so im getting alot of anti-glock talk

[stonedkirby]

one thing i heard is that glock 9mm is innaccurate and in battle would not be lethal enough. I feel what it comes down to in social situations is the person operating the gun, and maybe some nice JHP's but what do i know..ive never been in that situation...much less ever owned my own gun...chime in someone

 

[BlackGunsRFun]

My $.02:

I own, and shoot, quite a few guns. I regularly attend shooting classes because I strongly believe that even the most reliable firearms in the hands of those who are not proficient with them will not magicly save the life of an unprepared shooter. That's the responsiblility of the gun owner, not the responsibility of the firearm.

Having said that, I also feel it is a really, really good idea to carry a gun that is utterly reliable. As I said earlier, I own, and shoot several guns regularly. If I knew that a gunfight was unavoidable, and I could not get to one of my long guns, I would skip past all of the other handguns in my collection, and reach for my Glock 22- the gun I carry every day. I know of no higher praise that I could offer. I've put somewhere around 15K rounds through it, and it has never, EVER, failed to go bang when I pressed the trigger. It is more accurate than I am, especially in a high stress situation where small, tight groups just aren't going to happen.

As I mentioned earlier, I spend much of my spare time and money training. I believe it is money well spent. If I ever have to defend myself, I feel that it is my responsibility to myself and to those around me to become as proficient as possible given my time and resources. I know I would not be able to live with myself if I used a firearm in self defense, and a stray round from my gun injured an innocent bystander. Also, I have learned that in a high stress situation, like a shooting, it would be an unfortunate time to have to learn to clear a malfunction, shoot with an uninjured hand, reload an empty gun quickly, or learn to handle the aftermath without getting yourself shot by responding law enforecement. Therefore, I train.

Since you live in southern Washington, you have access to plenty of good gun schools. Oregon Firearms Academy, who advertieses on this forum is a great school, and it is run by GREAT people. The Clackamas County Public Safety Training Center is a great place to shoot, and the instructors are excellent. The Firearms Academy of Seattle is supposed to be really good, and I've heard good things about InSight as well. Bottom line, you have plenty of schools in this area, and most of them are reasonably priced.

Sorry about the rant, especially since some of it was off topic; sometimes I get a little passionate about this subject. If you get yourself a Glock, it may not be the prettiest piece you will ever own, and you can find more accurate guns out there, but it'll keep running reliably when you need it the most.

Good Luck!
Bryan

 

[inheritor]

i say if yer comfortable with the gun and accurate with it who cares what anybody else says.im a s&w fan some people say theres nothing better,however if you cant hit the target or youre not comfortable with it the gun could be the best in the world and not mean squat.glocks are a reputeable handgun many police forces issue them as service wepons.i say shoot a variety of different guns before commiting to a sale.this could be a lie but i heard a tale where a perp was hopped up on meth and took 4 9mm to the chest before he went down.myself i like the 40 cals alot of nockdown power in them.just do youreself a favor dont let peer presure get to ya

 

[keitha300wsm]

I don't like Glocks much, don't care for their trigger pull and would rather shoot my Kimber pro carry or Browning High power. Having said that I own 2- 19s and a 23, I have been to Front Sight in Nev twice for 4 day classes, 800 rds per class. The Glocks never seem to have problems. Some of the instructor Glocks have 30,000+ rounds through them and look like they could go another 30,000. If I could only keep 1 it would be the 23. Like them or not they are very reliable and easy to shoot,

 

[stonedkirby]

well for some reason i am more attracted to the XD in 40sw...but i think the features of the glock outweigh the xd...i dunno.

 

[eriknemily]

I'm a proud owner of an m&p40 compact. My good friend (shooting buddy) has the glock 27. The other day we traded guns and each shot off a couple of mags. There are two advantages I see with my m&p: The grip on my m&p fits my hands better than the glock. The glock grip is too big for my hands. The m&p has three different grips you can install to give you a more 'custom' fit. The other thing I like is that it has ambidextrous slide lock/release and mag release. This feature makes no difference to 90% of the populace but to a southpaw I'm grateful for it.
As far as reliability goes I think the m&p has yet to earn the well deserved reputation that glock has.

