A Grudging Review of the Glock 19:
First a little bit about myself, so that there are no misconceptions about my expertise in reviewing firearms. I have none. I’m an overweight, middle-aged lawyer. I’m not a “high-speed, low-drag operator,” and I never will be. If I had wanted to be one of those, I would have to have taken an entirely different life path about 25 years ago. I’m lucky to get to the range every couple of months, between a wife, child, and a job that’s trying really hard to work me to death. I have also failed the Unlimited Budget Test in this lifetime, so shooting hundreds of rounds every couple of weeks just doesn’t happen for me. Despite my best efforts to convince them to do otherwise, my wife and daughter insist on eating every day. If you’ve read many of my posts, you probably realize that I am not a Glock fan. I don’t want to like them, and I’ve spent 25-30 years not wanting to like them. I’m old enough that I remember the Glock Scare of the mid-1980s, when we heard rumors that Glocks could be carried through an airport metal detector without setting it off. I like wood. I like steel. I like Parkerized and well-loved guns. I'm not so fond of plastic.
With that said, a couple or three years ago, my main carry pistol was in the shop, getting some new sights, and a buddy of mine offered to loan me a pistol so that I’d have something to carry. I took him up on his offer and then, somewhat to my dismay, he brought me a Glock 19. Well, since beggars can’t be choosers, and I had nothing else suitable for that function, I gratefully accepted the loaner, and off I went. I was well aware of Glock’s reputation for reliability, and I decided that it’d be OK for a couple of weeks. I thought maybe my friends wouldn’t find out, that maybe if I wore a ball cap and fake mustache, they wouldn’t recognize me at the range. I carried it for a couple of weeks, using a simple Fobus paddle holster that he loaned me to go with the gun. At the time, I don’t think I owned a proper gun belt, a condition which I have since rectified. My normal carry pistol came back to me a few weeks later with new sights, and I returned the G19 to my buddy. I never did get to go to the range with that G19, which he has since sold, but I do recall thinking that it was awfully light for a pistol holding 15 rounds, and in spite of not owning a proper gun belt.
Well, fast forward to around May 2013. I found myself in the market for a polymer 9mm, and bought a Gen 4 G19. As I mentioned above, I now own a proper gun belt, an Aker B21 to be exact. When the G19 arrived, it came with factory night sights, and a couple of spare magazines. I was able to get hold of a leather Galco OWB holster, the name of which escapes me at the moment.
When the Glock first arrived, 9mm ammunition was notably absent from the shelves around here. I had to call in a favor from a buddy just to score some steel-cased TulAmmo. Fortunately, that shortage didn’t last long around here, and by the time I was able to get to the range, I found about 100 rounds of 115-grain TulAmmo BrassMaxx. For carry, I snagged some 147-grain Remington Golden Sabers.
First Impressions:
1) It feels weird in my hand. I’m much more accustomed to all-steel pistols. I CC’d a full-sized steel pistol for a couple of years. By comparison, the G19 feels top-heavy. It wants to flip and flop left and right. There’s no counterbalance to the steel slide in the (very) lightweight polymer frame. At least, that was my impression when I first pulled it out of the case. I also discovered that it’s a self-correcting issue. As soon as you put in a fully loaded magazine, the balance feels just fine.
2) The factory night sights are nice and bright. When I did the proverbial Bathroom Night Sight Test, they’re easy to pick up.
3) The grip feels good. The size is just about right, and I have hands that I’d rank on the small side of medium. I tried both of the backstraps, but finally decided that I’m best off without them installed. If I have even the medium backstrap on the pistol, I have to shift the gun in my grip to hit the mag release.
4) Finish: I’m a long-time fan of zero-maintenance finishes. Nickel and blued guns are pretty, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to put in the work necessary to keep them shiny. The G19 is an even flat black. Despite my initial feeling that the polymer frame messes up the balance of the gun, I realize that, perhaps, I could come to like the polymer frame for the same reason that I like zero-maintenance finishes. The finish on the slide is not as tough as I expected it to be, however. After about 4 months of carry, I started noticing that the finish on the extractor had worn off. Personally, I find holster wear to be sexy, so it didn’t bother me. I just didn’t expect it to happen quite so fast, given the Glock reputation.
