If I could only own one handgun, it would be this one!
It has been in the family since son Chris turned 21 and has gone through Stacey then to me through a series of family trades and daughter-in-law Kat occasionally indicates that she would like to buy me a new one and take this one whom I have named "Gaston" after the founder of Glock.
I started out many years ago with Smith and Wesson, then on to a Beretta Custom Carry (that is now owned by cousin Evan (story for another day) and have ended up standardizing on Glock for the most part.
The first reason came up while doing tactical training with Micha bin Baruch of Israeli Instinctive Shooting. He teaches students to carry with NO round in the chamber and to quickly get the gun drawn from the holster, racked and on target. As I learned the technique with the Smith and Wesson 908 and the Beretta, the safety levers on the side began to shred my fingers and thumb to a meaty pulp with the repeated action of racking the slide multiple hundreds of time per session.
I quickly learned why others in our club carried mostly Glocks as it has no levers on the sides to impede the grip of the fingers on the slides...just some nice vertical grooves to give a good grip.
That was the first reason!
The second and main reason is that the pictured Glock, while in my hands has NEVER malfunctioned with one exception for bad ammo Russian Bear). EVERY other time I have pulled the trigger (over years and thousands of rounds) it has gone "bang" instead of "click" when the trigger has been pulled. I have had students in class that have been shooting and have had jams but all were due to "limp-wristing" and when the issue was corrected, the malfunction went away.
If one is going to have a gun for self defense, that is the most important thing to consider. Not caliber. Not size. Not brand. FUNCTION!!! Does it work.
Glock is also the semiautomatic handgun that malfunctions the least overall when students bring them to shoot in the CHL class. There is an occasional glitch but it still performs better than any other brand. Period. Note: Revolvers are overall still more reliable than semiautomatics. I have only seen one revolver malfunction.
The Glock 19 is the middle size Glock in 9mm. I will not include here all of the technical data as you can get that on the web for yourself. This review is all about usability and reliability.
The Model 19 is classified as the Compact and has sister models both larger and smaller in frame. The Model 26 is subcompact and is slightly smaller while the Model 17 is the large-frame and is a bit longer in barrel length. The Model 26 can be carried in a pocket while both the Model 19 and 17 are too large to be carried in most pockets.
I usually carry this one in one of two holsters: The Blackhawk or Uncle Mike’s (separate reviews to come). It can also be carried UNCHAMBERED tucked in the belt and pants slightly behind the widest part of your pelvis. I would recommend a t-shirt under the outerwear to avoid chaffing.
