Speaking of the NRA Annual Meeting, I was watching a video from Classic Firearms. They go every year and visit various booths so the reps can shill their new stuff. Classic Firearms has over one million subscribers on Youtube so they are a significant channel.
Something jumped out at me. Most of the gun companies spent 3-5 minutes talking about their stuff. CZ spent almost 7 minutes with Classic and seemed to have some cool new stuff. Glock? They managed to talk to them for almost a whole minute and to say they were less than inspiring or engaged is an understatement.
The last time the Classic people interviewed someone from Glock they didn’t even get into their designated area, just talked outside of their booth and the guy only talked about Glock trivia. Nothing about their products.
When we were at the Annual Meeting in Indy, the Glock area was huge and had a number of sales reps. All of them when we were there were clumped together talking amongst themselves instead of bothering to talk to potential customers. It was incredibly off-putting. I guess they figure that since most police departments buy Glocks and they are incredibly popular that they can just coast along, selling guns merely because of force of habit.
The whole Glock shtick irritates me. “Glock perfection”, what a crock of shit.
I don’t know of many people who have their Glock with all of the OEM stuff and it is pretty common for people to replace basically everything from trigger to barrel to sights on their Glocks. At that point is it even really a Glock anymore?
Don’t get me wrong, Glock makes a perfectly serviceable firearm. They are reasonably reliable and accurate and of course have a zillion accessories because they are so ubiquitous. But this ain’t the 1980s. My dad always would say “revolvers don’t jam” as his rationale for why he didn’t own semi-auto handguns and there was a time when semi-autos were more prone to jamming but today? A semi-auto from a reputable manufacturer that you take the most basic of care for just isn’t going to jam. In other words, there are lots and lots of options when it comes to handguns that are functional, reliable and accurate.
For me, Glock’s are the Honda Civic of firearms. They might be functional and reliable but no one is excited about getting a Civic.
For example, the Glock 19 is one of the, if not the, most popular handgun in America. It is relatively compact and has a 15 round standard magazine. The Gen 3 model looks like this….
It probably looks familiar because every single Glock looks basically like that. Some are bigger, some are smaller but they are all essentially the same thing. An ugly hunk of plastic with an ugly slide. It has all the charm and class of a cinder block. As I saw someone comment elsewhere on social media it is dependable and rarely fails but you can say the same thing about a steel bucket.
On the other hand, here is the CZ 75D PCR.
As I mentioned in a prior post, I own one and love it. The dimensions are similar.
The Glock 19 is 7.36″ long, 1.26″ wide and 5.04″ high. It weighs 23.63 ounces empty.
The CZ 75D PCR is 7.24″ long, 1.38″ wide and 5.03″ high. It weighs 27.05 ounces empty, due to the aluminum frame versus the Glock polymer frame.
So about the same size and slightly heavier (4 oz).
For my money, the Glock is ugly and utilitarian. The CZ is aesthetically pleasing with style and class. Sure some people don’t like hammer guns but I do and even if you don’t like the CZ’s style there are a ton of other striker fire polymer handguns out there that are just as functional and reliable as the Glock 19 without being so damn ugly. The Sig P320 Nitron Compact or the new Springfield Hellcat Pro or….well just know that there are lots of guns that do the same thing as the Glock 19.
This is just a personal rant, get whatever you like and learn to shoot it well. Imma just saying that life is too short to shoot ugly guns.
I have had a Glock 22 for about 15 years. It's fine. And .40 cal is generally available.
BUT, I love FN pistols. All of their guns actually. My favorite handgun is the Fiveseven. Ya, I know odd round and expensive. It's accurate to 75 yards (for me). Younger eyes can go farther out. Practically no recoil and 20 round magazines! What's not to like?
I also have the FNS 9c for more concealment when necessary. The 509 tactical is also great.
SO, my Glock doesn't get much use these days..
And no, FN is not paying me. But uf they would like to…Lol.
If JMB didn't invent it/work on it, I"m not interested. 🙂
Also let's talk shotguns. A classic English double vs. a semi auto? I mean puhleeezzzzz.
Life is too short to shoot ugly guns.
Hahaha.
9 or the lords caliber.
Lets fire it up😈
All of my double guns are Italian, with the exception of one Spanish, but I would make room in the safe for a Purdey.