Cleaning!
Prior to this particular pistol, my only two experiences with Glock had been: (a) the loaner that I carried for a period of weeks; and (b) shooting one magazine of .40 out of a buddy’s G23 at the range. I’d certainly never stripped one for cleaning. Still, it had to be done. I don’t like having to pull a trigger in the house . . . for any reason, and that includes field stripping a pistol. Still, it had to be done, so I checked the chamber about 7 times, decided that the gun really was empty, and that it really was OK to pull the trigger. Now, I may have mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again: I am “mechanically reclined.” Aside from a cosmetic restoration of a 1965 Ford Mustang many, many years ago, I don’t really get along with machines that need fixing. I’ve been working to improve on that, but I’m just not a natural with a wrench. As a result, it took me a few tries to get the slide “just so” with the doohickeys on the sides (that’s the technical term) pulled down just right to get the slide off. But after a few minutes, off it came. At that point, I realized that this was really Field Stripping for Dummies. I suppose you could fully disassemble it into however many parts it has, but the G19 basically pops apart into 4 parts: slide, barrel, recoil spring assembly, and grip. Since I didn’t clean the magazine as part of the process, I ignored it for counting purposes. There weren’t any small, easily-lost parts and it would be really difficult to get any of the parts put back in the wrong way.
Range Day!
I took the 50 rounds of steel-cased TulAmmo & 100 rds of BrassMaxx and some Remington Golden Sabers out. The first shot went bang, and I immediately had a failure to feed. That was disappointing, but in all fairness, the FTF was totally due to the ammo. After the first round, the bullet in the second round separated from the case when the nose hit the feed ramp, dumping powder down into everything below it, and jamming. After that, I had zero malfunctions that day. Instances of Brass-To-Face Syndrome: Zero. I didn’t measure any of my groups, but bullets went where I pointed, and any inconsistencies could just as easily have been attributable to the shooter. I went thought most if not all of the 150 rounds of FMJ that I took to the range that day, as well as a magazine's worth of Golden Sabers. The G19 ate them indiscriminately. I did not have another hiccup.
Recoil is perfectly manageable. It never did kick real hard, but there’s a noticeable difference between the 115-grain FMJs and the 147-grain Golden Sabers. Shooting the 115 grains was fine, but the 147-grains made it downright easy. For lack of a better phrase, the heavier bullets seemed to muffle the recoil impulse.
I’ve been back to the range three or four times with the G19 and have, oh, maybe 300-350 rounds through the G19. With the exception of that first ammo-related jam, it ran flawlessly. At the distances up to about 25 yards, accuracy was well within acceptable parameters. It put holes where I pointed it, plain and simple. I don't think I shot it beyond 25 yards, so I can't speak to its accuracy further out. Truth be told, my G19 may be capable of much more accuracy than I can wring out of it. I’m just not a good enough shot to tell. I never did have a single instance of BTFS, by the way.
I’ve read lots of complaints about Glock triggers. The only other Glock I’ve ever fired was a friend’s G23. The trigger on that one felt “crunchy,” like it had sand or grit down in the mechanism. (I later learned that my friend didn’t know how to field strip his Glock for cleaning, so it may well have had sand or grit in the mechanism.) The G19 trigger really isn’t bad, though. It’s certainly not in the same league with a top-of-the-line 1911, but it’s not nearly as bad as I expected, given the complaints I’ve read. It’s a trigger that I could get used to in fairly short order, even if I never came to love it.
The other complaint I've always heard about is how "Glocks feel like 2x4s" in the shooter's hand. While I've held more comfortable grips, this one doesn't bother me. Much like the trigger, I could get used to the grip, even if I never came to love it.
Final Thoughts:
There's a certain allure to the G19's simplicity, and its utilitarian nature. I don’t want to like Glocks. I really don’t. I’m afraid that I’m beginning to understand some of the appeal, though. Just don’t tell my friends.
