Ok, you can’t talk about semi-autos without talking about the Glock… And since I am in the market for a semi-auto 9mm, it wouldn’t be right to overlook the Glock brand… As i said above, I’m not a huge fan of pistols without a manual safety mechanism, but lots of discussions over the past few months have made me realize that weather there is a switch or not, the gun is not going to fire without someone pulling the trigger… Guns just don’t go off… So that opens me up to a large market, and I’m going to start with the Glock.
Glock makes a total of 4 different 9mm hanguns for sale in the US. One of those is a competition model (Glock 34) and another is a sub-compact (Glock 26). Those are two I am not interested in, I have no need for a competition handgun, and I am not interested in the small size of the sub-compact. So I’m going to focus primarily on the Glock 17 and the Glock 19.
The Glock 17 was the first pistol manufactured by Glock. It has been around for plenty long enough to be a tried and tested weapon. I personally have fired the Glock 17 and for some reason it didn’t strike my fancy. I will concede that this was many years ago, and long before I was actually interested in purchasing a 9mm.
The Glock 19 is the compact version of the Glock 17. The primary differences are a smaller magazine (2 less rounds) and smaller dimensions. In all, the 19 is .47 inches shorter in length, with a barrel that is also .47 inches shorter. The 19 is also .43 inches shorter in height, both models are the same width.
What I know about the Glock pistols are this:
1) They are utterly reliable. I have heard of people shooting 30,000+ rounds through them without a hitch.
2) They are damn near indestructible. You can drop them, cover them in dirt, not clean them, get them wet, they will still work fine
3) They aren’t very expensive. Used ones can go for less than $300
In all, they are still on my list of weapons to consider purchasing.