I am of the opinion that Glock has been mostly just sitting back churning out the same thing while the rest of the gun industry has passed them by
Now you are playing with fire.
never care much for glocks, the whole plastic wonder gun thing. old guy like old style guns.
loved my old browning hi power or a good 1911. then I tried a sig 220- west german, of course
lot to love there ! had a old mauser hsc in 380 I wish I never sold. but my sig 230 in stainless is a close enough. sold the hi power after getting a sig 226 and needed to pay hospital bills.
so,, if a springfield sa-35 shows up in my area, I get one of them.
I like hammer guns myself. the nicest pistol I own anymore is a 1972 walther ppk in 22lr.
' only have one magazine for it as they want close to 100 bucks for one these days
but it is like new i in the box, and I only shoot it once or twice a year before it goes back in the safe
if you look at something like that and then look at a new glock,, well.
Lana, I’m sporting a .50 cal…I could literally kill a building.
Glocks have another advantage, of being easier to work on, change out parts etc than almost any other gun. (I can't think of much easier than a Glock ,except for maybe an AR) Your points about Glock hubris are well-taken… that "Glock perfection" thing annoys me too I mean, was it perfect at Gen 3 (probably) and then Gen 4 and Gen 5 made it not perfect anymore? Despite the marketing douchebags, it's still an easy to work on, known quantity. Not exciting maybe the way a 1911 or a Hi Power might be, but more of a utility tool than a barbecue gun.
Tom from E Tenn
I see most of the polymer stricker fired pistols the same way. A generic works gun that is a basic tool, no more no less. Yes, I have a favorite hammer, but I also own about 8 other hammers, depending on what I need a hammer for. So I bought a S&W Shield 9mm for just that reason. Basic, easy to carry, reliable, etc. And if it gets confiscated by the po-po after a self-defense shooting, I can replace it tomorrow without any drama. If they took my 50 year old 1911, I'd have a fit right then and there.
Bought the wife the glock .380 (can't be bothered to remember the model #) for the same basic reason. Plus she can rack the slide on it, where she can't rack the slide on the S&W.
But for range day? That S&W gets a mag or two thru it just to prove it works, and then all the fun guns come out instead. Ugly guns got a purpose, too. Just don't go all Glock fanboy over them.
I envy you all.
I am from Germany and the only time I touched guns was in my army times. P-1(P-38), G-3, MG-3. And once (we were teamed up with a US army unit – 85th Field Artillery to be precise – I was allowed to shoot the M-16.)
I wish we had a 2A just like you.
Promise me one thing: The next time you beat Germany, make sure we get our own version of the 2nd Amendment, please.
Alex Lund
Agree with the Glock sentiment but not so sure about comparing them to Civics. Have you seen a Civic Type R lately? Friggin' race cars.
I was thinking more the first few generations of Civics with little four banger engines.
The plight of my brethren in other countries is one of the most compelling reasons why I will never give up my guns, once you lose that right you will never get it back without bloodshed.
I can't imagine anyone shooting a Glock just for fun. I never really liked the first gen Shield's but the more recent ones have a much better trigger.
Sure, from a utility standpoint they have lots to recommend them. They are still ugly as sin.
Those Springfield SA-35s are nearly impossible to come by but I hope to get one in the shop at some point. The problem is it might never leave.
For strikers I really like Kahr and my Ruger SR40 that I’ve trained with. For hammers the CZ RAMI fits well in the hand for a concealed 9. I wish I could find a CZ in 45ACP but the (97?) is hard to come by once I heard of it.
CZ makes the P-10 striker fired pistol in .45
I have three Glock 19s in three different colors, all with custom triggers to make them tolerable. And a 43 all poseured out. I haven't shot any of them in years, just no fun to play with and impossible for me to bond with (goes for all polymer guns in my life-I love my 329PD) I decided one must simply look at a Glock like a tool and appreciate it for doing its job well, nothing more. I don't dis my Sawzall for looking like every other reciprocating saw.
Arthur – What's your opinion of the S&W CSX?
I was kinda excited about it because it ticked all the boxes for me but the reviews I saw were pretty poor so I haven't gotten one. If they tweak it a bit I might check it out