I thought it was the precursor to the Gen5 that was in the military trials? The 19x is a copy of that firearm.

I not much impressed by what gun wins handgun military trials. I'm more impressed by what handgun wins Federal, Border Patrol and Police trials as the handgun is the primary weapon for all these groups. Here Glock is predominate.

Labguy47 said:

Starting in the early 80s Glock gen 1 became the primary sidearm of a lot of police services. In ‘88 gen 2 came out characterized by front and back checkering. In ‘98 gen 3 with an accessory rail came out. 2010 gen 4 came out with even more frame upgrades. 2017 gen 5, new ergos and non interchangeable parts. It was the gen 4 that competed for military contracts, but lost to Sig.

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vba said:

I thought it was the precursor to the Gen5 that was in the military trials? The 19x is a copy of that firearm..

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Like the ergos enhanced gen 5 the 19x is a slimmed and shortened 19 top on a full sized 17 frame with an accurized barrel. I liked to lump it in with the 4s as that’s what was being produced during that generation. Technically it was a rough draft of the 5.

I’m an FNH fan not Glock koolaid drinker.

Jeb Stuart said:

While Gocks are great guns, there are many other great guns out there. What I do think is that Glocks are also the most over rated and over exaggerated firearm in history. I also see more phony statistics or hand picked statistics about them than any other firearm.And the statistics are something I could care less about. I will let CNN be the champion of Satistics. Claims about the firearm while many are true, many also are over the top. Glock owners act as if they do not buy a Glock they will never find a part again. Sometimes it just gets ridiculous. There is a reason NOT everybody wants to buy a Glock. I know that is hard to understand to a Glock fan, but most of us that do not own a Glock is for a reason, because we preferred another gun.
Yes, Glocks are fine firearms, but certainly not the best or at least not the best to all the other millions of gun owners that do not want one and own other fine firearms. And I mean Millions.
And this does not mean I will never buy one. It means, I will do a comparison and buy what I think is the best. As of yet, that has not happened.
I have the highest respect the the Glock and the owners. But in America we have choices and I respect that more than any other thing.

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Damn dude you really got your undies in a bundle over this

I've owned about half a dozen glocks over the last 10 or so years. I had my spirits down a lil about them a while back when they started spitting brass out erratically and found that without the mag in my brass would tumble down the mag chute...

I have too much invested in mags and experience to turn them away and try to find something else at this point and while it's frustrating to deal with a problem I never knew they had they have always gone bang and I will always be a glock guy. Same as 1911, SIG and revolver guys, once you find something that checks all your boxes and you come to trust it it's hard to change your ways.....

DustyGmt said:

I've owned about half a dozen glocks over the last 10 or so years. I had my spirits down a lil about them a while back when they started spitting brass out erratically and found that without the mag in my brass would tumble down the mag chute...

I have too much invested in mags and experience to turn them away and try to find something else at this point and while it's frustrating to deal with a problem I never knew they had they have always gone bang and I will always be a glock guy. Same as 1911, SIG and revolver guys, once you find something that checks all your boxes and you come to trust it it's hard to change your ways.....

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Have you stripped the slide and given it a good cleaning?

I actually did but have not been to the range to see if it fixed the problem. I've had people suggest non OEM extractors and such but it's weird that I kind of trust a glock OEM part that isn't working properly than a non OEM part that does....

I strip the slides of the couple of Glocks I shoot on a weekly basis, two or three times a year, and they are usually pretty filthy when I do.

Back a few years ago, when a lot of people were bitchng about BTF and extraction/ejection problems, I was starting to have some random issues with my one 17, so figuring that the extractor was the issue, like everyone was saying, I swapped out the extractor for a new one. Didnt seem to help, and I kept having the same issues.

What I did notice though, was the gun ran fine with factory new ammo, but when I was shooting my reloads, the problems popped up again. What it ended up being was, when I cycled through the older lots of brass in the queue, that brass was worn out (I shoot my brass to failure), and the rims were tore up from comnstant extraction, and the extractor wasnt always getting a good purchase on some of the cases. Switch back to factory, use the lots with newer brass in them, and everything ran fine.

