Glock 26 Gen 5

[Rex G]

So, I cannot buy a Gen 5 G-26. I did buy a Gen 3 G-26 from a police products store in OC that sells guns at close to its cost to cops and honorably retired cops. Based upon what I've read, the Gen 3 is extremely reliable. It will be at he OC store by Fri. I have a few days to decide. I do not want to deviate from the topic of the G-26. Based upon its weight, it seems ideally suited for the 9MM. Recoil should be manageable thereby promoting sight picture retention. Avoid discussion about cartridges, do any G-26 owners regret not going with a G-27? Because pf my direct knowledge of the Sig P229 .40 S&W and the Sig P239 .40 S&W. I'm jumping back-and-forth over the imaginary line separating the G-26 & G-27. Because of the gun's size and weight, I'm tilting toward the G-26.

Buying a self-defense handgun involves compromises. In a perfect world, I'd carry a full-size 1911-A1 .45 ACP. I prefer single stack mags. I'm good with double-stack mags that have a proven record.

I'd greatly appreciate replies from shooters with actual experience firing both models.

I have no experience, yet, firing a Gen5 G26, but will affirm that there is NOTHING wrong with the Gen3 G26. When I realized that my LEO-ing career was in late twilight, I sold my Gen4 G26, which had become my ankle-carried back-up, when I transitioned to my duty G17. I wanted one of my former rookie trainees to have an absolutely reliable second gun, without having to wait until he could afford to pay for the gun, as well well as the ammo to truly and thoroughly vet it. Well, after I retired, I realized that I missed having a G26, but the panic-demic made it difficult to buy any Glocks, new or used. When the pipeline re-opened, the first new G26 I found, available for sale, locally, was a Gen3 G26, and I bought it. Well, upon unboxing, it had the best, cleanest factory trigger pull of any new Glock I had ever handled. I reckon that Glock has had plenty of time to get the Gen3 manufacturing process honed to perfection.

There is nothing wrong, or inferior, about a Gen3 G26. You have an excellent weapon, well-suited to “ride the river with,” or walk through The Valley Of The Shadow of Death.

I say all of this as a 1911/Revolver Guy. A Glock is like a Dewalt drill, just a decent tool, to get an important job done right. An important job, like prevailing, in deadly incidents. There is NOTHING wrong with a Gen3 G26.

In my opinion, the G26 is a better weapon than the G27. In 2002, when I transitioned to the G22 duty pistol, .40 was the mandated duty cartridge, so, it made sense to buy a G27 to be the ankle gun. Big mistake. It was not painful, but what an annoying weapon, to fire. I soon resumed carrying my Ruger SP101, loaded with Magnums, as the ankle gun, while on the clock. I returned to “Baby” Glocks, with the Gen4 G26, in 2015, to back-up my Gen4 G17, when my then-chief OK’ed 9mm duty pistols. 9mm seems to be a best choice, for Baby Glocks.

Again, there is nothing wrong with a Gen3 G26. My budget should ease-up, a bit, later this month, so, I just might inquire at the local cop shop, and/or local gun stroes, to see if I can add another Gen3 G26. The best insurance policy is a spare.

[blues]

My Gen 2.5 (which is essentially a Gen3) was purchased in 1995 or so...carried on and off the job, and has worked like a champ since day one. It is part of my very small permanent collection.

[psalms144.1]

I prefer no finger grooves, so, to me the Gen5 is an improvement. Having said that, when I've owned and shot G26s almost since they came on the market, and no countless numbers of LE types who bought, shoot, and still carry their 3rd Gen G26s with no issues. In fact, while I was running a protection detail for a high level DOD Commander, we had 3rd Gen G26s to compliment our G19s. I carried mine on the ankle daily for almost five years, and took it as a "primary" pistol to several high-round-count "name" training courses. Never bobbled. Barring being harder to reload than the G19, I think it's every bit as good of a "primary" as the 19.

I would not, in any way, worry about having a 3rd Gen over a Gen5 26...

[Rex G]

I will add that Gen3 Glocks do have a following, here in Texas, even though we can freely buy current-Generation pistols. There is absolutely nothing inferior, or wrong, with Gen3 Glocks.

The best thing about the Gen4, was a better fit, in many folks’ hands. This made a noticeable difference, for me, with the full-sized-grip models, such as the G17, but not with the Baby Glocks.

The Gen5 G26 offers the additional slide latch lever, on the right side, for lefties to be able to manipulate with their left thumbs, but I am a lefty*, with Glocks, and find that the “ambidextrous” slide latch lever just gets in my way, when handling my G19x and Gen5 G17. I have been in no hurry to add a Gen5 G26.

*I write lefty, and throw righty. To make a long story short, being reasonably ambidextrous with handguns, I chose to carry on the right side, in 1983, but my right thumb, hand, wrist, and shoulder have not aged as well as those parts on my left side, so, in retirement, I now consider myself to be a lefty, with most auto-loading pistols.

