Whether straying into the backcountry or just a fan of the 10mm Auto, Glock has long had one of the smallest carry guns offered in that caliber and I’ve been kicking around its latest variant for a couple of months.
The Glock 29 first hit the market when the Stone Temple Pilots were in the charts and Val Kilmer was Batman. It has since evolved through two generational cycles to stand here today as the Gen 5 G29. Coupling the flat trajectories and renowned performance of the 10mm Auto– a cartridge that has never been more popular– with a proven and well-liked sub-compact handgun that can easily be carried concealed and still clock in with 11 rounds when needed, is a strong platform on which to stand.
There is a lot to like about the welcome changes now bestowed to the Gen 5 G29, and there is still room to grow, for instance, with an optics cut (perhaps with a direct mill RMR footprint, just saying), but it remains tough to beat for someone who wants to carry a 10mm.
When talking over the weekend in reference to the 80th anniversary of the lost USCGC Natsek (WYP-170) during WWII’s massively unsung Greenland Patrol, these images from the Danish Arktisk Kommando— their all-services joint Arctic command that interfaces both with NATO and the U.S., Icelandic, Canadian and UK forces in the region stretching across the Faeroes and Greenland– seems timely.
The below shows the new Rasmussen-class patrol vessels HDMS Knud Rasmussen (P570), HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen (P571), and HDMS Lauge Koch (P572) of 1. Eskadre working the Greenland coastline for the last couple of weeks.
The Danes throughout the Cold War kept a trio of purpose-designed ice-strengthened arctic offshore patrol craft in the region and continue to do so, rotating Royal Danish Navy vessels deployed to Greenland to perform coast-guard duties, while an intrepid 14-man Siriuspatruljen (sled patrol) polices the interior, with the benefit of air-dropped supplies.
The Rasmussens replaced the trio of much smaller (300-ton, 11 knots, 2x.50 cal HMGs) Agdlek-class patrol boats that walked the beat from the 1970s through 2017.
The old Agdlek-class OPVs, exemplified by the HDMS Tulugaq (Y388) seen here, were essentially modified steel-hulled trawler/whaler types, mounting just a pair of .50 cal Brownings
The new 1,700-ton 235-foot vessels are much more capable– not to mention downright naval-looking– with a 76mm M/85 OTO Melera main battery, embarked helicopter/UAV support, and space/weight available for both ASW torpedo tubes and Sea Sparrow missiles.
While low-speed (just 17 knots maximum speed) they are meant to poke around and, with their two large RIBs, send VBSS inspection teams out to check on things both ashore and afloat. Speaking to the latter, they are manned by just an 18-person crew but have accommodations for an embarked helicopter det and a small (16-man) platoon of commando types, of which Denmark has a proficient group.
And, of course, there are some other benefits of walking the Greenland beat, such as plenty of ice for your New Year’s drinks!
Happy birthday to the toughest military patrol on Earth, the Danish Navy’s Siriuspatruljen, who were founded this day in 1950, reprising their earlier WWII service. They have been walking the beat uninterrupted for the past 70 years.
Made up of just 14 volunteers headquartered at the station Daneborg, located at 74 degrees north in the Northeast Greenland National Park with a substation at Ella Ø (72 degrees N), the patrol gets its name for the typical mission that sees it break up into two-man teams to dogsled around the isolated coastline, waving the Danish flag and checking for Russians and what not while dodging bitter sub-zero temperatures and the occasional polar bear. Just six teams patrol more than 2,000 nm of coastline.
After completing seven months of training, members of the patrol serve for 26 months on the world’s only military dog sled patrol, with just a Glock 10mm and a bolt-action M1917 .30-06 as backup.
For the nostalgic, here is a window back into the patrol, circa 1965, and little has changed:
The Danish Ministry of Defense lately has been showcasing its military sled patrol in Greenland, Slædepatruljen Sirius. The 14-man unit is made up of volunteers who agree to two+ years of uninterrupted service in the frozen monolith that is the world’s largest island. There are no holidays or days off, with their leave accruing for when they return to Denmark.
