Worth Upgrading from Gen 3 to Gen 5 Glock? Worth Going from .125" to 0.110" FrontSit?

[noguns]

I hAve 2 gen 3s. Had a 4. Now own a gen 5 mos g19.
I would go all gen 5 mos or FS all day. They are just better.my accuracy is much more consistent with my 5 even before I put an rds on it vs my 3s.

[Jared]

I really prefer Gen 5 to the previous generations. That said, if I had a well vetted Gen 3 that I was shooting 4” or so at 25 with, I would not sell that gun. I’d save up and look for a lightly used Gen 5 to come along and then I’d have both.

[Jim Watson]

I'd get a G5 and see if it made me a better shooter.
If not, it should sell well

If it does, shoot it when accuracy is at a premium.
(And just when is that?)
Your personalized G3s will serve the rest of the time.

[UNM1136]

As far as the sight question I find that as I get older my eyes prefer a narrower front sight with a wider rear, so I get lots more light on either side. Your milage may vary.

pat

[Duelist]

I have several Glocks. My G26.3 shoots well, and isn’t going anywhere, but my 19x shoots better. That’s not really a fair comparison because of the size disparity, but they are the two I have that most closely match up with what you’re talking about.

If I had to pick between the two for carrying all the time, it’s the G26. If I had to pick one to make a particular shot at speed, it’s the 19x. I may/probably will get another 19x and a gen 5 G26 eventually, but not probably this year. No rush.

[JonInWA]

I don't doubt that intrinsically the Gen5 is superior to a Gen 3 Glock-ir should be, or something's wrong at Glock. The key question is, therefore, if you have a Gen 3 is there an innately compelling reason to abandon it and go to a Gen5?

To answer that, you really need to look at the improvements of the Gen5 and dispassionately analyze how applicable they are to you as an individual shooter. The first plateau is an easy one-are you primarily anchored to a 9mm Glock platform? As to date the Gen5 has only been applied to the 9mm Glocks, if you're wedded to a Glock in another caliber, the discussion's irrelevant (or needs to become, "Do I move my Gen 3 to a Gen4?"

The basic improvements the Gen5 has over a Gen 3 is accuracy, improved small parts for several components, improved finish from Gen4, slightly increased ambidexterity functioning, and the other changes carried over from Gen4-improved grip texturing, larger magazine release lever, nested multiple spring RSA, multiple backstraps.

As the owner of a Gen 3 G17, G19, G21 and a Gen4 G22, I find the Gen5 9mms nice, but not personally worthwhile to divest myself of my Gen 3s. The accuracy of my Gen 3s equals, if nt exceeds my shooting capabilities for the most part; all of mine are quite decently accurate. While in general I prefer the Gen4/5's improved grip texturing, I can pretty much achieve the same thing if desired with a segment of mountain bike inner tube. The size of the magazine release I've never particularly had issues with, and my G17 and G19 are sporting the extended Glock magazine release which is more protrusive than any Gen5 option, and my Gen4 G22 has the FBI release.

Triggerpulls on mine are all quite good-especially that on my Gen4 G22, and well-burnished G17. While I do think the Gen5 firing pin safety ad trigger spring assemblies are a genuine product improvements, I've never experienced any issues whatsoever with the set-ups on my earlier Generation Glocks, either from a functionality or triggerpull standpoint.

The Gen5 finishes are an improvement-but only over the finish of the Gen4s; they're no on a parity with the Tennifer of the Gen 3s and earlier Glocks, so no real advantage for me here vis-a-vis Gen5 versus Gen 3.

The Gen5 ejectors have been tuned to eliminate BTF, but that's really an improvement over Gen4 Glocks. While the nested RSAs are effective, they're arguably an improvement most applicable to calibers other than 9mm-particularly .40, .357 SIG, 10 mm, and, probably to a lesser extent, .45 ACP. The OEM single flatwire RSA of the 9mm Glocks was exceptionally workable and reliable. The single flatwire system is more impervious to silt, sand, and other foreign media intrusion, and easier to effectively clean if penetrated or compromised from such; with the nested spring RSA, you may have to just move on to a new RSA if they're media compromised.

The multiple backstrap feature of the Gen4/Gen5 is a nice improvement-especially the running change addition of the increased beavertail MBSs provided in mid-Gen4 production, but I've never encountered any huge insurmountable difficulties in quickly adapting to the Gen 3 frames, arguably other than that of my G21, which continues to be a bit of a work in progress-but that's more an issue of me needing to spend more time with the G21 and .45 ACP to get myself totally on board when using it.

The flared magwells of the Gen5 guns are nice, but I've never particularly experienced any difficulties in reloading my Gen 3 or Gen4 Glocks, so that's a minimal improvement of limited relevance to me-nice, but not really significant.

SO-while I think the Gen5 Glocks are superior 9mm Glocks, the improvements are mostly improvements necessary to fine-tune the Gen4 9mm Glocks, arguably not so much the Gen 3 Glocks. I'm sure I'll get, and appreciate a Gen5, probably a G45 or 19X, but in the meantime am quite satisfied with my Gen3s. Where I might be most tempted would be if Glock makes available the G22 Gen5 they provided for the Brazilian police-a heavier-slide G22 using a modified GAP slide-which arguably should have been the approach utilized for the .40 and .357 SIG Glocks years ago.

Best, Jon

[lwt16]

I'm not big on selling guns that perform well. I'd rather save up and treat myself to a new pistol.

I shoot a lot of 25 and 50 yard bullseye (informal) and was recently issued a G45. I had no interest in the upgrade but my employer did and I was issued the G45 last December.

While I don't measure groups often I can report that the G45 at the short line (25y) produces high 90s for me pretty much religiously. I run 98s for the most part with that gun and it rivals my G41 in printing shots very close to each other. I haven't tried a wide variety of ammunition in it but it doesn't seem to care what load is pushed through the barrel.

In comparison, my fourth generation G17s are mid 90s shooters with the occasional high 90s group. Not getting rid of those any time soon as they are solid shooters and uber reliable. I still drag them out to the range to play with them at the 25/50 and they always do what they need to.

I had a student last week that showed up for his first lesson and he's serious about learning. He showed up with his G19.3 and his G17.4, a case of ammunition, and he paid for four lessons in advance. We started out learning trigger press and how crucial it is to good shooting and he came a long way in his first hour. He asked the same thing you are asking......should he consider a fifth gen Glock.

I let him shoot my G45 and there wasn't much difference in his grouping as he hasn't mastered his trigger press. His pistols are still going to be beneficial to his learning and I recommended that he stick with what he has equipment wise and ammunition and lessons are what he needs currently. He's crawling now and soon we will walk and eventually run.

I find that most all pistols will "all black" a B8 with proper technique and decent ammunition. This G45 I have "seems" to be one of the easiest pistols to get all hits in the black when it comes to what I have in the safe (polymer wise). The other pistol that I have that rivals it is my G41 for polymer and my Colt Gold Cup NM.

Not sure where you are age wise but if you are like me and you are 50......I am sure that reading glasses are a necessary thing for sharp front sight focus. I am kicking the idea around about purchasing a G45 MOS this year and finally getting into "dots". I have been putting that off since I can't run optics at work on either rifle or pistol and may get a dot in my retirement year. I get blue label pricing so it's not going to be a financial burden to my ammo budget nor the regular family budget. If you can, rent a gen 5 or borrow one and see if there is any benefit to you.

Good luck with it.

[Matt O]

One slightly less expensive option is to go with a quality after market barrel. My carry gun is an old gen 3 RTF version with a bar-sto barrel that can easily hang with my gen 5 pistols. Keep in mind, quality ammo is an important component of 25 yard accuracy, but this is an example of how it shoots with 147 gr HST.

[HALO51]

The upgraded parts:
1)Trigger Spring
2)Slide Stop Spring
3)Slide Lock Spring

Those 3 upgrades are huge reliability improvements & impervious to breakage compared to the older design and rarely get mentioned and worth it for me.

[EVP]

I agree with Matt O above


Honestly I would not get rid of any of your gen 3 guns, especially if they are 9mm and made before 2009 era. You mentioned you have a lot of spare parts and stuff.

Get a fitted Bar-sto or full fit Wilson barrel if you want to increase your mechanical accuracy. Honestly if I had 3or 4 early gen 3 g19 or 17s i would be good to go and honestly not really interested in gen 5s.