[HeavyDuty]

… do any G-26 owners regret not going with a G-27? Because pf my direct knowledge of the Sig P229 .40 S&W and the Sig P239 .40 S&W. I'm jumping back-and-forth over the imaginary line separating the G-26 & G-27. Because of the gun's size and weight, I'm tilting toward the G-26.

I didn’t see this when you first posted it.

I’m a .40 fan, even though I carry a 9mm or .45 more often. I have four subcompact Glocks - a 33.4, a pair of 26.5s (one RDS, one irons) and a 27.5 with RDS. The 27 is (was) my one of my cold weather guns in NH, not as much of a concern now that I’m in Texas.

I purchased the first 27.5 I saw because they finally got it right. I had a 23.2 for years, and the 9mm sized slide wasn’t the best choice. It was ok for me since I didn’t shoot the volumes needed to break things and I kept up with recoil spring replacements, but it was pretty harsh.

The 27.5 is a totally different beast. The slightly wider slide adds enough mass to completely change the shooting experience. The gun doesn’t feel like it’s on the ragged edge like the earlier gen 27s I've shot over the years.

If you can get a 27.5, I’d give it a chance. If not, I’d stick with any generaton 26.

[LockedBreech]

I have no experience, yet, firing a Gen5 G26, but will affirm that there is NOTHING wrong with the Gen3 G26. When I realized that my LEO-ing career was in late twilight, I sold my Gen4 G26, which had become my ankle-carried back-up, when I transitioned to my duty G17. I wanted one of my former rookie trainees to have an absolutely reliable second gun, without having to wait until he could afford to pay for the gun, as well well as the ammo to truly and thoroughly vet it. Well, after I retired, I realized that I missed having a G26, but the panic-demic made it difficult to buy any Glocks, new or used. When the pipeline re-opened, the first new G26 I found, available for sale, locally, was a Gen3 G26, and I bought it. Well, upon unboxing, it had the best, cleanest factory trigger pull of any new Glock I had ever handled. I reckon that Glock has had plenty of time to get the Gen3 manufacturing process honed to perfection.

There is nothing wrong, or inferior, about a Gen3 G26. You have an excellent weapon, well-suited to “ride the river with,” or walk through The Valley Of The Shadow of Death.

I say all of this as a 1911/Revolver Guy. A Glock is like a Dewalt drill, just a decent tool, to get an important job done right. An important job, like prevailing, in deadly incidents. There is NOTHING wrong with a Gen3 G26.

In my opinion, the G26 is a better weapon than the G27. In 2002, when I transitioned to the G22 duty pistol, .40 was the mandated duty cartridge, so, it made sense to buy a G27 to be the ankle gun. Big mistake. It was not painful, but what an annoying weapon, to fire. I soon resumed carrying my Ruger SP101, loaded with Magnums, as the ankle gun, while on the clock. I returned to “Baby” Glocks, with the Gen4 G26, in 2015, to back-up my Gen4 G17, when my then-chief OK’ed 9mm duty pistols. 9mm seems to be a best choice, for Baby Glocks.

Again, there is nothing wrong with a Gen3 G26. My budget should ease-up, a bit, later this month, so, I just might inquire at the local cop shop, and/or local gun stroes, to see if I can add another Gen3 G26. The best insurance policy is a spare.

Great post, and very true. My brother had a Gen 3 G27 he carried on duty for about 10 years. I had a Gen 4 G26 with Ameriglo CAPs I had carried for about two. His agency switched to G17s and officers have to buy their own backups, so to save him the cash I just gave him mine (he gave me the 10-year-old G27, lol, I think I got the worse of that trade but I'm fine with it, was my idea). As far as I know the G26 has served perfectly for a couple or three years now. Even the much maligned Gen 3 G27 did a perfect job for 10 years, nary an issue.

The baby Glocks are probably the most squared away Glocks aside from the G17 itself. The G26 in particular I don't think I've ever heard a bad word about in any generation. Even when Gen 4s were having brass-flinging issues I think the G26 was exempt because they kept using the captive system from Gen 3. I don't carry a baby Glock anymore because it's too chubby given the P365 and Shield Plus options but they're undoubtedly extremely good guns that have been vetted to hell.

[Wonder9]

Stopped by my LGS for the range and ending up with a USA-made Gen5 G26 instead of waiting for the 26 MOS. Lubed it up and hit the range with mixed results.

First 50 rounds was an absolute dog with Norma 124 grain FMJ. Had 7 FTFs with the cartridge not fully loading into the chamber at a sharp angle. Couple of failures to lock back on the last round, and 1 FRTB. Happened with all three OEM 10 round magazines and a Magpul G19 magazine I had in the range bag. Was pretty disappointed since I have never had a Glock shoot this bad. Stripped the slide and ran a paper towel down the striker channel. Intentionally limp-wristed on the last magazine of Norma and only was able to get one FTF of that last magazine.

