Glock Firearms (Still, Nowhere to put my Reviews.)
Written: Feb 09 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lightweight, reliable, high capacity magazines available, but hard to find
Cons: High capactiy magazines expensive when found. Polymer Frame
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| mattjoe's Full Review: otdr/Other |
The Glock Family.
(This review is divided into two parts, the first being geared on information on the type of pistol, options and available styles, the second half on my review of them, this is geared towards both gun owners and non gun owners alike who may be interested in purchasing)
Glock Pistols are perhaps one of the most popular handguns in this country. How did they get to be so popular you ask? Good question. The answer is simple. Marketing.
Glock does an excellent job marketing their handguns to both the nonshooting and the shooting community. Does anyone remember the line Tommy Lee jones spoke in US Marshalls Get rid of that shiny gun and get yourself a real gun like this Glock- or some words like that were spoken, I'm sure I misquoted, I was to busy trying not to pee my pants over that.
What do you know about Glocks if you are a non shooter?
You have likely heard they are plastic guns and can go through metal detectors at airports.
FALSE.
The frame of the gun is made from polymer, a semi-rigid type of plastic. The reason for this is to reduce width of the handle, as polymer is stronger than steel of the same width. Polymer construction also reduces weight and is supposed to help absorb recoil. These are the benefits of going with Polymer. All other parts of the gun are made of various metals.
Polymer construction is a double edged sword.(more on that in the 2nd half)
The Glock is available in all different sizes, from very tiny compact size for those with concealed carry permits, to full size large caliber models. The Calibers available in the U.S. are 9mm, 357sig, 40cal, 10mm and .45cal.
The original Glock was the model 17 in 9mm. This was also the most popular one. It combined large capacity magazine (17rounds) with light weight. It was an innovation at the time and changed the way many manufacturers looked at construction.
The Glock Family of pistols is easily distinguishable from all others. Very few pistols are as ugly as a Glock. The Glock is always entirely Black, unless an after market slide is used. New models have finger grooves in the frame. Finger Grooves are another mistake. Different sized hands do not fit exactly where these grooves want to force your hands to hold.
Price: Glock pistols range in price from close to $425 to a high of just over $550. All non law enforcement purchased guns come with magazines holding a maximum of ten rounds. The smaller guns' magazines hold less. Also included is a basically worthless cleaning polymer cleaning rod, and a magazine loader, the latter being essential.
Would I recommend the Glock? I do not know. I had a hard time deciding on the rating, thumbs up or down? It depends what you want to use it for. Carry purposes? No. See part two for why. For competition? Not all, but some. What do I use mine for? I mentioned earlier they market the gun very well. Glock puts on competitions all over the country, it is the same match everywhere so you know exactly what to expect. It is very basic and simple for those who shoot regularly. But the potential for great rewards are excellent. Essentially anyone who enters and completes the match has a great chance of winning money or new guns. They do not base the winners only on who wins the match, but the divide how many people shot and arrange classes this way. It is very much like a lottery system. This is the only reason I purchased my two, to shoot in their Glock Match. Of course I have already won more money than I have paid to enter.
I give the Glock Family an OK rating, 3.5 stars if I could give that many. Don't believe everything you hear about them. Try one first on your own before you fall into the hype and marketing.
PART TWO, for those who want much more detail
Available styles, Include long slides, for increased bullet velocity and accuracy; and what Glock refers to (erroneously) as "compensated", slots cut into the barrel towards the front to allow gas pressure to escape and keep the gun closer to remaining on target after a shot is fired. (this is not compensated it is actually ported)
Accessories: The Glock comes standard with a disgustingly unsmooth 5.5 pound trigger. This trigger also has a unique safety feature. The safety is actually built into the trigger. This safety ensures that no matter how hard it is dropped or jarred, this gun will not go off. This safety is also the reason the Glock is marketed so much towards concealed carry users. The trigger is horrible and very little can be done with it.
