It didn't take any great amount of foresight to make this prediction:
My Amazing Kreskin Prediction? Look for a Glock 2.0, with modular grip and ambi slide stop/mag release within five years.That was February of '06, and the "Gen 4" Glocks were released four years later, with interchangeable backstraps and reversible mag catches. I missed on the slide stop.
They're still going to lose some business over the pull-the-trigger-to-field-strip issue, though, as liability-shy departments will go to guns where you don't need to do that (that's a big feature in the sales spiels of guys from S&W and SIG, you'd better cool believe.)
14 comments:
Does this mean that you will start wearing a cape?
Shootin' Buddy
I still remember the first gun I paid for my own self, a Marlin .22 bolt-action rifle, had the "pull trigger and remove bolt" step. Every time it made me nervous.
That's standard on a lot of bolt-action rifles. The difference is that you've got the bolt open while you're doing it, so it's easy to see if there's a round in the chamber.
Oh, don't get me wrong I KNEW it was ok, with the bolt open and a visual confirmation of empty. It just felt WRONG. Now if I had set an empty soda can across the way it might not have felt so strange ;p.
The design of the Glock trigger bar makes an ambi slide release almost impossible. The location of the connector is so far back and facing outward toward the spot where you'd put a slide release lever. They'd have to redesign the whole action.
You're absolutely correct about the pull-the-trigger takedown, though. It was a very important distinction for many institutional decision-makers. Fans like to talk about how many agencies choose Glock, but it's telling to look at the ones who don't and understand why they chose something different.
Of the....um, 2 Glocks I have, pulling the trigger to take it down is just a step. No mag, cycle slide, check chamber to ensure it's empty, then pull trigger.
I turned down a used gen 4 model 19 a while back because, well, I was in a dollar deficit (shoulda pulled a page from the fudd and done deficit spending to stimulate the economy), and I already had...well, I only have two guns, so I can say I have "guns" plural.
I stippled and chopped the grip frame on my...2 glocks. I call the 19 a 26L due to the abbreviated grip, and the 17 with a 19 grip length is the 19L.
While I wouldn't mind a gen 4 if I found one on the used, secondhand market when I had the spare money, I have other ideas for my paper than a gen 4. I've had the 26L so long that the night sights will be due for replacement in the near future, maybe a year or two.
ToddG,
"The design of the Glock trigger bar makes an ambi slide release almost impossible."
Yup. I was, truthfully, expecting a much bigger re-boot than what occurred.
I predict we'll see a 1911 from HK before the end of the decade.
"I predict we'll see a 1911 from HK before the end of the decade."
Not for civilians, you won't! Because you suck, and we hate you!
I predict Glock to introduce a single stack pocket 9mm prior to HK making a 1911 (meaning, probably never, then after never).
I don't know if anyone has done a study of pistol ad's during take-down, but I've heard of more 1911 ad's than Glocks. If it's mechanical it will break. If a human is involved it will be messed up.
Since one of Glock's selling points to get you to buy the whole spectrum (you can't just have one, apparently) is that you can stuff a magazine off a larger one into the magwell of a smaller one, no, I wouldn't expect them to go single-stack in 9mm any time soon.
(Though through a quirk of law, in NJ the G19 has a larger legal magazine capacity than the G17 - and I'm pretty sure I can't put a G19 mag in a G17 magwell)
I've a friend that's a firearm instructor for a metro pd, been shootin' since he was knee high to a short sheep, and is a GM in USPSA and he loves shooting his G34. When I asked him about the Gen 4 he ran out of cuss words before he could finish describing his loathing of the beast.
YMMV.
Panamared,
I would hope that the 1911 has had more nd's involved with disassembly than the Glock, given its 70-year head start. Still, though, requiring someone, especially a marginally-trained shooter, soldier, or cop, to violate Rule Three every time he wants to clean his gun is, in retrospect, probably not the best design solution. While making something "idiot-proof" is impossible, it is possible to make something more "idiot-resistant".
This is not some stupid "Glock v. 1911" thing. Leave that stuff to fanboi forums. I've owned plenty of both. It is possible to objectively critique the flaws of something, since nothing is flawless.
deadcenter,
To say that the Gen 4 has had... "teething issues" would be the understatement of the century. The tarnishing of Glock's reputation for reliability is going to sting.
You can disassemble a Glock without pulling the trigger, well theoretically:
Just lock the slide to the rear, remove the plate at the back of the slide, and pull out the firing pin.
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