Then I shot 150 rounds of S&B FMJ and 50 rounds Winchester Service Grade FMJ-FP with absolutely no issues at all with the same magazines. Accuracy is sublime, so I'm willing to hunt down the gremlins. I have 200 rounds left of the Norma 124s, so I'm going to try another 100 rounds of the Norma plus 150 of Win 9mm NATO to troubleshoot if it's a G26 problem or Norma problem.

[Caballoflaco]

Stopped by my LGS for the range and ending up with a USA-made Gen5 G26 instead of waiting for the 26 MOS. Lubed it up and hit the range with mixed results.

First 50 rounds was an absolute dog with Norma 124 grain FMJ. Had 7 FTFs with the cartridge not fully loading into the chamber at a sharp angle. Couple of failures to lock back on the last round, and 1 FRTB. Happened with all three OEM 10 round magazines and a Magpul G19 magazine I had in the range bag. Was pretty disappointed since I have never had a Glock shoot this bad. Stripped the slide and ran a paper towel down the striker channel. Intentionally limp-wristed on the last magazine of Norma and only was able to get one FTF of that last magazine.

Then I shot 150 rounds of S&B FMJ and 50 rounds Winchester Service Grade FMJ-FP with absolutely no issues at all with the same magazines. Accuracy is sublime, so I'm willing to hunt down the gremlins. I have 200 rounds left of the Norma 124s, so I'm going to try another 100 rounds of the Norma plus 150 of Win 9mm NATO to troubleshoot if it's a G26 problem or Norma problem.

Your Norma ammo isn’t one of the recall lots is it?

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...mo-recall/amp/

determine if you are impacted.

WARNING: IMPORTANT RECALL NOTICE REGARDING CERTAIN 9MM AMMUNITION

RUAG Ammotec USA, Inc. is issuing a voluntary recall of specific SKUs/articles and corresponding Lot numbers of 9mm ammunition identified below, due to possible performance inconsistencies in a small percentage of the ammunition.

DANGER: STOP USING YOUR 9MM AMMUNITION IMMEDIATELY UNTIL IT HAS BEEN DETERMINED WHETHER YOUR AMMUNITION FALLS WITHIN THE BELOW SKU/ARTICLE/LOT NUMBER LIST. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THIS INSTRUCTION COULD RESULT IN DAMAGE TO YOUR FIREARM AND/OR INJURY
POTENTIALLY AFFECTED SKU/LOT NUMBERS
GECO 202200025 – Lot No: SAV22D0052, SAV22D0053, SAV22D0054, SAV22D0055, SAVD0056, SAVD0057, SAVD0058, SAVD0059, SAVD0060
GECO 202200020 – Lot No: SAV22D0085, SAV22D0086
Norma 911550050 – Lot No: SAV22C0024, SAV22C0025
Norma 912450050 – Lot No: SAV22C0037, SAV22C0038, SAV22C0039, SAV22C0040, SAV22C0041
GECO 270840050 – Lot No: SAV22C0030, SAV22C0033
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

Through its quality control efforts, RUAG has identified possible crimping irregularities in a small number of rounds within the ammunition SKUs/Lots identified above that could allow the projectile to be seated further into the casing than intended. Continued use of the potentially affected ammunition could impact safe firearm performance leading to property damage and/or injury.
This issue could affect a small percentage of ammunition within the SKUs/Lots identified in the chart above.If you are uncertain as to whether your ammunition falls with the potentially impacted SKU/Lot numbers, or if you have any additional questions concerning this notification or need assistance with these instructions, please contact a RUAG Customer Service Representative by email: sales@ammoshoponline.com or phone: (912) 342-2272. For more information about this notice, you call also visit Ammoshoponline.com
HOW TO DETERMINE THE SKU/LOT NUMBER FOR YOUR AMMUNITION

The SKU and/or Lot number for your ammunition is located on the packaging as follows:


Image from press release
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR AMMUNITION IS AFFECTED

Once you have determined, based on its SKU/Article/Lot number, that your ammunition is one of the affected products, please sumit [sic] a return request by email:Sales@ammoshoponline or by phone: (912)342-2272 to receive pre-paid shipping label. Once your ammunition is returned, we will refund your full purchase price for the subject ammunition through your original payment method and provide a discount code for 20% off your next purchase at Ammoshoponline.com (“Discount Code”). The Discount Code is valid until July 31, 2022.

[Wonder9]

Your Norma ammo isn’t one of the recall lots is it?

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...mo-recall/amp/

No, the red box Norma doesn't follow those lot number formats Plus it didn't give me grief in my other Glocks.

It's times like this I curse living in the city limits because I can't just shoot a few G18 magazines as fast as possible off the back porch to troubleshoot.

[Flashman]

I have found my Gen5 26 is very sensitive to cartridge size--has a very tight chamber. Remove the barrel and see if the Norma rounds properly fit in the chamber (and can be easily rotated in the chamber).