*THE* Gen 5 Glock thread: First Impressions, Reviews and Thoughts

[MGW]

Handling the Gen 5 and 4 17, it sure seems I can get a higher hand position on the Gen 5. Anyone else noticed this?

I picked up a Blue label 17 with plastic sights yesterday and thought the same thing. It feels really nice without a beavertail on it. I think I'll be able to shoot it bare without getting cut.

It also feels like the trigger breaks farther forward but doesn't have a lot of over travel. I don't own a VP9 anymore but seems like a similar breakpoint.

Have a set of Dawson Competition sights to throw on it. Should get to put a couple hundred rounds through it today. Had to make a small relief cut in my Keepers to clear the ambi release.

[Larry Sellers]

Here I am excited that my 4th gen 34 is at the shop waiting for me to pick it up. Sigh.

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[Mjolnir]

While in a a training class overseas several years ago, I had the opportunity to shoot with 2 Elite units. They were running stock Glocks with many thousands of rounds downrange and these guys shoot everyday for a living. They were amazing to watch The instructor explained the grip angle and how perfect it was and compared it then to the P7, which they transitioned from. Us Americans weren't used to this type of natural angle, the way the wrist is designed. We are used to the 1911 style. I ran this by an Orthopedic Dr friend of mine and he said the Glock angle is the perfect angle in which the forearm, wrist and hand are formed. Why you ask then the different backstraps from Glock? Because the American market wanted it, we weren't used to this type of angle. Thats why my foreign sports from Germany came with no radio, or cupholders. In Germany they're meant to be driven hard and fast and not meant to be luxury. Buy the same car in the USA you get the radio, cupholders. Why? market demand. Gaston was an absolute genius and Glock doesn't always explain their reasons, but they do know what they're doing. The grip angle was for a reason. It's perfect.

The German sports cars have radios standard. It's the GT2RS and GT3RS where it's a no cost option as is A/C.

No A/C in Baton Rouge? Yeah, riiight... you couldn't use the vehicle for 8 months out of the year.

I'm with you on Grip angle. It's not "comfortable" but it is as it should be if it does not cause long term issues. And I'm not suggesting it does. If one book everything down to FIGHTING the Glock makes sense. Just as if you boil everything down to driving fast and WELL on a closed road course the Porsche 991 GT3 makes sense.

Now where's my winning Powerball ticket....


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[Mjolnir]

I picked up a Blue label 17 with plastic sights yesterday and thought the same thing. It feels really nice without a beavertail on it. I think I'll be able to shoot it bare without getting cut.

It also feels like the trigger breaks farther forward but doesn't have a lot of over travel. I don't own a VP9 anymore but seems like a similar breakpoint.

Have a set of Dawson Competition sights to throw on it. Should get to put a couple hundred rounds through it today. Had to make a small relief cut in my Keepers to clear the ambi release.

Undercut trigger, maybe??

I took a little wet-dry sandpaper to mine to further enhance what the mold creates. Add the flared mag well and MY hand is comfortably "wedged in" quite well in the 19.5.

The trigger is a mixed bag. Mixed as in DIFFERENT; not "good - bad". Like the LEM I feel this is an outstanding trigger for a serious social pistol.

For Striker-fired pistols I think "the washed" will be looking at the 19.5 and the CZ P10C though I will admit that the P320C shoots remarkably well even though the trigger pull is not to my liking. Sig will sell all they can make once they get their re-design filling their manufacturing and distribution pipeline.


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[Thy.Will.Be.Done]

I'm an admitted HK P7 fanboy and carried one for duty for several years. The P7's were developed after the Munich massacre in the 70's. Many as do I consider it the best built (sold billet steel) durable, reliable, smoothest shooting 9mm ever made. Sure some will say the barrel gets hot after a few mags, but it's a pure combat weapon and not used for hundreds of rounds range session, but you still can, just don't touch the barrel.. The HK P7 is a 110' angle from palm to index finger. Measure the Glock? pretty much the same. So, what's wrong with the Glock grip? Nothing. It's perfect. It starts the natural setting of the wrist with camming action the HK introduced. Shooting a pistol isn't supposed to be comfortable, if held properly it will actually be quite painful if done correctly. Hold a Beretta, Sig, 1911 its...These pistols do not have the same natural angle the Glock or P7 does by setting wrists. These pistols have a straight presentation when pointed and wrists are unlocked. Ron Avery has some great videos on this. The science behind the grip.