A terrible trigger affects accuracy. The greater the distance of travel to the firing point, and the more pressure you must exert on it, the higher the likelihood of someone pulling their shot off target. The remedy for this is replacing the trigger with an equally unsmooth 3.5lb trigger connector. It causes some improvement, but very little. Replacing all springs with custom tuned ones and polishing everything to an exact smooth fit, will get the trigger as good as it can get. Which still is nothing to write home about.
A 12lb trigger is also available. Why anyone would want this is beyond me, I have heard something about being required to have one this heavy in NY.
Sights: the factory sights are decent. There are others they can be replaced with. Some that glow in the dark, others that are completely adjustable.
Additions: Available from other companies are different barrels, allowing someone to switch calibers in their guns, or to affix a true compensator on the barrel. Or to fire lead reloads out of the gun. The factory Glock manual says do not fire lead out of their barrel. The design is supposed to allow lead to build up over time in the barrel resulting in a smaller and smaller barrel, which in turn will result in increased pressure. Which if left unchecked can result in a problem. In reality this does not happen. Using lead bullets of a higher brinell hardness (I won't discuss metallurgy, just understand that means harder) the lead bullets do not lead up the barrel and cause increased pressure. Even if they did, if you clean out your gun after you went and shot it, like you are supposed to do, there will not be a problem.
Scopes: None can be drilled into a polymer frame to mount them, you must by a scope mount, I believe two companies, AimPoint and B-Square make these mounts. Normally you would not put these on a gun anyway unless you shoot competitively or just use your gun for fun. The mounts themselves pin into the frame using existing screws. They get in the way of empty case ejection and will cause jams. You must cut away parts of the mount in order to remedy this problem. This is not a big deal, but it makes mounting the scope very difficult. Remember, you can only cut once.
Interior Accessories: A few companies make different springs and recoil rods to place inside your gun. The purpose is to give the Glock better balance and less felt recoil to the shooter. Upgrades also include the previously mentioned trigger parts.
Slides: Caspian (high quality manufacturer in Vermont) makes slides for the Glock and has a matching ported barrel for the Glock. The set if parts will cost you more than the gun did. It is available from the factory and from Brownell's and Denny's shooting supplies catalogs.
What I see as the greatest drawback of the Glock, The Polymer Frame.
Negatives of polymers. You can break Polymer much easier than you can steel. You can crack a polymer frame. When this happens it is useless.
Case Failures: This is a frightening thing which can happen in any gun. The case of ammo fails, the gas pressure is released along the path of least resistance, the shell (the case holding the bullet and gunpowder) blows out towards the back. Always. This results in two things. The Magazine of the gun (people also call this the clip) blows out the bottom or the bottom of it breaks, and the spring and plate holding it together go flying down. Pressure is released downward where you are holding the gun. Not outward where the bullet is supposed to go. The result, the frame of the gun splits. Dangerous? If you are not wearing safety glasses, other than that, you may be hit with a few pieces of polymer. What do you do now? You are left holding a handle that is split in two. You hope you mailed in that warranty card to the factory is what you do.
I feel this is reason enough never to go with a polymer gun above 9mm. Anything above 9mm generates high enough pressure to cause this. Many police departments carry Glocks, H&Ks, and others made of polymer. This problem can happen to any Polymer gun. The same problem occurring in a steel framed gun will result in a destroyed magazine, and a jammed gun. What do you do? First you should check to be sure the bullet left the barrel, by disassembly. If you were a police officer or any other person carrying a polymer gun and were using it in defense of yourself or others, you would not have time for that. Hit the magazine release button, drop out your broken magazine, insert a new one, and rack the slide. You will be ready to shoot again. As opposed to standing there with an exploded gun.
The overall view of the Glock- It has a place in the shooting circles, many who own them or wish to own them know little about the gun. The gun is also extremely popular, which is why I have chosen to write on it.
I write my gun and accessories reviews for those who expressed an interest in Firearms and accessories to me, and wished we had a section on them here, I will continue to write on them. I just wish They would hurry up and make me an expert, and create the category. Sticking these in the Outdoor/other section is inappropriate. They belong in sports.
Write to the managers and push for this category if you agree, or if you see this is a useful category where reviews are needed.
Recommended:
Yes
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mattjoe
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Member: Austin Danger Powers
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