 

[raindog]

i was talking with some xbox buddies who all have guns and shoot. Ones a die hard S&W M&P 40 fan, the others like 357. revolvers and various other pistols...but when i told them i was getting a Glock 19, they started heckling me. I hated it. A random person playing the game said he was a marine and that he trusted the glocks with his life...

what are your opinions on the glock in 9mm?
am i better off getting a 40 or 45 acp?

thanks

The main reason to own a Glock is simple: it is the most reliable firearm on Earth.

I own a Glock 17, 19, and 26. I carry a Glock 19. Over the course of my life, I've owned five different Glocks.

In that entire time - literally thousands of rounds in five different pistols - I have never had a single failure to fire, failure to extract, or failure to feed. Not. A. Single. One. Heck, statistically I should at least have had a problem due to bad ammo or something, but I have never.

My Glocks have eaten everything from cheap import ball to reloads to high-end JHPs. Just keeps working.

There is a guy who has a Glock with 750,000 rounds through it. Still works fine. There's a guy on GlockTalk who has a gun with 40,000 rounds that he has never cleaned! Still works fine.

Perhaps these are extraordinary cases, but I find when I read threads on forums about "what is the worst gun you've ever owned" and such, I never see Glocks. Heck, I just Googled for "glock unreliable" and the first five results were all people praising Glock! ;-)

I dearly love my Kimber 1911, and it cost twice as much as any Glock, but it occasionally hiccups. My Springfield XD had a failure to feed in the first 100 rounds; my Sig had two failures to fire in the first 500. All of my Glocks have fired perfectly out of the box and keep firing perfectly.

Granted, I've only owned Glock in 9mm, which is the brand's heritage and strongest point. But I hear similarly good stories about .40S&W.

Other than reliability, the gun really has no flaws. It's simple to operate, absolutely drop safe (you can crack walnuts with a loaded Glock), low weight, snag-free for carry due to its blocky design, etc. If I had to knock Glocks, I'd say that the trigger certainly isn't as nice as my 1911, and they are not pretty-looking.

I think people also forget how revolutionary the Glock design was. Prior to Glock, you had two choices in semi-autos: SAO (1911-ish designs) and DA/SA (like the Beretta 92). Glock was the first DAO design. It eliminates the DA/SA problem of having a different trigger pull for the first shot versus subsequent shots.

I do like the Springfield XD, but frankly it just doesn't have the track record yet. It also makes me nervous when they start adding things to the design - e.g., now you can get them with thumb safetys for "extra protection".

BTW, I carry a Glock 19 and feel 100% confidant in it for self defense. I carry Speer Gold Dot 9mm +P 124gr JHPs. They deliver 399 ft lbs at muzzle and the Gold Dot hollowpoint is fantastic. BTW, a 230gr ball .45ACP is about 410 at muzzle. I'd also consider Cor-bon DPX.

With a .40S&W or .45ACP, the round is heavy enough that you don't have to be careful in picking your ammo. With 9mm, you have to be a little careful and look at the ballistics, but there are 9mm loads (from Cor-bon, etc.) that reach 460+ ft lbs at muzzle. That's better than .45ACP and better than common .40S&W loads (yes, I know, there are jacked up .40S&W loads, too, but my point is that a lot of people think normal .40S&W JHP or 230gr .45ACP ball are "manstoppers" and you can get similar performance in 9mm).

I find .45ACP out of a 5" steel Kimber quite pleasant to shoot...but not out of a 3" aluminum carry gun. 9mm is nice in any size.

 

[ORBrit]

My Glock19 is probably the only gun I own I would never even consider selling.
I've tried others but don't know why I bother half the time!
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I know my Glock will fire when I need it to. It has never failed. It always hits what I'm aiming at.

 

[ORBrit]

well for some reason i am more attracted to the XD in 40sw...but i think the features of the glock outweigh the xd...i dunno.

Get yourself to the range and fire both, or more if you can.