Got any links to those videos?

[BigT]

Our team trained with GSG 9 years ago (here stateside) but for the life of me I can no longer remember what the guys were carrying in terms of their handguns...whether Glock, HK or Sig.

They have used G17's for a pretty long time as I understand it.

[blues]

They have used G17's for a pretty long time as I understand it.

Thanks. It's hard to keep track since mostly we were concentrating on MP5, shotgun etc with the handguns as secondary.

Same goes for when SAS came and shared some of their entry techniques. I don't recall what they were using in the late 80's, early 90's.

Getting old is hell.

[spyderco monkey]

While in a a training class overseas several years ago, I had the opportunity to shoot with 2 Elite units. They were running stock Glocks with many thousands of rounds downrange and these guys shoot everyday for a living. They were amazing to watch The instructor explained the grip angle and how perfect it was and compared it then to the P7, which they transitioned from. Us Americans weren't used to this type of natural angle, the way the wrist is designed. We are used to the 1911 style. I ran this by an Orthopedic Dr friend of mine and he said the Glock angle is the perfect angle in which the forearm, wrist and hand are formed. Why you ask then the different backstraps from Glock? Because the American market wanted it, we weren't used to this type of angle. Thats why my foreign sports from Germany came with no radio, or cupholders. In Germany they're meant to be driven hard and fast and not meant to be luxury. Buy the same car in the USA you get the radio, cupholders. Why? market demand. Gaston was an absolute genius and Glock doesn't always explain their reasons, but they do know what they're doing. The grip angle was for a reason. It's perfect.

The thing about ergonomics is that they are not universal. There is tremendous variation in the size of the human hand, and all of that will effect the actual effect of the grip angle.

Here's a chart showing all the different measurement variables in the human hand - it's a lot more then just small, medium, and large glove sizes:


The Glock grip angle is not perfect or imperfect, any more then the 1911 is perfect or imperfect. Prior to the introduction of the removable backstrap, a designer had to pick a grip angle. And it was generally "good enough."

But with the introduction of the removable grip backstrap + polymer frames, there really is no reason to design for "good enough," when actual "perfection" is just some mold tooling away. With removable backstraps, the user can change the grip angle to suit his unique hand/wrist alignment.

Here is an example as offered by Robar, called the TriFit, that with a simple backstrap swap, allows the Glock to go from Glock angle, to Sig angle, to 1911 angle:



And of course, the Lone Wolf Timberwolf frame offers the same 1911, Sig, and Glock angle option. Now with 3D printing, we could likely design for an entire rainbow arc of grip angles to suit the user.

What really kills me is that this is tech that has been on the market for 20 years now. And, it costs basically nothing to add to the handgun, as it's all made with injection molded plastic. Glock already had to cut new tooling for the Gen 4, and they already had to offer extra backstaps. They just chose to go with "stack on" backstraps instead of making them actually removable.

Really, it's not like I'm asking for something fanciful like "metal sights." Just a better use of plastic.

[JHC]

While in a a training class overseas several years ago, I had the opportunity to shoot with 2 Elite units. They were running stock Glocks with many thousands of rounds downrange and these guys shoot everyday for a living. They were amazing to watch The instructor explained the grip angle and how perfect it was and compared it then to the P7, which they transitioned from. Us Americans weren't used to this type of natural angle, the way the wrist is designed. We are used to the 1911 style. I ran this by an Orthopedic Dr friend of mine and he said the Glock angle is the perfect angle in which the forearm, wrist and hand are formed. Why you ask then the different backstraps from Glock? Because the American market wanted it, we weren't used to this type of angle. Thats why my foreign sports from Germany came with no radio, or cupholders. In Germany they're meant to be driven hard and fast and not meant to be luxury. Buy the same car in the USA you get the radio, cupholders. Why? market demand. Gaston was an absolute genius and Glock doesn't always explain their reasons, but they do know what they're doing. The grip angle was for a reason. It's perfect.

Because reasons.

I ran a P7 pretty hard in the 90's before changing to BHPs. It is quite something.

[JSGlock34]

Thanks. It's hard to keep track since mostly we were concentrating on MP5, shotgun etc with the handguns as secondary.

Same goes for when SAS came and shared some of their entry techniques. I don't recall what they were using in the late 80's, early 90's.

Getting old is hell.

They replaced the Browning Hi-Power with the SIG P226 in the late 80s (type designated as the L105A1 by the British).