Welcome to the Colorado AR-15 Shooters Club Discussion Forums.
Love my Glock, and trust it with my life. I wonder if I would have the same affinity for Glock if I had chosen the Beretta I carried in the service as my personal weapon... I'll never know. Either way I know my Glock is reliable at all times and easy to service when required. 9mm became the round of choice for a lot of reasons, but overall it was availability (well, it used to be!)
Gen 4 for me all the way, cause I have small hands and short thumbs. 9mm is one of the best rounds imo, but I am no one special.
Gen4 19 here. It is the only time Ive ever held a pistol and it just felt like enough gun. Its my fighting gun, the gun I choose when I know Im going to get in contact. My 1911 is just a new toy I picked up for $350 as a birthday present to myself.
I've tried to love Glocks, I've tried to hate Glocks. I've carried them on duty, as a CCW, shot them for fun, shot them in competition. I own 5 (17, 19, 22, 23, 21)...all Gen 2 versions with the exception of a Gen4 21.
I've come to the realization that Glock pistols in 9MM are probably the most practical gun for me all things considered. They (almost) always work under pretty much any condition I'll ever encounter. I don't have to be meticulous with maintenance or particular with ammo. Give it reasonable care and it will most likely function like it should. I've had Glocks that didn't work well and I've seen Glocks that didn't work well...but they were pretty few and far between.
I'm under no illusion that any handgun caliber I'm likely to use for defense is going to work like it should, when it should (if it does, that's a bonus!) but I think the 9MM will do pretty much anything any other caliber will do if I do my part. Then again, considering my lifestyle, the chances are pretty slim I'll ever need to fire my gun in a lethal encounter. I know it's possible and I prepare for it, but it's not likely...so caliber choice is really a non-issue for me. I like the 9MM because I can carry a lot of it in a little space, it's easy on the wallet compared to other common calibers, it's easy to control, it's easy to find and it performs just as well as any other common handgun caliber as best I can tell. On the off chance I need a part for a Glock, they're plentiful and easy to install. Even if I have to wait I can generally cannibalize another Glock (sometimes even from a different caliber) and get my 19 working again until I get what I need.
So, I don't love them, I don't hate them. I can't get "emotional" over them one way or the other. Glocks are just one of those guns that I view as a very effective tool that I know with near 100% certainty will work if I need it.
Now, as for 1911 pistols, if I had to give up all my handguns but one, I guarantee you the keeper would be a Colt 1911 in .45ACP. Unlike Glocks, 1911s (especially Colts) have a soul.
Stella - my best girl ever.
11/04/1994 - 12/23/2010
Don't wanna get shot by the police?
"Stop Resisting Arrest!"
The Glock 19 works for me, but just not as well as my old S&W 3913. The Glock is only slightly larger (height is the same, length is shy of 1/2" more, thickness is shy of 1/8" more) than the 3913 and really no harder to conceal.
Glock 19s and Glock 17s both seem to work, pretty much all the time and as others have said, they are easy to keep running and repair in the rare event of parts breakage.
Having made those observations, I still carry the 3913, despite the Glock's capacity advantage of seven rounds (16 vs 9). A friend who was just back from Afghanistan wanted to try a 'standards' marksmanship test someone had showed him - shoot three rounds into a 3" circle at varying distances and positions out to 25 yards. We both came pretty close with the Glocks, but I 'cleaned' it with my old 3913.
The Glock just never seems to 'blind point' reliably for me; everything is fine for five or six repetitions, then, for no apparent reason, the sights are not aligned. The little Smith is 100% for me, just about in the same class as the Single Action Army at eye level. As others have said, shot placement is everything - with the Glock, my shot placement is not quite as precise as it is with the 3913. I would probably carry the Glock 19 if the S&W 3913 did not exist...
Originally Posted by Bailey Guns
My take exactly on Glocks. I have them, I use them. But they have no soul, unlike the masterpiece by John Moses Browning!
Why breathe air? Or drink water? Jk
Sent from my PRC 117A in my Batmobile disguised as a sedan.
It's for some of the reasons you mentioned that I'm getting into buying glocks just now.
I carry a 26 off duty, bedroom 17, wife's office 17, work 17. I own a couple of other pistols too: 92fs, 22/45, and the first pistol I bought after I was old enough to buy one S&W 586 6" .357 magnum.
I would feel comfortable using any of them, except the .22, if needed.
The only one I have ever used to save my skin was the 92fs, and it worked as advertised.
"The Second Amendment was put in the first ten in order to protect the other nine"
Post Certified firearms instructor
Glock Armorer
Colt; M4, M16 and SMG armorer
Just resurrecting this old thread to throw in my 2 cents. I agree with about everything previously posted, from old steel guns having a soul, to Glocks being the hammers of the gun world. I have owned various Glocks over the years, and while I don't find them sexy like nearly all the 1911s, BHPs, and wheelguns I've owned, I think that lack of feeling is largely due to the subconscious connection all the hype has created for the "nostalgic" guns. Case in point: my CZ 75 SA has more in common with the nostalgic guns than it does with the Glock, but it is feels like much more of a tool to me too. Don't get me wrong, the CZ feels like Excalibur in my hand, but there is no emotional connection to it such that I show it off or fawn over it or anything. Same with the Glocks. I love them, I trust them, and they work. I even drool a bit over ones I don't own, like the G40 and G41. But I bet that when I buy one, it will just be a really nice hammer.
As as far as the 9mm issue, I have confidence in the round. However, I shoot the .40 as well, and pretty much as fast (at least in the Glock), and I think the 13 rounds in my G23 is sufficient. More importantly, I feel much more comfortable with 17 in a 9mm or 13-15 in a .40 than 8 in my 1911, that's for sure.
Lastly, I think that after years of punching stationary paper at 7 yards or 15 yards and making nice, tight groups with slow fire, I developed a belief that the 1911, CZ, B92, and Glock were all pretty much the same for me. Then, after using a dynamic target system that presents a target for a second or two at a time, I realized just how superior the Glock was for me over the 1911. I have yet to try other pistols head to head, but I now know that I can accurately dump a ton more lead in a couple seconds with the G23 than with the 1911. It was quite the eye-opener, though it seems so obvious to me now, given differences in sights.
All in all, I think I'd choose the hammer if the chips were down.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote