G19- still the standard?

[SW CQB 45]

my main duty ride is 1911 .45 acp.

my main off duty carry is a G19 built in 2016, brand new (back then) G4 frame and early serial number G4 upper.
the finger grooves were ground off and light texture applied for additional grip. High front strap. (thank you COLD BORE CUSTOM)
It was sent for a direct fit RDS for small button Holosun (kinda high for today's standards) / He also machined front slide serrations. (L&M Precision Gunworks)
and the action has some judicious polishing. (me)
Langdon do dad as my hand will trap the mag, on reloads without it.
It has quite a few rounds through with zero issues.

I bought a G48 to somewhat fill its role in a thinner capacity.

I much prefer the G19.

I am seriously thinking about GPT for this dude.

[Noah]

Everyone tends to look at things through their own prisms for sure. Upthread a comment was made that you had to be a bigger guy to conceal a Glock 19... which IME, isn't true. I'm not particularly tall, nor big (170lbs if I've eaten a nice steak that day), and I've concealed a Glock 19 of one sort or another for nearly 20 years. I generally don't wear fitted T-shirts, but I don't dress like a slob or wear huge "gun burkas" (hat tip to @Tamara) ... though you'll usually find me with some sort of patterned button down shirt in summer or flannel in the cooler months. Proper holsters, belts, and clothing selection makes concealing a G19 fairly easy.

I'm also not really willing to compromise shooting a smaller more easily concealable gun, like a 365. For most folks, they will shoot a Glock 19 better than that smaller gun, and that includes the bigger 365 variants. For some folks, that works, and their trade off comes out different. I will say I can shoot my G26 almost as well as a G19... and sometimes carry it instead of the bigger gun. But if I had to choose one or the other as my only pistol I'd take the 19 every time. I've shot a few 365 variants, and for me, they don't shoot as well as the old standby 19. That is absolutely not a knock on the 365, as they've turned out to be pretty awesome guns that work for a lot of folks. They fill a niche that a lot of folks think they need, and Sig will continue to sell a crap ton of them.

There are guns that are better for specific things, and some folks may have a preference for some other specific pistol, but I still firmly believe that the Glock 19 is firmly top of the heap as far as a general purpose jack of all trades sidearm for general issue to a wide variety of folks, when you take all it's qualities into account.

Is it the best gun ever or "Perfection" ? No. But its pretty damn good, and can be pressed into service and put to good use for probably 80-90% of uses... especially if one is willing to learn the quirks of shooting a Glock well.

I’m 6 foot 1, 165. Your “button down with a pattern” only proves my point- my post was about getting actual concealment with a tee shirt on. If I’m bearing a patterned button down I can carry my G34 just fine, and have carried 19s for years.

[BillSWPA]

If we are talking about actual concealment on a daily basis, and we recommend a Glock 19 to a new shooter, we are not only telling them to buy a gun, but also telling them they are going to have to buy a new wardrobe. All of their pants will now need an extra 1.5 inches in the waistband. All of their shirts, sweaters, etc. may now have to be a bit bigger.

I prefer to keep things as simple as possible for a new gun owner. A P365 can provide a 3 finger grip with either 12 round magazines or 10 round magazines with the finger extension. The flat base pad 10’round magazines make the gun small enough for pocket carry, and will help the gun really disappear IWB.

[RJ]

A 19 has major pluses of reliability, accuracy and ubiquity. It's made of simple materials, and you can take it completely apart with a ballpoint pen. You can get spare mags at the corner store in Cody Wyoming. It remains a fantastic do it all option. Still comes with plastic dovetail protectors (kudos @Tamara for that useful phrase) and staple gun trigger though.

I think it comes down to what @Lost River mentioned: if you include "duty" use then I'd say I can't think of something better or more all around than a Glock 19 for CCW, plus home defense, plus occasional duty use.

But if you are like me, a .civ geezer, the P365 series (all sizes, P365 / X / XL / Macro) is just better all-around than the Glock 19. I've had six Glocks, and no longer own any of them. At this point for striker 9mm I just have two P365 FCUs and a couple slides, and swap them around as needed. Primary carry config is a P365X (that get's converted to a P365 from time to time) and primary HD/competition is a P365 X Macro.

But if you told me all I could have was a Glock 19 MOS Gen 5, I'd be ok with that. *

* Funny story of how much of a moron I am: I was taking my Tim Herron class last year in Miami, and drove the 3 hours to my hotel Friday night. I realized when I got there I had left my Glock 34 at home. Eek. So I took the class with my carry Glock 19. I groused some to Tim I was using my carry gun for class; he quite rightly said to me it didn't matter, my gun was not my problem and I needed to get on with shooting. After class Saturday I cleaned it, then loaded it up with carry ammo to go the grocery store for food. And then shot the class the next day. And drove home from Miami with it. So, yeah, a Glock 19 works for sure.