Each Winter, the Sirius patrol sets out in six “fuppere” teams to scout the uninhabited northern coastline from station to station while two men remain behind on post. One such patrol, consisting of two Danish sailors along with their 13 dogs, covered 1,430 miles over three months in minus 40-degree weather.
Yikes.
Their arms? Glock G20 10mm Autos and the Gevær M/53 rifle…the latter being the good old M1917 “American Enfield” in .30-06.
It would appear that a few new offerings for Glock’s MOS (Modular Optics System) for mounting reflex and red dot sights are in the pipeline, namely for the G17 and G19 models.
The current line up
The MOS system made its debut at SHOT Show 2015 exactly a year ago and provides factory-original optics ready handguns in a number of models. The MOS feature is currently available on four 4th Gen Glock models including the “Practical/Tactical” G34, G35, G41 and the new for 2015 10mm G40 long slide.
The G40 10mm with MOS optics mount
The MOS allows a user to mount a red-dot or other optic switching from sight to sight by using a series of adapter plates that are accepted into the common mount on the slide. The four different plate options work with EoTech, Docter, Insight, Meopta, Trijicon (RMR), C-More, and Leupold (Delta) among others.
Now, as reported by The Firearms Blog, there are three new sku’s showing up for Glock distributors, 0252744 0252743, and 0252742, each denoting MOS variants of the Glock 17 and Glock 19. If you ask me, the two G17s are likely for the standard length model and a 17L, which would make sense.
Apparently these guns have been available in Europe for some time. TFB says since April of this year. This is verified by the Munich, Germany based Waffen-Centrale.de who is advertising MOS G17s (with the four-pack of plates) for 819 Euros.
They are already starting to show up online with retailers here in the states ($598 on sale) for a Glock 19 Gen 4 MOS 9mm 15 RDS 4.02″ so you can expect this to get firmed up quick at the upcoming SHOT Show 2016 in just a couple weeks and I will be sure to lay my grubby mitts on them and report back.
Greenland, if you don’t count Australia, is the largest island in the world. It is covered largely in deeply frozen polar ice and is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. Part of the Kingdom of Denmark ever since the time of the Vikings, this massive frozen subcontinent is patrolled by a crack team of volunteers from back home in Europe.
The elite Slædepatruljen Sirius (Sirius Sledge Patrol) or informally Siriuspatruljen (Sirius Patrol) is a 14-man Royal Danish Navy unit that conducts long-range reconnaissance and enforces Danish sovereignty in the arctic wilderness of Northern and Eastern Greenland, an area that includes the largest national park in the world.
They are all volunteers who sign up for a two-year tour of duty. If selected they spend the first six-months of their deployment at their home base where they learn their dogs, build their sled (I’m not making this up), and round out their equipment choices while making short trips into the interior.
When the time is right, they pair up and head out on longer patrols, which can cover as much as 2,000 miles, working around the huge island’s coastline. On those deployments, the two sledders are on their own, making reliance on their gear paramount.
Their longarm of choice to ward off invasion, polar bears, and frozen space aliens found in the ice: the M17/M53 rifle. This weapon is a (slightly) modified M1917 Enfield 30.06 made in the U.S. during World War 1 for the US Army. They were supplied to the Danish military in 1953 (hence the M17/M53 designation) and are still used by both the Danish Home Guard, a more informal version of the US Army National Guard, and other units.
The regular Danish military issues the 7.62x51mm HK G-3 rifle made in Germany or the modified 5.56mm M-16 made in Canada. However, the Sirrus Patrol, who walks a beat on one of the most inhospitable places on earth, still use a bolt-action rifle made nearly a hundred years ago. Why? Because it works and they find it and its 30.06 round utterly reliable in sub-zero nightmare weather.
As a sidearm, each member of the patrol also carries on him at all times an early-generation Glock Model 20 pistol in 10mm Auto. Those 10mm aficionados out there know of its power and mystique, but for those who do not lets break it down.
