Tag Archives: G19

Ye Olde Glock Refresh Project

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After a decade rocking a bone stock third generation Glock 19– finger grooves and all– I thought it was time to give the gun a little upgrade.

As covered in previous articles the Gen 3 G19 is probably one of the most popular compact(ish) 9mm pistols ever made and I’ve been carrying the same one off and on since at least 2012.

Sure, sure, the pistol had been released as far back as 1998 and I was late to the party, but I still got in the door during the model’s heyday. Although surpassed generationally by the Gen4 and Gen5 variants, the Gen3 remains in production likely due to a combination of the fact that it is still on California’s roster and folks just dig it. After all, it is “old reliable” in the 9 milly game– akin to a Toyota Tundra– with about the worst thing people can say about the Glock compact it is that it is boring or that it carries a lackluster trigger and sights.

About that.

I recently decided the time was right to refresh my old Gen3 G19 as it had passed its (still very young) 15K mark. This meant a teardown and swap out of all the small springs (firing pin spring, extractor depressor spring, mag catch spring, trigger spring, slide lock spring, and slide stop lever spring) just to be sure it would keep going bang for at least another 15K. This was the next level up from my normal post-range cleaning and swapping out a new recoil spring every 3K rounds or so. For the record, I always just went with the same old OEM Glock parts.

Then I thought to myself, how about some new sights, and maybe a barrel, and maybe a trigger…

The differences are subtle to the overall aesthetics, but ring true when you start her up

More in my column at Guns.com.

Ye Olde Glock: Obsolete or Not?

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Back around 2012, my carry choice was a SIG Sauer P229R, a 13+1, a platform that I had lots of experience with as I carried one and instructed others on it in my “day job” as a contractor with the Dept. of Homeland Security. While I owned Glocks already, they were in .45 GAP and .40S&W (hey, it was 2012).

Downshifting to the more compact G19 in 9mm, I picked up a brand new Gen 3 model and found it easy and even fun to shoot. Soon, it was my everyday carry. The reason was obvious. While roughly the same length and height as a Glock 19, a P229 loaded with 14 rounds of 147-grain JHPs hits my kitchen scales at 37 ounces. The G19, with 16 rounds loaded, weighs 31 ounces. Plus, with the striker-fired action, there was no need for working a decocker or the hassle of a hammer catching on clothing. The Glock was point-and-shoot while at the same time being more snag-free.

Fast forward a decade and the question is: is it still a valid carry gun? The answer may surprise.

If you don’t care about a red dot-equipped pistol or fingergrooves, the Gen 3 G19 still stacks up despite being a lot older. Not bad for a pistol introduced the same year the Beastie Boys released Intergalactic.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Turns Out, People Like Pistols

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Out of the thousands of firearms that Guns.com sold this year, the most popular category was for semi-auto handguns, which is not surprising as that category has consistently seen the highest production numbers by the domestic firearms industry for the past several years.

Want to take a guess at the top 10?

Spoiler alert: it includes a single Taurus and Ruger, two Sig Sauers, two S&Ws, and four Glocks…

Proven handguns for tough times

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While your best and most effective bet in the majority of hairy self-defense scenarios (barring something laser-guided or belt-fed) is a rifle– preferably a few different ones in a range of calibers– in a pinch a handgun is better than verbal judo, a pointy stick, or the lid off a can of sardines. With that in mind, I made a list centered on pistols and revolvers that are 1) modern, 2) accept common ammunition, 3) have spare parts that are readily available, 4) proven, 5) are simple to manipulate, and 6) easy to maintain.

Sure, each of these has their haters, but most importantly each type has a huge crowd of fans and users that have kept them in regular production for decades.

More in my column at Guns.com

Looking for a deal on LE trade in tactical Tupperware?

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Police trade-in guns are often a good deal. Carried often, they have cosmetic issues such as a worn finish and grips. Cleaned infrequently, they often have crud build-up in nooks and crannies such as the takedown lever and sight grooves. However, these guns often only got taken to the range infrequently– even departments that are very conscious of training and stay on top of qualifications only shoot 3-4 times a year, running about 50 rounds during each event. This means that, while a police-issue handgun after a decade of use (during which it was probably only issued for something like 2/3rds of that time) may look gnarly, it probably is a low mileage gun with well under 5,000 rounds through it.

