My G-32 is the only Glock I own, and I've never managed to shoot any of the others, so my opinion is a bit subjective.
That being said, I do have 20-ish different handguns in all sorts of calbers all the way up to .50 A.E. in repeaters, and some rifle-caliber single-shots, so I can claim wide experience in recoil.
So: G-32's do NOT have brutal recoil by any stretch of the imagination. My 32 is actually one of my favorite shooters. I find that it has a very balanced power-to-weight ratio. It could best be described as "snappy". That tranlates into fast movement, but it doesn't pound on your hand. It's faster than a .45 1911, for instance, but it doesn't push back as hard. I find that the balance of the 32 settles the gun back in your grip after the recoil/reload cycle very nicely, which makes for a fast next shot. It definitely does not require any kind of crushing grip to achieve this, which I find conducive to accuracy.
Mind you, the .357 Sig is no popgun caliber. You certainly know you have a high-performance round going off, but in the G-32 it seems to "fit" the gun's balance and my grip exceptionally well. I often find that 9mm guns seem to be sort of "wiggly", like the 9mm recoil impulse is not enough to bounce the gun against the tension of my grip solidly. I've read that some people can do rapid-fire excersizes with .45 caliber 1911's faster and smoother than equivalent 9mm-chambered guns for just this reason. I have a bull-barreled Colt .22 Auto that displays this characteristic. I just can't seem to find a rythm or timing with this gun that works for repeat fire. I have to re-acquire the sights after every shot, where-as with my G-32, the sights return to a lined-up position without any effort after each shot.
I have a couple of other guns that have that kind of "magic" balance. A S&W 1066 in 10mm with a 4 1/4" barrel. A S&W .$44 magnum Mountain Gun (A tapered barrel 629.) with factory 240-grain loads running at 1250 fps. Both of these guns drop right back into place by themselves, almost. I canNOT say the same for 5" .45 1911's or heavy-barreled 629's. None of my medium-caliber blowback autos do this either. By the time they stop bouncing around from the recoil and slide movement cycle, they're always pointed some slightly odd direction and have to corrected for next shot. I've read about other folks saying they found the same phenomenon happening with 4 1/4" vs. 5" .45's, although some folks really like the way the 5" guns shoot, so it's a bit subjective and influenced by a bunch of variables.
Magic balance turns up in odd places, sometimes. I have an AMT Automag III, chambered in .30 carbine. This is a 1911-sized gun with a 6 1/2" barrel, with an appropriately extended slide. Chambered in a rifle round, this gun displays a lot of obvious power when shot, and pushes back with a defnite shove. But when it stops jumping around, which can be felt as it happens due to the gun's mass and long action-throw, it's neatly pointed right back on target.
That's what I find happening with my Glock 32. When all the shouting stops. it's pointed right where you want it. Without trying, almost. It's like magic. That makes it a favorite shooter, and I can never have enough ammo for it
I wish all my guns did that...
