I’d recently had contact with a few people during which we discussed changes made in the Gen6 line from GLOCK. These are law enforcement instructors and I trust their inputs.
To give some perspective, I didn’t seriously pursue regular use of GLOCK pistols until mid-2001. That’s late for a good many, some of whom started as soon as the guns became available to police practitioners in the 1980s. The police use of their guns spread rapidly and got a fresh boost when FBI jumped onto the GLOCK train in the 1990s.
As I was in one of the last agencies in these parts to still issue metal frame, “traditional double action” pistols, I noticed the trend. I was teaching nationally in the mid-late 1990s and early 2000s, and our traditional double action pistol was seen as something archaic, quaint, eccentric.
I got a Gen3 GLOCK 19 – it was compact, so ideal for plainclothes duty and for uniform duty if it were ever approved by the outfit. It was 9mm, so the ammo was even-then commonly available and getting to be low-cost. The lesser weight of the ammo made sense for the air travel involved in the training efforts I made.
The problem was that I couldn’t shoot it well. I made it a point to shoot it regularly, to take it to training classes and to learn it from the ground-up. That effort consumed 3,000 rounds of ammo and was involved in classes from Florida to Nevada – even to Gunsite on a few occasions.
Still, I’d concluded that the 9mm guns in the GLOCK universe weren’t particularly accurate. The best shooter in the product line of the era was the G26, the “baby GLOCK.” It was the gun I used as a backup in detectives and later in narcotics.
The G19 I carried to – and through – retirement. Much later, I went to the Gen4 G19 and I was on the trip to Georgia for the rollout of the Gen5 GLOCK guns.
I found the Gen5 to be apparently more accurate than earlier 9mm examples, a sentiment that was at times disagreed with. I couldn’t take that disagreement lightly, as it was expressed by people who wrangled hundreds of those guns – and shooters – in agencies.
When the Gen6 guns came out, I got on the list and was sent a GLOCK 45, the ‘crossover’ pistol, with the 17-round full-size frame and the “compact” slide and barrel. I found that the Gen6 was treating me well, as related in stories here and here.
I shot the annual qual here and found I didn’t shoot the Gen6 quite so well on that occasion.
Curious.
I’d considered taking a box load of ammo to the range with the Gen3 G19, the Gen4 G19, the Gen5 and the new gun. As we’re running a daily news effort here – with intrusions of weather and various appointments – I’d have to cut that effort back.
So, this is the report of my old long-favored original G19 and the newest with only a couple of types of ammo.
I used the Ransom Multi-Cal Steady Rest mounted on the Bogen Manfrotto 3021 Pro Tripod. The distance was 25 yards. I used B-8 repair centers, attached face down on the backer.
Overall, the average of groups showed that the G45 Gen6 shot groups just over three-inches. The G19 Gen3 averaged just under four-inches. The devil is in the details.
The problems with averages – the mean – is that extremes at either end skews the average.
The first load tried was Federal American Eagle 147-grain FMJ. The Gen6 posted a 5 ¼” group and a 2.5” group. This more likely measures shooter-error. The problem is that human shooters shoot the gun.
With Fiocchi CovertX 124gr. JHP ammo, the new gun posted a 3.63” group and a five-inch group.
See the problem?
Using the best 3/5 measurements – recommended by Mas Ayoob as being closer to the results you could reasonably expect from a machine rest - .63 and 2” for the American Eagle load is too great a disparity for a reasonable “guess.” With the CovertX, the G45 posted the best 3/5 groups 2.25” and 2.75” – and we sure as hell can reach a conclusion there.
The Gen3 with the same ammo had a a 2.6” mean. It’s around 3” in that gun and the new gun beat that. With American Eagle, I shot one substandard group – large – and a very small group.
Inconclusive.
Shooting 1-handed, two-five round strings at 25 yards on a face-down B-8, I had a group of 4”x4”. Hitting under the bull, the G45 Gen6 shot the Black Hills 124gr. JHP very well indeed. The group sizes were nearly identical, showing my imperfect hold was consistent.
As far as just handling, I found the Gen3 was vastly more comfortable, familiarity being what it is. I’d still carry it today. As to the difference in accuracy across generations, I’d say “it depends.”
– Rich Grassi