I’ve collected several police surplus firearms over the years including a former California Highway Patrol S&W .40, ex-Italian Carabinieri Beretta 92S, a Policía Metropolitana de Buenos Aires-marked Ballister Molina .45, and a former Spanish Guardia Civil Star BM– and they all shoot great.

My 1970s Italian police Beretta 92S runs great– but I made sure to change out all the springs when I got it just in case. Don’t knock LE surplus guns

With all this being said, Big Tex Outdoors has a deal on LE trade-in Glock 22 (40S&W) and G19 (9mm) models. Both of these third-gen guns come with 3 mags and night sights for a decent price ($300s).

The G19s seem to all have come from the Asheville (NC) Police department. Don’t ask me how I can tell…

I spent a month in Asheville one week back when I worked as a trainer for AT&T

No word where the .40s came from.

Anyway, just passing on the deal. 

FBI down-selects to 9mm, keeps Glockin’

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female glock 2

Pretty much the whole reason we have the .40S&W round is due to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the 1986 Miami Shootout. Well back in 2014, I looked at the FBI’s potential $85 million DOJ contract solicitation for a new handgun and called it for Glock.

The contract calls for a family of guns in four classes.

The guns are in four types:

* Class One Pistol: barrel length between 3.75″ and 4.25″; with a minimum magazine capacity of 13 rounds.
* Class Two Pistol: barrel length between 4.5″ and 5.5″; with a minimum magazine capacity of 15 rounds.
* Class One Training Pistol (Red Handle): deactivated with full articulation, red receiver and slide, night sights.
* Class One “Man Marking” (a.k.a., “Simunitions”) pistol: blue slide or slide with blue inserts.

As you look at the above and think of specs, it seems that the required guns are almost custom-written from Glock’s catalog. The Glock 19, with its 4.01-inch barrel and 15-round standard magazine capacity would seem to fit the bill for the Class One Pistol nicely. The Glock 34, the company’s “Practical/Tactical” 9mm, with its 5.31-inch barrel and 17 shot magazine would seem a close fit for the Class Two Pistol. This could also be met very closely by the G17.

Not all agreed with me– with many gun writers calling it for SIG, Smith or even FN– but in the end it seems that, with the award last week posted by the GSA, Glock it will be.

Is the FBI Going Glock 9 milly?

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Pretty much the whole reason we have the .40S&W round is due to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Now, after two decades of flirting with that caliber (while still seeing the .45ACP on the side), the Bureau has a wandering eye to go back to something from its 9mm past– and it looks like it may be tilted to Glock.

FBI_Badge_&_gun glock

On April 11, 1986, pair of hardleg bank robbers, William Matix and Michael Platt, were cornered by a team of eight FBI agents in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade. Military vets, both Matix and Platt knew how to use their hardware and to one degree or another had the G-men outgunned. The resulting epic shootout left the two bad guys dead, but sadly seven of the eight FBI agents were hit in the process– two of them fatally. The lawmen carried 9mm pistols (S&W Model 459s) as well as several variants of .38 special revolvers and a shotgun. The two bad guys were shot more than 18 times before they went down for the hard goodbye.

This bad day in Miami led the Bureau to rethink its weaponry. Soon they started calling for more powerful guns, which led to a brief fling with the 10mm Auto in the late 80s in the long-framed S&W Model 1076. This round, a little too stout for everyday use and hard on small-framed officers, was downloaded to the same size (but ballistically weaker) .40S&W load in the 1990s—, which was specifically marketed to the FBI first, who immediately began testing the round.

In 1997, the Bureau went all-Glock with the 2nd Generation Model 22/23 and New Agent Class 98-1 in October of 1997 was the first issued with the new guns. With the exception of HRT and Special Weapons guys who carry about anything they want to, most of the agency has been carrying issued-Glocks for over two decades. Since then the FB of I has been on team 40 Glock, with the 22/23 being issued, and agents allowed to carry the subcompact Model 27 if they personally owned it.

Well, that may be changing.

Read more in my column at University of Guns