I ended up swapping the first extractor back, and it was fine until they just rebuilt the gun.

If you shoot a lot of reloads, you may want to keep that in mind. Im cycling through around 7000-8000 rounds of reloads on a constant basis, and see all sorts of random malfunctions when I shoot in practice. Sometimes Ill get a lot, sometimes, none at all. And while it might seem to be a PITA, its actually great practice for unexpected and random failure drills. You dont have to set them up, and you never know when one will pop up. Its a lot more realistic.

Glocks have been massive for 30years the polymer 80 builds have expanded on that

You read that the Glock grips don’t fit a lot of hands very well, the grip angle isn’t as good as a “fill in the blank”, they have no soul, spirit, character, etc., etc. All true, particularly in the hands of a casual shooter.

But for an experienced shooter the darn things just work and keep working. Whether straight out of the box or with one of the many excellent aftermarket sight, trigger, holster, etc., etc. packages that are out there on the market. Most of the good defensive shooters I know have at least a few, there’s no doubt about that.

vba said:

not much impressed by what gun wins handgun military trials. I'm more impressed by what handgun wins Federal, Border Patrol and Police trials as the handgun is the primary weapon for all these groups.

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Why? it all comes down to the bean counters in the end.

"Glock everywhere" happened in the last year or so? Not even close.

While I do not own a Glock, here is what I do like;
Kiss-Keep it simple.
Simplicity- fewer parts
Strictly business- There is much to be said for a gun that is "Utilitarian". They are uniform, work like a solid group as in a military unit.
Buy one gun for lifetime. I think many new and Younger shooters would do well to buy a Glock. It is a gun that if you trained with just one gun, you could get very good with it. (one with the gun). A younger person would not have to put out much money as the years go on. Recoil springs, etc, but not much else. He could do after market parts as time went on. So cost effective in the long run.
And as one poster pointed out, the mags are cheap in cost.
If the gun does go down, there should be many close buy that can work on the gun. Or most you could learn to do yourself.

Bu to be fair, I would also advise any new shooter, to be sure the gun is right for them. Handle the gun, shoot the gun. A low bore axis is not for everyone. That said, it may be right up your alley. Try some other guns. You may find they shoot nicer, etc.
But as a package, you cannot go wrong with a Glock.
I think Bannocburn gave a great post, in that he bought a Glock some 30 years ago and still running strong.

DustyGmt said:

I actually did but have not been to the range to see if it fixed the problem. I've had people suggest non OEM extractors and such but it's weird that I kind of trust a glock OEM part that isn't working properly than a non OEM part that does....

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Spring kits are relatively cheap and required maintenance on most striker fired pistols.

Labguy47 said:

Like the ergos enhanced gen 5 the 19x is a slimmed and shortened 19 top on a full sized 17 frame with an accurized barrel. I liked to lump it in with the 4s as that’s what was being produced during that generation. Technically it was a rough draft of the 5.

I’m an FNH fan not Glock koolaid drinker.

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I would have to say that you’ve got a few things wrong.
The slide of the 19X is the same size as the 19 in length and width. What they did no the Gen 5 was round the corners of the slide. More so on the front then the rear.
The barrels were changed on the Gen 4 Glocks and mark different from the First 3 Gens.
The barrels were changed again with the G42 & G43.
All Gen 5 guns have the new Marksman barrel. And the 19X is a Gen 5.
The Striker on the 42, 43 and Gen 5 guns are also different then other Glocks.

From left to right:
G45, 19 Gen 3, 19X and an after market Gen 3 Swenson. Sorry, don’t have a Gen 4.


There are also a few changes to the inside of the slides


I’ve also heard a lot of people say that the G45 is just a 19X in black, but this is not spot on. In this pic, look at the shoulder opposite of the extractor. There’s a small cut on the G45. The G45 is the only Glock with this cut as of now. It helps to hold the cartridge in place when the slide is pulled to the rear. To eject a cartridge the slide has to be pulled a little harder to the rear.