[Texaspoff]

my main duty ride is 1911 .45 acp.

my main off duty carry is a G19 built in 2016, brand new (back then) G4 frame and early serial number G4 upper.
the finger grooves were ground off and light texture applied for additional grip. High front strap. (thank you COLD BORE CUSTOM)
It was sent for a direct fit RDS for small button Holosun (kinda high for today's standards) / He also machined front slide serrations. (L&M Precision Gunworks)
and the action has some judicious polishing. (me)
Langdon do dad as my hand will trap the mag, on reloads without it.
It has quite a few rounds through with zero issues.

I bought a G48 to somewhat fill its role in a thinner capacity.

I much prefer the G19.

I am seriously thinking about GPT for this dude.

Your very welcome, and yes I'm a huge fan of the 19 myself. Working on a new 19.5 build for me, and carrying one of my other 19.5. Just swapped out a Timney and thew in the new V2 GPT with a Ranger Proof Vex, same as Johnny Glocks, they make them for him. I believe this may be my favorite trigger setup to date.







TXPO

[cosermann]

One thing a lot of people seem to forget about when it comes to "shootability," is how that translates into how much you'll train and/or practice.

I coordinated a private class for a dozen folks a couple of years ago and a young lady showed up with a G43 because it "fit her hand."

After only a few strings I could see she was struggling with the snappiness, so I loaned her a G19 and holster for the rest of the class. It was like night and day.

Seems to me if someone is buying their first handgun, and likely ONLY handgun at that point, it should be something they can and will train/practice with or they'll never develop the skills/proficiency they'll need if things ever go south. The G19 and other midsize 9s provide that. (Full size revolvers do too, but this is the semi-auto sub forum.)

Otherwise they just end up with a lucky charm to carry around to make themselves feel safer.

[mmc45414]

I think The Standard has a lot to do with the Four Inch / Fifteen Rounds / ~24oz form factor combination being a do anything sweet spot. And they seemed to have that to themselves long enough that everybody just wants one, like a Civic or Tacoma.

Now things are a little fuzzy, since you can get all that now, only slimmer.

[Lost River]

My primary G19 that gets used most often is one that has been used a good bit. I found that it has served well in the HD role too, as I simply keep it close by with a light attached, along with a regular white light for appropriate uses.



The factory 24 round mags are just the right size, as they are not too long and unwieldy, yet long enough that I would expect that they should provide sufficient capacity for most needs. Loaded with 25 rounds of 148 grain +P hardcast flatpoints, the little G19 is a fairly decent little HD tool.

[Chuck Whitlock]

The question was asked if it was still "the go to" suggestion for a handgun that could cover ccw, home defense, and a duty role

For a handgun that can be used as a duty weapon, as well as fill the role as a CCW piece and Home Defense, I would say that the Glock 19 is still the gold standard. You may find a certain gun that does one thing better, such as CCW, another that is better at the role of being a duty gun, but for a handgun that can do all those roles and do them actually quite well, I would say you really are going to have a hard time saying that the G19 does not do those roles quite nicely.

I asked myself...If not the G19, then what?

Couldn't really come up with anything that could fill those 3 roles better.

For those 3 roles, it is still the gold standard.

There may well be perfectly sound reasons for someone to deviate from that standard, and for those specific reasons choose otherwise, such as an M&P9c 2.0, or a 365XL, or a 1911, et. al. given their particular circumstances.

I personally carried a Gen3 G23 (later with a 9mm barrel) for ~15 years. but towards the end began to realize that it was actually on the large side of the scale for me (adding a GFA made the trigger unreachable for me). So I found that guns with smaller grips and shorter trigger reach were better for me, but that doesn't change the standard.

So, if the G19 is not the answer, there should be very specific reasons why it is not, many of which have been mentioned above.

[LockedBreech]

For me my G5 G19 remains the midsize answer simply because I haven't been able to trust Sig enough to fully pour myself into the P365 universe yet. I have a P365-MS (well, my wife does, but she is terrible about carrying it so I end up snagging it more than her), with an eye on a P365XL-OR or Macro, but I still seem to see more QC reports with Sigs than Glocks. Perhaps just a function of popularity, but it has been a mental block with me. I will continue to get past it as I continue to shoot my (wife's) P365, which has been perfect thus far. At present it gets fairly little carry time, with me opting for more more-proven Shield Plus. But that may change. I do prefer most things about the P365, I just don't trust it quite as much.

I fully acknowledge my hangups aren't really logic-based and the solution is dumping about 2,000 rounds through a P365 until I get past the mental block and form that trust connection. It's cheesy and perhaps sentimental, but I think trust in your tools is important.

As an aside, I consider the M&P 2.0 Compact every bit as viable an omni-answer as the G19. Identically sized, identically reliable, identically shootable. At least in my experience.

My go-to for the last few months has been the CZ P10S, and if that holds up over time the CZ P10 S / C will join that omni-answer category too. We are in an age of plenty for midsize multipurpose guns.