We traveled to the GlockMothership in Georgia to get the scoop on the company’s new Sixth Generation guns and have all the juicy information.
Summary: The new Gen 6 Glocks look much like the previous five generations (even fitting most existing holsters), but address a lot of issues that people have asked for on an upgrade. The guns are direct-milled optics-ready, have a new flat-faced trigger while keeping many of the same internals, the ergos are much improved, and they still accept legacy magazines and sights. All for the same asking price as Gen 5 MOS models. Rumors of a modular fire control system are false.
Now let’s get into it
The new Gen 6s at first will be all 9mm, with the G19, G17, and G45 at launch and the G49 available overseas. We are advised that other models are inbound.
The Gen 6 Glock G19, G45, and G17. The additions to the ergos are obvious, including the trigger shoe, palmswell, texturing, and thumb pad/gas pedal. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
A closer look at the production Gen 6 G17. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
And note the ambi slide catch lever. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The Glock generations from 1 through 6 look very (very) similar when stacked side-by-side, and there is a reason for that: consistency. Anyone who had a Gen 1 in 1986 could be transported to 2026 and pick up a brand-new Gen 6 and figure it out in about three seconds.
The Six Glock generations side-by-side (Photo: Glock)
The Glock Gen 5 G19 compared to a Glock Gen 6 G17. Note that the legacy model has less texture, a curved trigger, and a dual spring recoil assembly. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
A look at the slides compared. The extractor channel is now sealed to prevent folks from oozing excess thread lock into their slide internals when mounting optics. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The frames are compared at the action, with the Gen 6 on the left and Gen 5 on the right. The layout is the same, but the geometry is a little bit different. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Backplates compared. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The Gen6 may look remarkably like previous generations, by design, but it is quite different when it comes to ergonomics, optics mounting, and parts. For instance, it has a new trigger, a new slide, and mostly new internals.
Legacy parts that will work besides the magazines, backstraps, and sights are the locking block, mag release, firing pin and spring, slide lock/spring, trigger pin/housing, trigger bar, recoil spring assembly, and connector. Almost everything else is Gen 6 only.
The differences are so substantial that Glock’s Training division told us that, moving forward, the traditional Glock Armorer’s Course, which has long been one day covering all generations, will now just cover the Gen 5s and 6s, with a separate course dedicated to “Classic” Glocks.
The downsized extractor package (extractor pressure piece, extractor frame, extractor package spring) is completely different but can still be removed with just the standard Glock armorer tool. It was redesigned to allow more space for the Optics Ready System, and the extractor channel is now sealed off. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
On the topic of user comfort, the new palmswell comes from scanning hundreds of Glock users to produce a cross median that provides a more optimal fit. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The new RTF6 grip texture combines the old-school RTF2 substrate with the RTF 4 polymids to create something altogether different. Further, the grip texture has been expanded to reach higher on the frame and onto the thumb rest to give the user more grip purchase opportunities. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The enlarged, frame-mounted beaver tail encourages a higher grip while still avoiding slide bite. It ships with two interchangeable backstraps (2mm and 3mm) and is compatible with Gen 5 straps. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The flat-face trigger has an advertised pull weight of 5.5 pounds, and we noted it to have a good reset. It keeps the traditional trio of Glock “Safe Action” internal safeties, including the trigger shoe pivot, firing pin safety, and drop safety. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
All standard frame Gen6 Glocks will be optics-ready, and it isn’t the old MOS system (which is gone) or the new A-Cut COA system. It uses a plate system on a slide that has been redesigned so that the optic bed sits deeper into the slide for a lower height over the bore axis.
The 3mm plate is polymer and is advertised as working as something of a shock-absorber/crush washer that fits in a 3mm recess, while the optic screws directly into the slide, which has four screw holes, sort of a direct-mount with a twist, if you will. (Photo: Glock)
The result is that the optics sit flat while having the benefit of a polymer buffer of sorts. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The ambi slide stop lever has been redesigned and now has a larger border around it molded on the frame to prevent accidental activation. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The undercut trigger guard (finally, Glock) helps with a higher grip while keeping enough “beef” so that you don’t risk frame cracking on duty holsters. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It has deeper slide serrations, including front slide serrations, which have not been standard on legacy models. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
It uses a gently flared magwell and accepts Gen 5 magazines. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Glock has finally added a thumb rest/gas pedal/thumb pad on each side of the gun. To make sure it would still fit legacy holsters, the frame internals on this section have been redesigned to allow the extra texture without making the pistol wider at this point. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Looking at reliability, Glock— which has been working on the Gen 6 since 2022— has had test guns survive 40,000 rounds of mixed ammo, aced salt fog/mud/sand tests, and met all its other standard testing protocols. We fired all three production models on the range for a few hundred rounds and experienced no issues. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The Gen 6s will start shipping to be “on dealer shelves” for a Jan. 20, 2026, official launch, with three magazines and three optics plates, as well as all the standard Glock stuff. (Photo: Glock)
The MSRP on the new Gen 6 Glock models is $745, which is the same cataloged price as the Gen 5 MOS models.
