The original Glock mags were designed for the .mil condition 3 carry,too. They were designed to expand when loaded and not fall out of the gun when the mag release was hit. Even when empty those "drop stop" mags had enough friction and elasticity in the magazines to require a firm pull from the gun during reloads. From a design standpoint, the goal was accomplished. From a defensive use standpoint on this side of the pond, it was a design flaw that the market forced Glock to sort out. I still have a member of command staff who insists on pulling her mags out of her pistol, despite the fact she hasn't needed to for the last couple of decades. The first gun she ever fired was her Gen 1 Glock, in the academy, almost 30 years ago. She rarely practices with supervision outside of quals, and I almost assuredly say that she doesn't practice on her own.
I think that Mr. Glock's intent was to build an accurate, reliable pistol (accurate and reliable enough to pass the military tests), made from advanced materials, with the least number of parts possible. I think he did that in spades. The take down mechanics show a bit of brilliance in their simplicity, but the cost of that brilliance is the attention to not making a loud noise when trying to clean the gun. Palmguy is right, it requires no more attention than dry practice, but pitifully few dry practice, or feel the need to practice at all, and the tendency is to blame the design for the problem in handling. And while ALL NDs are preventable the manual of arms is a concern. Not a deal killer, but something to train to, if you bother to train at all. I am not blaming the design for causing the NDs, but I am saying that the common denominator is the loose nut behind the trigger, and the design does little to enforce safe handling while cleaning. NDs happen while disassembling Sigs, 1911s, and every other make, model and brand of handgun. I am just saying the Glock design requires a little more competent or "tuned in" operator to ensure safety during take down and cleaning, and competent operators are not something that the vendor can supply.
Now I think I have contributed enough to this particular thread drift....
pat
Last edited by UNM1136; 04-17-2014 at 10:08 PM.