Originally Posted by
JonInWA
I'm currently running my Gen 3 Glock G17 and G19 with extended Glock magazine releases. They do make the magazine release process easier, but there are trade-offs that you need to be aware of to make an informed choice.
1. Mine are the Glock polymer extended releases, with no modifications. Yes, the corners can be a bit sharp, but in actual use that's not caused any drama in and of itself. They're polymer, so physically it would be easy to round them by filing, etc. but that could adversely impact on your ability to campaign your gun in IDPA, etc., depending upon the specific sport or divisional rules if tha's a consideration. Similarly, sport and/or divisional rules can impact on the ability to swap the OEM component for an aftermarket one (such as the Vickers, etc.).
2. Going with the extended magazine release can constrain your holster options; basically, you don't want a holster whose walls (either inherently or from outside forces-i.e., body pressure agains the holster) will place pressure on the release and can inadvertantly release the magazine. A good general rule of thumb is to be very wary of using any holster whose wall goes over the magazine release (instead of having a cut-out or simply no holster material around the release area)-thoroughly experiment with and verify before using any such holster whose wall goes over or intrudes into the magazine release area with a pistol with an extended magazine release.
3. If the pistol is placed on its side on the side where the magazine release is activated from, placing downward pressure on the pistol (such as when you're hastily grabbing it) can activate the magazine release-this can constrain nightstand use and similar. For my nightstand use of the extended release equipped pistols, I prop the pistol up at an angle using a small electronic transformer box as the prop-the gun's slide is propped up on the box, the receiver is on the nightstand top; this keeps the release in the air away from physical contact with the nightstand top, and also actually makes the pistol easier to hastily grasp in an emergency.
Generally, probably a better solution is the so-called Glock "FBI" intermediate release; I have on on my Gen4 G22. However, the genuine Glock component for Gen 3 and earlier Glocks if relatively hard to obtain, so the Glock full extended one, or one of the aftermarket ones may be the most viable and obtainable solutions, at least in the short run. Reportedly the Glock "FBI" release is very, very similar to the Vickers extended release...I understand there's a bit of a story behind that...
Best, Jon