We have review models inbound, so expect more details in the coming weeks.
Glock released the slimline G48 a few years back, and I kind of passed on it, but when equipped with the new Aimpoint COA series enclosed red dot, it has changed my mind.
In all honesty, the G48 was a snoozer for me when it first came out. Don’t get me wrong, I had a chance to shoot one on several occasions, but I never felt a spark.
However, the new COA-equipped model, being optic-ready with decent steel sights, and sold with an installed American Aimpoint enclosed red dot on an interesting direct cut footprint, I felt the spark. Plus, the price point balances out to less than a G48 MOS with an aftermarket Chinese Holosun that uses a plate.
The COA has a wide field of view, and an exceptionally low deck that proves quick to “scoop in” the dot. The A-cut is simple in execution with fewer things to break than in other mounting systems.
When it comes to throwing rocks, the worst thing I can point out on the G48 COA combo is that the footprint and sights are limited to what you get in the box. Currently, there is no other optic that uses the A-cut footprint, and you cannot change out the rear sight for anything else. That may change but for right now you are painted into a corner.
Going past that, I think I may have a new EDC. Let me run some more rounds through it and circle back to you on that.
Glock Ges.m.b.H. (not Glock US) has released a series of new olive green Hunter Edition pistols in Europe featuring steel sights, threaded barrels, and an option for an installed Aimpoint COA red dot.
The five models in the Hunter Edition are in 9mm (G45) and 10mm (G20) variants and appear timed to coincide with upcoming large overseas firearms trade shows such as Enforce Tac, IWA OutdoorClassics, and WBK International.
The three advertised G45 Hunters all bear extended metric pattern threaded barrels and options for Glock’s new 600-lumen Tactical Light II. There is also an A-Cut G45 Hunter with the new Aimpoint COA, or Glock’s more traditional MOS plate system.
We’ve got no information as to when or if these will ever make it to this side of the pond. However, similar models to these could likely filter out to the States – think about a possible rabbit in the hat for the NRA Annual Meeting in April.
On the ramp-up to SHOT Show ’24, Glock’s big announcement for this year leaked out: the terribly named G49.
The so-called Glock 19L, using the compact G19 grip with a full-sized G17-length slide and barrel, has been a thing for years, with folks typically hacking a Glock 17 grip to make it a 15-shot capacity pistol that accepts G19 mags. Others used a standard G19 frame with an aftermarket G17-length slide that was compatible with the shorter frame.
The benefit was that, for many, the G19 is considered easier to conceal with its shorter grip/height than the G17, while the longer barrel and slide give the user a longer sight radius.
The G49 delivers on this concept.
The commercial variant of the G49. Note the “chopped” dust cover leaving an exposed chin on the slide, the standard fixed polymer sights, and the optics plate. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
A crossover that blends the size of a Gen 5 G17/G47 top half with the compact grip frame of the Gen 5 G19, it takes standard flush-fit double-stack G19 mags. Note the ambi slide stop/catch and reversible magazine release.
The thing is, the company only intended the G49 to be a limited run, and apparently that run has come to an end, with the G49 now being notably absent from the company’s website.
If you are a collector and don’t have one in the safe, you may want to get on that before the rest of the Glock mafia figure it out and prices jump.
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.
The so-called Glock 19L, using the compact G19 grip with a full-sized G17-length slide and barrel, has been a thing for years, with folks typically hacking a Glock 17 grip to make it a 15-shot capacity pistol that accepts G19 mags. Others used a standard G19 frame with an aftermarket G17-length slide that was compatible with the shorter frame.
The benefit was that, for many, the G19 is considered easier to conceal with its shorter grip/height than the G17, while the longer barrel and slide give the user a longer sight radius.
The Glock 49 Gen 5 MOS was first leaked back in May 2022 by Vickers Tactical in a post that had over 3,000 likes and comments. A popular rumor on Glock groups at the time was that it was a spinoff of the company’s large 2019 CBP contract that saw the federal agency purchase $85 million worth of pistols including the crossover G47, which was designed to run a shorter Glock 19 recoil system in a Glock 17-sized slide and barrel with a slightly shorter dustcover on the frame.