Back in the late 1970s, a group of firearms engineers working on what would later be the controversial Bren 10 pistol visited firearms guru Colonel Jeff Cooper to get his input on the ultimate handgun round. After several months of talks and some final tweaking by Norma cartridges of Sweden, the Centimeter round was fully developed. As you know, a centimeter is 10mm and by 1983 the 10mm Auto burst onto the scene. Using the case of the old .30-caliber Remington carbine round with a 25mm length, the 10mm Auto remains one of the hottest and most powerful production handgun rounds in history.
Typical loads range from 135-200 grain bullets but all deliver over 550 ft. /pounds of energy and approach speeds of almost 1600fps. The 10mm outperforms the .40 S&W by 200–250 ft. /s on average for similar bullet weights and has a pressure of more than 37,500 psi, some 2,500psi higher than the .40S&W. However it still delivers about 100-ft pounds more energy than the average .357SIG round, for about 2,500psi less pressure.
In short, this superhot, hard-hitting round is hard to beat. Moreover, coupled in the G20, you get 15+1 rounds good to go with a loaded weight of 39-ounces, which is about the same as an (unloaded) Colt M1911A1 Government, which is the generational equivalent to the Dane’s old Enfield rifles.
Sirius Patrol recruiting ad (in Danish but with English subtitles), in which you will see a Glock 10mm show up several times. If I had to tackle a polar bear with a pistol, the G20 would be high on our list of options…right behind a sawn off double barrel 8-gauge with an underslung flamenwherfer.
From new longslide Glocks to a Czech-made 1911, mash-up AR mutant rifles, and faux AK plinkers, the latest SHOT Show in Las Vegas this week did not come as a letdown with its 12.5-miles of new offerings.
The annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show-better known as the SHOT Show, put on by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is the showplace that gun makers from around the world come to every year to introduce new products. Typically, the global firearms industry keeps their latest and greatest under wraps until the show, and then announces them with a bang. Here are some of the neatest…
Last weekend I brought news of the rumored new addition to the Glock line of safe action polymer framed handguns that included two possibilities: one, of a fabled single stack 9mm that had circulated among the online rumor mills, and a second of a long-slide 10mm hunter model. Well, it seems that the scales have tilted this week towards the latter being more correct.
On Christmas Eve, the fine folks over at Triangle Tactical posted rumint from Weddles Gun Shop in Campbellsville, Kentucky of a possible new optics ready long-slide Gen 4 pistol from Glock, chambered in 10mm. In other words, a beefier version of the G20 (which is puny already, right?) with a target-length barrel.
Well on Jan.2, just over a week after that leak, Kiesler Police Supply, Glock’s official LE distributor for agencies and officers in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota, let the cat out of the bag in a big way by announcing on their Facebook page that the new “Hunter” model 40 would soon be available.
No specs just yet, but it looks like a G35 on steroids–with a Trijicon RMR mounted.
Once again, the drumbeat of a new offering from Glock that could turn the gun industry (or at least polymer fan boys) on its head is starting to be heard. This December, it seems that rumbles of a new model Glock, dubbed the 40, which by the way is not in .40S&W caliber, are the tune of the season.
Rumint #1
A number of the more popular firearms related Tumblr and reddit feeds have circulated an image that has stirred controversy without much of source as to where it came from. The image, which looks all the world like it was lifted from an actual Glock catalog or webpage, is of a new “Model 40” pistol that is (wait for it) a single-stack 9mm compact gun. In other words, what everyone wanted this year’s new Model 42 .380ACP carry gun to be.
But, on further analysis, this rumor may be just that…but the other rumor looks more legit.
![Candidates for Slædepatruljen Sirius learn to hunt near Mestersvig, Greenland. [2048x1366]](https://i0.wp.com/laststandonzombieisland.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/candidates-for-slc3a6depatruljen-sirius-learn-to-hunt-near-mestersvig-greenland-2048x1366.jpg?ssl=1)
