Photos of Gen 4 Glocks Reveal Notable Changes
Ed’s Public Safety, a gunshop in Georgia, has published photos of the New “Gen 4″ Glock handguns. The much-ballyhooed design changes for the Gen 4 Glocks are interesting, but hardly revolutionary. As expected, the new Glocks will have interchangeable backstraps. That’s probably a good thing.
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CLICK HERE for more Gen 4 Glock photos
Other noteworthy changes in the Gen 4 Glocks are a dual recoil spring, and an interchangeable magazine release that can be moved from right to left. The dual spring is a more modern design that may reduce perceived recoil somewhat. The mag release change is smart and makes the gun more user-friendly for southpaws. Glock is making new magazines for the Gen 4 Glocks that work with the interchangeable mag release. Older magazines can still be used with the new Gen 4 Glocks, but only when the mag release button is positioned on the left.
Design Change — Too Little, Too Late?
Unfortunately, with either of the two provided backstraps, Glock’s Gen 4 grip is still fat and blocky compared to many other pistols. Also the Gen 4 Glocks retain the prominent “backstrap bulge” or flare in the bottom 1/3 of the grip’s back edge. For many shooters this “Glock bulge” causes the gun to point poorly, and for this Editor, that bulge also causes the gun to twist more on recoil (since it pushes against one side of the base of the shooting hand). The first thing done by companies that modify Glock grips is to reduce the flare or bulge in the bottom of the grip. That makes the grip much more user-friendly for smaller hands. In this Editor’s opinion the bottom rear section of the Glock grip was an ergonomic mistake when it came out in 1982 and the Gen 4 redesign really does nothing to correct the flaw. The interchangeable backstraps are just a poor “band-aid fix” when a more fundamental redesign was needed.
Overall, we think that most of the Gen 4 design changes are positive, or at worst “neutral”, but this may be a case of “too little, too late”. We doubt if the redesigned Glock is sufficiently improved to grab much market share back from the Smith & Wesson M&P series and other handguns whose sales have cut into Glock’s lucrative police contracts and civilian sales. The Gen 4 Glocks offer a modest ergonomic improvement over previous models, but they still not as well-designed ergonomically as Smith’s M&P. We doubt that police agencies which have switched to M&Ps will find reason to go back to Glocks anytime soon — unless, of course, Glock radically drops its prices, which is unlikely.
The bulge is why I will never buy another Glock again.
I only have one and that’s enough.
Dependable, yes, but so are many others. And I don’t need a pistol that will last for 2oo hundred thousand rounds or can withstand being frozed, being run over, dropped from a helicopter and have sand poured in it. Other poly pistols can do that too. SURPRISE!!!!
That was cool when I was 12 but not any more. If it goes bang without cleaning every time I use it, that’s enough. I’m not going to “tactical” camp and playing GI Joe next week.
The Glock company’s arroganc is stagering.
Can’t they count and see that market share is being snatched up by Springfield XD, Smith and Wesson M&P, and Beretta Px4!!
That’s were my money has gone and will continue to go.
Glock kiss my empty brass….goodbye.
The changes probably don’t justify running out and getting a new Glock. I can’t imagine the backstraps are that different (haven’t seen one yet). The “new” spring is an answer in search of a question. The RTF grip is useful, though.
I love the feel of the M&P. The problem is, I see them break constantly in school. Firing pins, magazine bases break with regularity. Misfires are common (particularly if the trigger has been “worked” on).
The XD9 4″ and 5″ guns work well. The mini’s fail frequently. The XD9 is very reliable, the XD40 about 85% of the time. It’s also heavier than the Glock, and Springfield won’t release their parts to armorers.
At the end of the day, if you want a gun that works every time, is easy to get parts for and change out parts yourself, you can’t beat the gun. They simply don’t fail. The other guns are great for fun and games (as long as you’re not too serious a shooter), but for serious use the Glock doesn’t have an equal. I don’t like the way the gun looks, or particularly how it feels. But the other guns can’t touch it for reliability and parts longevity.
“But for serious use the Glock doesn’t have an equal.” Really? Tell that to the Secret Service, Air Marshalls, Coast Guard, Texas DPS, Border Patrol, INS, the USMC, Navy SEALS, etc, etc, etc,….. Great article. I was very dissatisfied with Glock when dealing with them over my two “E” series guns that potentially had the slide rail problems. I sold the guns after their return from Glock and moved on not looking back since then.
Glocks are dependable, I will gamble with my life using a glock anytime. M & P is a new gun and already it has issues with parts breaking, why buy a gun that is copied from another ? just get the original (Glock).
I dont mind the ‘bulge’ on the Glock to be honest – but I do have big hands so maybe thats why it just fits? For me, its just as accurate and easy to use as an M9 (which has a similiar ‘bulge’), USP or the old Browning Hi-Power… But as NVT above says, the Glock’s do ‘just work’, no matter what you put them through…