For the last year, the G47 allows the user to make a more or less OEM 19L pistol, by swapping a Gen 5 slide and barrel from a G19 over to the G47 frame.
For instance, take a look at this:
Showing off that modularity, I give you the “you got chocolate in my peanut butter” that is the G19X and G47 MOS with swapped uppers. Both guns shoot and cycle fine. You could do the same between the G47 and the G17 Gen 4/5, G45, and G19 Gen 4/5. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Chambered in 9mm Luger, it holds 15+1 rounds in standard magazine capacity, has a 4.49-inch barrel, all the standard Gen 5 characteristics like the accurate Glock Marksman Barrel, and the company’s MOS system for mounting optics. (Photo: Talo)
Hopefully for Glock, there is still interest in this concept. Even if there isn’t, they’ll probably sell a million of them.
Glock first announced the .45 ACP-caliber G21 alongside the 10mm G20 and .40 S&W caliber G22 back in 1990, in a host of caliber changes that offered more than the company’s 9mm initial offerings– the G17 and G19. At introduction these were 2nd Generation guns, a series only gently updated from the company’s original debut in the mid-1980s.
I’ve been fooling with the G21 off and on for almost 30 years. My first was a Gen 2 AAZ-serialized G21 that I picked up in 1994, just as the federal AWB and magazine cap kicked in that chopped the standard mag capacity from 13 rounds to just 10. I kept that tough-as-nails .45 through Hurricane Katrina, during which and immediately after it was never far away, and only passed it on to its current owner in 2006, downgrading to a 9mm as my everyday carry.
My first G21, a Gen 2 model, is seen here in a low-res circa-2005 image. It worked when I picked it up 11 years before, ran everything I fed it in the interlude, and it is likely still working wherever it is today. Note back then they didn’t even have thumb grooves or an accessory rail.
Then came the Gen 3 Sport/Service models in 1997, which brought with them recessed thumb rests, finger grooves molded into the frame, and, eventually, an accessory rail.
The Gen 4 G21 arrived in 2011 with the company’s improved RTF-4 texture, interchangeable frame back straps, a reversible enlarged magazine catch, a dual recoil spring assembly, and a new – some would say improved – trigger
And since then, the G21 has been frozen in time, locked in 2011. In the meantime, the company introduced their 5th Generation guns – but only in 9mm (G17, G19, G19X, G26, G34 and G45), .40 S&W (G22, G23 and G27) and .22 LR (G44).
Now, Glock finally reached back and brought the old “large frame” 10mm and .45 full-sized pistols into the present.
Importantly, it is the first time the G21 is optics-ready, in addition to other Gen 5 enhancements that are long overdue.
Some 16 months ago, Glock did something they had never done before: make a rimfire handgun.
The Glock 44: Like a Glock 19, but in .22LR
I was there in Georgia when it was announced, and a lot of people at the time were bummed out, wishing the company was introducing a new micro 9 to compete with the Sig P365, or perhaps a 9mm PCC Glock carbine.
Well, with 9mm ammo in record low supply, especially at affordable prices, I have been taking the G44 to the range a lot in the past few months and have easily over 5K rounds through it.
Only a few weeks into 2020 and the domestic U.S. firearms market has seen a flood of new .22LR pistols from some of the biggest names in the business.
Last month saw the 42nd annual SHOT Show in Las Vegas where more than 2,600 exhibitors gathered from around the globe to display their freshest wares. When it came to rimfire handguns, there were lots of new faces in the aisles.
When it comes to .22LR, the biggest problem is the round itself.
First marketed in 1884 as a black powder round, the little lead-nosed pipsqueak was intended for use in rifles and revolvers, with its rimmed case proving notoriously difficult for pistols to cycle. Compounding this, there is a myriad of loads in circulation, all with slightly different specs and performance. When you magnify those problems with the fact that the rounds are often produced by the millions as economically as possible, especially in the case of bulk-pack budget ammo, and you get a cartridge that tends to be finicky in a lot of semi-auto handguns.
To get it right, Glock spent nearly three years testing and developing the G44– which is why models like the G45, G46, G47, and G48 passed it up in reaching the market while the rimfire chewer was still in R&D.
During that time, they used no less than 141 different rimfire loads in testing, popping over 1.2 million rounds in the process. Federal, which supported the effort, used everything in test guns from 42-grain subsonic to CCI Stingers with no problem. In short, while many 22LR pistols come with the caveat that they are picky about their diet, the Glock is billed as being omnivorous.
Well, I grabbed 2,200 rounds of a wide array of .22LR and headed to the range with a new G44 sent for T&E.
