Glock perfection is so “perfect” it has had little to no “upgrades” in the past 15 years.
Glock perfection is so perfect, that the chamber in 40 SW doesn’t need to be supported…oh wait, they do blow up in your face.
Glock is like leupold, they have little reason to innovate.
IMO, Glock is old technology. Yeah Windows XP was awesome, but now we have Linux!
There is no perfect gun, if there was we’d all own ONE gun.
Here is my list of things Glock could improve.
- Not every self-defense “class”, but MOST classes we have 1 or two Glock Frontsight’s come loose. So, we glue them and re-tighten them. How do we find out? The student goes from excellent groups, to poor groups. After inspection, the 3-4 threads that were holding the Glock Frontsight has come loose. HINT: Use a battle proven dove-tail slotted frontsight (like almost every other maker on Planet Earth).
- Unique grip angle. So much muscle memory with an odd grip angle means all your other guns will “point differently”, so you are forced to stick with glocks for sub-compacts (AKA over priced…and late to the market single stack 9mm). Seems to me the odd grip angle is compensating for “isosceles shooters”; may they rot in hell!
- Unique “dead trigger”. Meaning if you have a type3 malfunction, many schools say, “Glocks trip your trigger”. Before doing a type3 “symptom” drill. All other pistols, have a dead trigger for a type3 and you train to that symptom. Dead trigger, look and move; FIX IT!
- unsupported chamber for 40 S&W…google it!
- Slow to market back straps that can be adjusted for different sized hands.
- defective slide-release; Small & usually upgraded at additional cost.
- out-dated mag release. Modern guns have an ambi-mag-release.
- Plastic sights. Doing one handed malfunction drills will surely jack-up your plastic sights. Again, many upgrade at additional cost with after market sights.
- Gen4 glocks have extremely aggressive stippling that will wear out your clothing!
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If they were so perfect, why were they 10 years BEHIND a single-stack 9mm like the pf9 etc etc etc.
- ugly duckling, the only gun more ugly is the “high point” and taurus POS.
- NOT made in America.
- issues shooting all-lead bullets in Glocks
- Glocks were awesome 20 years ago!
- Plastic guide rod. Budget guns have plastic guide-rods.
- Out dated “take down”, doing both release impossible to use “slots” and then pressing the trigger to “field strip”? If you don’t know how to come over the top with your primary hand, its near impossible to field strip a glock.
Take down an XDM is lock the slide back, rotate a large lever and pull the slide off…NO TRIGGER PRESS. - Find me a Glock owner that shoots as much as me…that has NOT put another $300 into upgrading their “perfection”.
- Gen 1,2,3 had silly “Finger groves in the front of the glock stocks”, which adds to its ugliness.
- Glock mags are sticky, sometimes when the mag is empty, you have to dig the mag out of the mag-well, instead of it just dropping out like nearly every pistol maker’s system.
- Amazing “marketing”, “no, that is just marketing”. Someday there MIGHT be a glock 2.0…we can hope, but until then, its 1.2 & 1.3 & 1.4 & 1.5. No significant improvement to be called a 2.0…yet. gen2=1.2, gen3=1.3, gen4=1.4, gen5=1.5
- Glock came out with a carbine, but will only sell to the gov. Which means they believe that only criminals should have guns. Very different from Sig, which every possible gun they make for the military, gets sold to Citizens too (except the full autos).
Pros/CONs of XDs/XDMs
DOWNSIDES to xd/xdm
1. sights are a bitch to “adjust”, both because the slide is slimmed down & they are VERY tight…and have grooves.
2. The grip safety should only be for firing the gun, not running the slide IMO. I personally LOVE the grip safety. there are many times handling or reaching for a gun I can’t see(usually at night), and knowing I won’t accidentally bump the trigger is re-assuring.
3. no 10mm option 🙁 (Springfield tell us in 2017 they will release an XDM in 10mm!)
4. a BIT heavier than the glock, due to more steel & robust build.
My FIRST professional gun class was with a Glock. It took some time to come around due to perception bias of the Glock “perfection” marketing.
I offloaded it and bought an xd 🙂 I still have not upgraded or changed anything to that XD; with over 15,000 rounds through it at training classes.
I’m a reluctant Glock 20 owner, solely because there is not another polymer gun I like in 10mm.
I make a lot of excellent holsters for Glocks. I have a red-gun for all the glocks to make holster molds out of….if that tells you anything about my opinion of Glocks.
I’ve owned a glock 27, glock 23 & glock 19. I currently own a Glock 20/10mm.
When asked my professional opinion. I say, its hard to go wrong buying a Glock, Xd/XDM or S&W M&P.
