More info on the Glock Gen 5

By; Rich Grassi

The New Glock Pistol, Refreshed

The Gen5 Glock 19 is available with Ameriglo sights -- as on this sample. It features a "Marksman" barrel, a slide stop lever both sides of the frame, flared magazine well and a number of other enhancements.

We reported on the Gen5 Glock 17 and Gen5 Glock 19 pistols in Monday'ssShooting Wire. As Glock has now issued a press release, it was time to refresh that story with this one. On August 1st of this year, a group of media people were introduced to the new Glock line. This was at a pre-release rollout of the new guns at Glock Professional, the division responsible for training and for administering the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation.

Aside from the explanation and examination of the new guns, 12 of us took part in the Glock Operator Course. It was during this course, we shot the Gen5 pistols. The first day of the class, I shot the Gen5 Glock 17. The second day I shot the new Glock 19.

Aside from the demo of the Glock 18, on the second day, I figured we each shot at least five hundred rounds apiece from the new guns; it could well have been more. I was busy 'slamming magazines' and trying to keep my head in the training aspect.

The Gen5 slide protrudes from the frame -- the Gen 4 "Summer Special" does not. This may cause some holstering issues for the new guns.

As to the new guns, there are twenty changes between the new guns and the Gen4 versions – five of the changes are deemed "major." These include the Glock Marksman barrel with the tighter chamber, the muzzle crown and rifling. The metal parts are finished with nDLC – a finish "exclusive to the GLOCK manufacturing process." Corrosion and abrasion resistant, it improves function when dry of lube – and is exclusive to the Gen5 pistols for now.

The magazine well on the news guns is profoundly flared and there's a bilateral slide stop. The frame is the two-pin design: there's no locking block pin in the frame. According to a Glock official, "there's no need for it."

Finally, there are no finger grooves on the frame.

Why the changes? According to Josh Dorsey, VP of Operations at Glock, the changes were driven by consumer feedback. It's well known that many opt for fitted 'match' barrels in Glock 19s and the complaining by many of the finger grooves started on the third generation of Glock pistols has been long documented.

The more critical of the issues are functional. The new guns are designed to achieve 11,000 rounds mean rounds between failures. An example went 30,000 without a stoppage in testing. The accuracy – based in part on the new barrel, led to 4" groups at 50 meters. As to the role of customers, customer feedback drove the changes. The Glock ethos, Dorsey noted, is a focus on end users, "those going in harm's way."

What else can we expect? Well, Ameriglo sights are now a factory option – on Gen5 guns. The Gen5 guns are currently G17 and G19 only. Do you want updated variants?

The slide lock is powered by a round spring, not the flat spring common in earlier guns.

Tell Glock.

That's what happened here. You notice that the changes were driven, in part, by the Modular Handgun System project and the FBI contracts. There's not much difference between the "M" guns and the Gen5 guns. South Carolina Highway Patrol, Indianapolis PD, Monterey Calif, and Lake Co. Ill., among other police agencies, have adopted Gen5 Glock pistols.

My impression? Easy. I didn't strip the guns, but it's clear that there are internal differences: the ring at the front of the slide is substantial – and the slide protrudes from the front of the frame on the Glock 19. This prevents fit in some holsters, including the Safariland 7TS. So far, I've found the Gen5 G19 fits some holsters meant for the previous versions – but not all holsters do. I found I couldn't adjust the Blade-Tech holster at the Glock Operator class enough either.

Going on with differences, the friction stippling on the frames seems more abrasive than the pair of Gen4 19s I've been using. The magazine floorplate is different – longer to enhance your ability to strip a magazine out if something goes awry. The magazine follower is orange – a nice touch bringing the Glock pistols into the modern era.

I didn't notice the accuracy component on the first range exercises at Glock Professional. That took more time. As the class progressed, I found that the accuracy was quite good with the Fiocchi range ammo we were using.

And now? There's a Gen5 in the shop undergoing examination.

A word about the production introduction: this was the way to do it. If you have a training program and a training staff, put the media types through the course and use the new products. It's not the first time or first place I've done this, but it was one of the best in terms of organization and getting rounds down range – much better than "here's a five-round magazine. Shoot that and we'll give you another – oh, time to move on. There are others behind you."

We really got to get the guns hot and it was all shooting with a purpose: that was best use of the pistol in a serious context.

I've already seen derisive comments on social media from those who'd gripe if you hanged them with new rope. My experience with Glock pistols is using them in the law enforcement and training environments. I was negative about them until well along in my career, but nearly all the participants in law enforcement training I conducted had Glock pistols: showing up with something different just got in the way of the training.

I sure could have used the Glock Operator Course in those days. As it was I took every class at police conferences that I could and consumed 3,000 rounds of ammo to 'hardwire' the strange feeling Austrian gun my gun handling. Later, I took the Gunsite 250 with the gun I'd retired with.

Now, having done Glock Operator with the Gen5 guns, I have to say I'm happy with Glock's efforts.

- - Rich Grassii