Now do I like Glocks? Hell yes. I have trusted my life with them for almost 17 years , but I also like other guns too. Sorry, no room for the revolvers.

If you’re one of those guys that tried out one of the first three Gen’s of Glocks and didn’t care for them, you should try out a Gen 4 or 5. You might find that you like the changes.

GunnyUSMC said:

The barrels were changed on the Gen 4 Glocks and mark different from the First 3 Gens.

All Gen 5 guns have the new Marksman barrel.

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I'm aware of the Marksman barrel in the Gen 5, but what was the barrel change between the Gen 3 and Gen 4?

I like Glocks, they just don't like me. My first CCW was a G23.4, and to date that's still my overall favorite Glock of all time. The problem is the mdsize framed Glocks give me terrible, unavoidable Glock knuckle. For some reason the larger frames like the G20/21 don't affect me as much. Grip angle doesn't bother me one way or the other, I'm not some tactical operator who trains daily so the nuances aren't that big of an issue; I adjust. I shoot Glocks relatively well, but they rub me the wrong way, literally.

GunnyUSMC said:

The G45 is the only Glock with this cut as of now.

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Gunny, my 43X also has the little groove. That gun throws brass farther than any Glock I have ever had before. I would assume that we will see the little groove on all Glocks before long.

To address all the guys that say "it just doesn't fit my hand right". It doesn't fit my hand perfectly either, and I just couldn't care less. I don't think your EDC needs to fit your hand like a glove for you to be proficient and deadly with it. I see alot of emphasis on grip in the gun stores when people are setting themselves or their wives up with a gun and I see alot of people buy garbage over real deal guns for the "comfy cushion grip"...

Trunk Monkey said:

And finally it pisses the Glock haters off to no end.

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Why is it that if a person does not prefer a Glock, the Glock fans call them haters? You do not hear this term with any other models or their owners. It is unique to the Glock owners. And dare forbid anyone to not prefer one. Because they will surely be called a hater. I wonder if folks that actually do not care for a Glock, and really think nothing of them one way or the other, but just actually disdain many Glock owners more than the actual firearm? I read your post and you bash one Manufacturer, then in the same breath, call out nonsense like Glock Haters.
I doubt anyone really Hates a Firearm. Most just do not think about one or buy one. I think you like the thought of millions of people sitting around all day just hating Glocks. No, my friend, no one hates Glocks. You might actually enjoy life more without that thought constantly in your head.

Jeb Stuart said:

Why is it that if a person does not prefer a Glock, the Glock fans call them haters? You do not hear this term with any other models or their owners. It is unique to the Glock owners. And dare forbid anyone to not prefer one. Because they will surely be called a hater. I wonder if folks that actually do not care for a Glock, and really think nothing of them one way or the other, but just actually disdain many Glock owners more than the actual firearm? I read your post and you bash one Manufacturer, then in the same breath, call out nonsense like Glock Haters.
I doubt anyone really Hates a Firearm. Most just do not think about one or buy one. I think you like the thought of millions of people sitting around all day just hating Glocks. No, my friend, no one hates Glocks. You might actually enjoy life more without that thought constantly in your head.

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You know his name was J. E. B. Stuart right?

Now that's an oft parroted remark. Doesn't make it true or false. Let's say it's true that it all comes down to "bean counters", are Glocks the cheapest solution out there? If not, the Police, Federal and Military would be issuing Taurus and Ruger's among others.

tarosean said:

Why? it all comes down to the bean counters in the end.

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Jeb Stuart said:

Why is it that if a person does not prefer a Glock, the Glock fans call them haters? You do not hear this term with any other models or their owners. It is unique to the Glock owners. And dare forbid anyone to not prefer one. Because they will surely be called a hater.

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I believe there was a lot of angst between 1911 purest and Glock fans. Then it was the BHP / H&K all steel vs combat plastic. I was all for Glock, I bought one. After my accident I found FNH and haven’t been disappointed since.