Glocks are ok, but why not buy an upgraded Glock? Like an XDm or M&P?
Upgraded Glock aka XDm
XDm enhancements glock owners may enjoy.
- The XDm has a match barrel & match trigger.
- 9mm has 19+1 magazine capacity.
- The XD family of barrels can shoot lead bullets.
- No need to pull the trigger to field-strip and a very simple/robust lever instead of 2 hard to operate take-down pins like a Glock.
- Note the robust default sights, especially the front sight has a dove-tail groove, ensure the front sight will stay put.
- Lots of indicators right out the box. Hammer indicator, chamber indicator .
- Note the robust slide and how the guide rod shroud is very beefy.
- No plastic back plate nor “mud hole”, near the mag well.
- Magazines go in & out easily…even w/o ammo. Better mag design IMO. How many empty glock mags have you had to dig out of the mag well?
- xdm/xd family have a more 1911 similar grip-angle.
- Mag release doesn’t require “giving up combat grip” for small handed shooters and doesn’t have sharp serrations that bother some shooters skin.
- Consider the gun & gear. Two mag pouches, a cheap-ass-holster (but it DOES work) & THREE 19+1 magazines…in a very nice case.
- Slickguns.com you can typically buy a 4.5” XDm for $500-525
- I know you don’t shoot steel cased ammo, but the XD family will eat them w/o issue. I’ve had several very hard extractions of steel cased ammo in my Glock 27…hammer & dowel routine 🙁 I think I’ve put about 10,000 rounds of steel cased ammo through my 5″ tactical XD without issue.
- Consider your thoughts on the grip & stippling of the XDm. IMO the Glock gen 4 stippling is TOO aggressive and will chew up your clothing for conceal carry(as reported to me by several people). The original XD had a few improvements over the glock, but if you consider all the things XDm added it is an amazing system for the cost/benefit.
- My wife & daughters that are not as strong as some, can run the slide of a 4.5″ XDm, but can NOT run the slide of a Glock 17.
- I own many XD/XDms and I have not upgraded anything on any of them, except tritium sights.
- You’ll find they are a good value, very robust and good shooters. The 4.5” xdm 9mm is totally concealable IMO via one of my holsters IWB. Given the narrower slide. The g17 is nearly impossible to conceal inside the waist-band (IWB) IMO.
One argument is that you have a wider selection of sub-compacts with Glock, for example the glock 43 compared to xds 9.
Please refer to this spreadsheet:
| desc | width | over all length | weight (empty) oz | capacity | overall height | estimated knock down power | cost |
| Glock 42 | 0.94 | 5.94 | 13.76 | 6+1 | 4.13 | ||
| Glock 43 | 1.02 | 6.26 | 17.95 | 6+1 | 4.25 | 450 | |
| xds 9 | 0.9 | 6.3 | 23 | 7+1 or 8+1 | 4.4 | 400 | |
| pf9 | 0.88 | 5.85 | 12.7 | 7+1 | 4.3 | 400 | 300 |
| S&W shield 9mm | 0.95 | 6.1 | 19 | 7+1 or 8+1 | 4.6 | 310 |
If operator is using the proper technique, they should never have issue with the grip safety. If they have issue, they are gripping it improperly.
Cost of magazines are favorable for the XDm ($27), same with accessories (pistolgear.com).
My PERSONAL preference is XDm 1st, M&P 2nd, glock 3rd. If the M&P had a grip safety & ambi mag release, I might switch. But then I’d have to fix all the triggers on the M&P. I believe M&P 2.0 has “fixed” their trigger issues (at least the ones I’ve shot/handled).
The glocks are more work and most serious shooters upgrade the barrel, trigger & sights….costing at least $300 per system.
I would bet my life all 3 of these systems….and I OWN all of these systems.
I have over 100,000 rounds through Glock .40 platforms, never had or seen a problem with the unsupported chamber. This only comes up with very hot rounds loaded in thrice fired brass. Anyone who has any skill reloading would not have reloaded the failed brass–they already were bulging prior to shooting and most didn’t even seat fully in the chamber. Still, I like the M&P and the XD series, I just haven’t had either of those last nearly as long as my Glock 35. I will, however, admit that I have an upgraded barrel and trigger group, but the barrel was ~$120 and the trigger group closer to $50, not $300.
Oh crap, I also changed the slide lock…
I guess I’m proving your point on the mods, aren’t I? 🙂
Agreed about the strange grip angle. Muscle memory was the main issue for me when I switched to M&P Shield for EDC.
Now I’m happy with my new handgun – like it’s ergonomics pretty much.