Advantage Arms, G44 or something else?

[Crow Hunter]

I currently have an old Gen 3 AA conversion that I bought not long after they were first released. I even contributed some ideas to redesigning their original terrible magazine. I have used it quite a bit but it isn't something I shoot every time I go out or anything.

However, I really liked having it "just in case" and I liked that it duplicated my carry gun and I could plink for fun with it much less expensively than I could a 9mm.

Now that I am in the process of converting all my Gen 3 Glocks to Gen 5, I will be getting rid of it and I am wondering what I will replace it with or if I should even replace it at all.

So, what does the collective think?

Would you replace it?

If so, what would you replace it with?

A Glock 44 or a Gen 5 AA conversion? Maybe a Buckmark or a Ruger Mk IV? Something else entirely?

[Doc_Glock]

If I was starting over and wanted a .22 duplicate of a Gen 5 gun, I would get a G44.

If I already owned a well running AA conversion on a dedicated lower, I would just stay with that.

I would be interested in your AA mag modifications if you care to start another thread.

[Crow Hunter]

If I was starting over and wanted a .22 duplicate of a Gen 5 gun, I would get a G44.

If I already owned a well running AA conversion on a dedicated lower, I would just stay with that.

I would be interested in your AA mag modifications if you care to start another thread.

I don't have a dedicated lower. I would just switch out the upper on my training G19.3 but I am going to sell that along with all the rest of my G19.3 so the AA will no longer have a host. I was going to sell that and possibly get something else.

I didn't make any modifications to the current design of magazines this was related to the original magazine they had at launch sorry for the confusion.

The AA mag design changes were made sometime in the late Aughts, I think. Their original magazine had a floating follower and it was made of the same plastic as the body and the front of the follower would tip down and often bind trapping the cartridge stack. It was very frustrating to use. I would have to eject the magazine and use the brass cleaning rod to drive the follower back down to the bottom of the mag body to level it out so that it would feed. Sometimes two or three times a loaded magazine.

I sketched out an idea for a slot on the magazine body that would engage a tab on the follower to keep the follower level during travel and made the recommendation to use a Teflon impregnated polypropylene for the follower and emailed it in. The owner (who was an incredibly nice guy to talk to) called me and we had a fairly long discussion about it and he said he really liked my suggestions. Close to a year later a box of new magazines showed up at my house with a tabbed follower and the whole magazine appeared to be made of a different material along with a magazine loader. Not exactly the way I had sketched it out but they work much, much better now and I like to think I had a hand it helping with that.

Sorry if you thought it was related to the current design of the magazine. I don't have any of the old magazine design or I would post a side/side picture. I threw them out a long time ago.

[Bergeron]

Assuming that you could get equal function from the G44 or the AA kit, it might come down to how you would use the guns.

If you’re going to get a set of G5 19s and a companion G44, and want to keep them separated that way, then perhaps the dedicated G44 is the best choice.

I’ve got G4 G19s and an AA kit, but I value being able to swap around slides to my frames. I’ve recently read that Jagerworks could install RDS onto the AA slides, but I’m already deep enough in other gun projects that I want to get some stuff back in my hands before shipping more back out. I’m sure that there are people experimenting with cutting G44s for RDS as we speak.

[rd62]

All of my current Glocks are reliably functioning Gen 3 models. Several years ago I purchased a separate complete Gen 3 G17 lower and assembled it with a TacSol .22 conversion kit for a dedicated trainer that duplicated my carry and comp guns. I haven't updated it with Ameriglo sights but everything else is the same. My 10 year old has revently started learning on it. It runs well with with Blazer and Remington Yellow Jacket ammo though requires more regular lubrication than my factory Glocks.

If I were starting from scratch now, I'd definitely go with the G44 and may pick up one for my son on his BDay.

[Bergeron]

Hilton Yam has just thrown up a Glock 44 video, done with his typically high quality and levels of insight:

Hilton Yam Glock 44 Initial Review

Short version is that he likes it, and I enjoyed the review.