The main reason I own a Glock 19 is because it was the best shooter for me.
My local range has a great rental selection.
I tested the XD9, S&W M&P, HK USP, Sig P229, Beretta 92FS, and Glock 19.

The Glock was the clear winner in accuracy for me.

Don't get your mind made up on a defensive handgun based on other people's opinions. Get to a range and find out for yourself before spending $400 - $500.

 

[Benny503]

I was a 1911 fans till I tried GLOCK, all of my 1911 only shoot manufacturing ammo this can be very expensive. Expensive gun expensive ammo to go with it. I found some cheap reload ammo from a guy that I knew, so I want to buy something cheap gun to target shooting with cheap ammo, I got a GLOCK 19. Love it right away, eating reload ammo everytime and have never fail me. I had own 1911s, H&K, Sig P220, Walther, Glock, I am concealed carry walther p99 but for the shooting range I like to shoot GLOCKs with reload ammos, I haven't strip the clock and clean it since I go over 1K rounds through it and still function as it should. I know I abused my GLOCKS but that is what they are built for, the last two months I have bought 2 more GLOCKS from this website

 

[Deavis]

The Glock is the AK of the pistol world.

 

[redmistnmysight]

It seems alot of great responses have been posted, and mine will probably be the same as many. I am a hk guy, I love everything about the pistols. Having said that I have hated glocks for most of my life simply because they are the most uncomfortable impossible to grip pistols i have ever fired, additionally on there compact models you may loose part of your hand (same can be said of many compacts). This does not make them a poor choice. They are one of the most reliable well made affordable guns on the market and they will always perform. And I have found that people that are unfamiliar with pistols tend to prefer firing glocks over my sigs and hks, im told they find the pistol much more natural feeling. I totally disagree, I have to conciously point the muzzle down everytime i pull with a glock. Hks are level and deadly. But its all in the shooter and what the are accustomed to. Keep in mind that glocks are about 350$ cheaper than a hk on a good day. So if your strapped for funds and want a reliable weapon go with the glock. Who cares what people say, you have this weapon to protect your life and loved ones. Does it always function? can you operate it safely, correctly and under pressure? As for caliber, Will the caliber stop the assailant before he/she can reach you is something i think about. But really it is what you are most comforable with. I like .45 because it stops. 9mm has a hi capacity and i am more accurate with it at a high rate of fire, thats me personally. .45 moves much slower around 800 fpm and 9mm is closer to 1100 (please correct me if im wrong). 9mm is pretty cheap to shoot at the range and .45 costs a little more. so these are things to take into consideration as well. So much nonsense, sorry. What im getting to is i dont like glock, my wife on the other hand just bought a g19 and loves it. Good luck.

 

[redmistnmysight]

Sorry one more thing. My buddy had this comment on people who bag on someone for having a glock. "Saying a glock is less than another quality pistol is like saying that my hammer is better than yours because it has a leather handle instead of a rubber one. It doesnt matter if the man swinging the hammer cant hit heads."

 

[el gringo loco]

I think everyone else has substantially covered the reasons why people who knock Glocks don't know what they're talking about. As for the caliber and ammo......

"Knockdown power" is a myth. Any round with enough kinetic energy to knock an assailant down would literally rip the gun from your hand and implant it in your forehead. What you should be concerned with is energy deposition. Note: I am only going to talk about hollow point rounds because (a) that is what you should be carrying for personal defense (b) it stays in a person (c) it is the best for energy deposition and (d) I am assuming that you do not have any Geneva convention requirements to carry ball ammo.

A .45 is a big slow bullet. It makes a big hole. It deposits energy fairly evenly and in the first few inches of penetration. As its energy is derived more from its mass and not its velocity, the .45 does not deliver a large shockwave to surrounding tissue. By conventional analysis it is a very effective round.

