BORELLI CONSULTING: Tactical Equipment Reviews

Glock 19: Ten Years On
By Frank Borelli

A little more than ten years ago, I purchased a Glock Model 19 9mm handgun as my off-duty weapon. The PD I was with at the time was issuing Beretta 92Fs and while I don't have (big) issues with the performance of the 9mm cartridge (let's admit it: it's more than 100 years old and we've got it figured out) I don't care for the size of the Beretta 92F when it comes to off-duty carry. Due to responsibilities I had as the agency firearms instructor, I was already a Glock armorer and was familiar with the simplicity of the weapons. That appealed to me. Less to break. So, I went to the local gun dealer and purchased my G19. It's a second generation model and I've since made a few minor modifications to it. This week's review is of the G19 and how it's held up / performed across that ten years. With the exception of recommended parts upgrades, nothing has ever had to be replaced. That is to say that nothing has ever worn out or been broken.

Let's take a quick look at the basics of the G19 before we examine differences between 2nd and 3rd generation...

As is common with all European designed / manufactured weapons, all of the specifications are in metric. Forgive me but I've never gotten used to thinking / measuring in metric so the specifications I'm going to list here are in inches, pounds, etc.

The Glock 19 is essentially a reduced version of the Glock 17. The barrel length is 4.02" while the pistol's overall length is 6.85". Height is 5" and width is 1.18". The G19 holds 15 rounds of 9mm in its standard magazines (unless you live in one of those states that still restricts magazines to ten rounds). So, with one in the chamber, you get 16 rounds of 9mm in the gun. It's quite a handy package.

Should you need the extra two rounds to reach the full capacity of a Glock 17, you have two options:

1) Use the magazines for a G17 as shown right. This means the magazine protrudes from the bottom of the grip slightly, but function is perfect.

2) Use "+2" baseplates on your magazines. These increase the capacity of your 15-round magazines to 17 and present a slightly more streamlined appearance as compared to the regular 17-rounders.

The Glock is a "safe action" pistol which means it's neither single or double action. Every pull of the trigger does "load" pressure onto the striker mechanism and then releases it when the trigger is fully pressed. However, once the trigger bar has been released by pulling the trigger it is dependent upon the cycling of the slide to re-engage with the trigger. In other words, if you have a misfire due to a hard primer or whatever, you have to cycle the slide to fix your malfunction. There is no option for a second pull of the trigger on that round.

On my Glock 19, as you can see from these pictures, I've had the slide Duracoated OD Green. The benefit? In all actuality this simply keeps my guns easily identifiable at the range amongst a collection of other Glocks. The Duracoating material isn't any harder than the tenifer finish that Glock applies to their slides. The other modification I've made to my Glock 19 is the addition of XS Sights 24/7 Small Dot sights. This shallow-V rear and easy to find DOT front makes quick sight alignment in high risk time compressed situations easy to find and line up. As much as everyone talks about the importance of the front sight, I think these sights would be obvious in their value. My qualification scores haven't gone down at all since I installed them and in some instances my speed of shot placement has improved.

As to the gun itself...

As I said, I've had nothing break or require replacement. Through the years Glock has released recommended upgrade packages and I've kept up on them. But I've never had any part break to include the extractor and ejector. Each time I've had my Glock at the range I've been careful to detail strip it and clean it. Just for grins and giggles once I shot close to 1,000 rounds through it without cleaning it at all. I never experienced a malfunction. For detail cleaning my Glock I use plain hot water and dish soap. Yeah, I know... laugh hard. This is something I was told I could do by a Glock Armorer Instructor way back in the mid-nineties and it's never been changed. The only thing that I KNOW you shouldn't use on these guns is a nitroglycerine based solvent as it may melt the polymer frame and / or other parts.

I regularly carry this gun in an assortment of holsters. From Wellsmade I have a custom black matching holster and offside pouch which holds one spare magazine and a flashlight. I also have a BlackHawk CQC SERPA holster with matching offside pouches and a CQC Tactical SERPA holster. Most recently I received a BlackHawk CQC SERPA Level III Duty Holster and have been carrying my Glock 19 in that anytime I wear a uniform. With the removal and replacement of only three screws that Level III holster goes onto a thigh platform without any issues.

The Glock 19 has performed well for me. I've had this one just over ten years and haven't seen any change in the accuracy it's capable of. Two inch groups are the norm from the fifteen yard line (45 feet) and I've done close to that without any issues from the 25 yard line. With my sights properly adjusted (and I did that when I installed the XS Sights) the gun shoots point-of-aim to point-of-impact within the confines of my own shooting ability.

The differences between the 2nd Generation and 3rd Generation guns amount to the addition of accessory rails to the frame and the molded finger grooves in the grip frontstrap. I don't see the need for an accessory rail on a mid-size gun and I've never felt that the grip on my G19 needed to be improved. I did install a set of Tac-Grips and have enjoyed the added security of the increased friction they provide in my hand.

All in all I'm still extremely happy with my Glock 19. Unless I'm carrying my Govt. Model 1911, the Glock 19 is my weapon of choice. They can be had at respectable prices, used and new. Don't discount the value of a used Glock as they hold up to thousands of rounds of firing without any issues.

Glock hasn't updated their website in quite some time but if you Google "Glock 19 9mm pistol" you'll find plenty of additional information about these guns.

BE SAFE!

I have a comment on or question about this article.

Don't forget to check out this week's Recreational Review about Clive Cussler's first team-up with his son Dirk to write a new Dirk Pitt novel, "Black Wind".

This week's Training Article discussing the need to pay attention to the message delivered whether you like what is said or not.

For a listing of all reviews in chronological order, GO HERE.

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