The 9 mm is a fast smaller bullet that, with the right load, can achieve a kinetic energy similar to a .45. The 9mm enters the body and will travel further before stopping, usually around the 5-6 inch range. This deceleration from such a high velocity creates a shock wave in the surrounding tissue. Whereas a .45 does a great deal of damage from the size of hole it makes, the shockwave is what works for the 9mm. The shockwave from the 9mm damages the tissue for several inches around the final resting place of a bullet. That tissue is often damaged beyond repair (killed). This means that, at the depth of major organs, a 9mm stops and kills a bunch of tissue causing a considerable amount of damage. The shockwave damage of a .45 is smaller and usually in the first inch or two of penetration, not near vital organs.

The effectiveness of the physics coupled with human biology of the 9mm is one reason why the .38 +p and .357 fell out of favor with police departments. When a bullet overpenetrates and goes through and through, a lot of its energy is not deposited in the target and is wasted. A lot of people (myself included) like the feel of a .45 firing in their hand. But, the lethality of a 9mm round, the fact that you can get back on target quickly, and that you carry more rounds make it an excellent defense round.

When deadly force is used, the intent is to stop the threat. A 9mm will stop his heart, and lungs, etc. quite quickly.

 

[Tactical SS]

i want a usp bad, but i cant afford it...

Don't worry about that now. My first pistol was a used G23. I just saved up for over a year, sold a few things, and bought one of my dream pistols, a USP. The Glock was great. Don't worry, the USP will come one of these days.

 

[stonedkirby]

its funny cause now i want the g23 but cant find one for sale local in WA.

 

[Davidthepirate]

I learned to shoot handguns with a glock 20 owned by my friends dad (homicide detective) and i have owned glocks as well. One universal truth about glock pistols is that they are the ultimate in reliability, as someone mentioned earlier, they are like the ak in that aspect. Also i have always experienced great accuracy with all the glocks i have shot. I love the 17(9mm),21 (45acp)and 20 in 10mm, if ya aint a limp wrist,
gotta experience the 10mm !!!!!!
Personally i prefer 1911s, but i would entrust my life to a glock absolutely any day. From 9mm, to 40sw to 45acp or 10mm, anyone of those calibers will do the job if you use good ammo and are a halfway decent shot, its really more about shot placement than caliber. my 1911 is 45acp which i prefer, but i, in no way, think 9mm wont drop someone. I would reccomend going to a shooters holiday type get together or a range where you can try out pistols and try as many brands and calibers as you can before you make a decision. Even handling and pointing a gun in gun store will give you an idea of what is comfortable in your grip.

 

[torpedoman]

go to a good store and actually handle a few different guns that will meet your needs and buy the one that fits your hand and is comfortable.look at a distant object and bring the gun up and see if the sights are on what you are looking at. (make sure it is not another person)

 

[503glock]

i carry a glock 19 everyday and trust it with out fail . i dont think there is a more reliable weapon in the world . there are prettier ones but looks cant save your life.. just my two cents worth...

 

[powermad]

Most that bash on the Glock don't like any type of plastigun. If it's not all steel then it is crap.
I had a g17 in the 90's and put 1000's of rounds through it with no problems.
95% of them were reloads.
My only problem with it, was one day while shooting it the mag fell apart.
I never did find the spring, base plate or follower.
It was not a KABOOM. For whatever reason the mag let go.
I still have the mag body if someone wants it.

The real problem was the cost of a replacement mag as it was the only one I had for it. IIRC they were $80 at the time.
Luckily Sporty's in Clatskanine had g17 30 round mags for $30. I just had to deal with it hanging way out.
But as I didn't carry it, it wasn't a big deal.
Well I did get pulled over after going shooting and the cop (Columbia City) freaked out.
Confiscated it all and it took a few weeks to get back all my gear after they got with the BATF and was told it was legal.

With all that said I would never buy one on purpose. I bought that one off of a buddy that was in a pinch. He never paid me back and I kept the gun for several years.
I eventually sold it and have never regretted it.
In all the time I had it it never felt right in my hand. I never got "used"to it.

When I went shopping for a hicap .45 plastigun I tried em all out.
I prefer a DA/SA hammer gun and went with the FNP45
From the moment I picked it up it felt natural, balanced and pointed well.
I didn't have to shoot it to know that it was going to be fine for me, I bought it on the spot and was not disappointed.

It all comes down to how the gun feels and shoots for YOU.