Internet eyeballs
Over at TTAG is silly listicle on 3 reasons you shouldn’t buy a Glock. They are, and I am not making this up: Grip angle, no external safety and Glocks are ugly.
That the last two would even make the list of an even somewhat notable gun writer is laughable. And the first is entirely subjective and user preference. The only thing that I don’t care for about the Glock is that the stock sights are pretty awful.
February 16th, 2017 at 7:18 pm
A Glock may look ugly, but then ugly is as ugly does, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If it is ugly I’ll choose to see that as an asset; I don’t have to worry about dinging the slide on the concrete as I’m working under my vehicle or rolling in the gravel.
As for the factory sights; one works with what one has. They’re visible, and it’s up to the shooter to discover how to hold for a POA hit. I have one Glock that hits dead on when the tops of the two sights are level, and another of the same model that hit about three inches high with the same hold at 25 yards. Some have pointed out the slight “sunset” of the front dot when the tops are lever as a bug. I choose to see it as a feature. I transitional light, that beginning of the sunset tells you the black bits are level, even when you can’t see them. I don’t believe the folks at Glock were just being stupid, and stayed stupid for all these years. So in case you’re one of those “sight snobs” at least give it a fair chance. My old Glock is good for 100 yards with the factory sights. Why would I swap them out for two birds when I have one good bird in the bag? Tritium is the only reason to swap, and I’ll allow that it’s a very good reason. Otherwise shut up. Use a shoe as a front sight and a moose cunt as a rear sight and you should be able to find a way to make it work at 100 yards.
Also; my several revolvers don’t have fucking grip safeties neither. ZOMG I’m gonna shoot myself in the foot!
And if you’re a disciple of Rev. John Browning; I could be wrong, but I believe I read that he didn’t design in the grip safety initially, that the military asked for an additional safety, and the grip thingy was the result. I have nothing against 1911s or any other reliable pistol, but jeeze. Work with what you got, and it’ll be fine. Don’t blame your mistakes on the hardware and don’t confuse your personal dislikes with engineering errors. I also own a Sig a Daewoo and some Rugers, and I don’t remember what else, and somehow I manage to hit stuff with them in spite of the different grip angles, different sights, different triggers and all the rest. Weird, huh?
I think that in the gun writing world, which is irrevocably tied to marketing, there ends up being far, far too much focus on gear, which drowns out, to some degree, the importance of other factors.
In other words; beware the man with only one gun, which is a “bubba’d” Mosin shooting cast bullet hand loads, with a home-made scope mount and a cheek riser made out of JB Weld, who’s used it to hunt for his food for ten years. It won’t make the magazine covers and no gun writer would say anything about it other than mockery, but he could probably kick your ass with it.
February 16th, 2017 at 7:45 pm
Aaaaannnnd, their owners’ mothers dress them funny.
February 16th, 2017 at 8:21 pm
And I don’t like Glocks.
“Bad angle, no grip safety, ugly…”
So?
February 16th, 2017 at 8:24 pm
I wouldn’t have chosen a Glock, but a friend if mine had a brother who died. He had a Glock 21 which he kept for home defense, bought new, but probably never put any rounds through it. My friend didn’t want it, so I offered him and he took $375 cash. I put some tritium sights on it. It’s a good “affordable” shooter and defense piece for me. Those big hollow point .45’s are somehow comforting to carry.
February 16th, 2017 at 9:05 pm
Reason #454 I ignore TTAG links, even when they come from Uncle.
February 16th, 2017 at 10:28 pm
People still read TTAG? They were doing that type of drivel a year ago and I deleted my bookmarks.
February 16th, 2017 at 10:36 pm
I’ve decided to start making fun of them for the lulz
February 16th, 2017 at 11:36 pm
I am one of those uber heretics that don’t like either Glock or 1911s. The Glock is a bit uncomfortable in my hand, and my short stubby thumbs can’t reach the slide release on the 1911. Sig work really well for me though, so that is what I use. Beretta and the M&P series also work well for me. Shot what works best for you and stop trying to tell people what should work for them. Seriously, that is what the liberals do.
February 17th, 2017 at 4:32 am
“Aaaaannnnd, their owners’ mothers dress them funny.”
: )
February 17th, 2017 at 5:06 am
I don’t like the grip angle. And I don’t like ANY auto pistol that doesn’t have a manual safety.
February 17th, 2017 at 9:45 am
That grip angle isn’t for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not for everyone. Same goes for the manual safety. I like cars and guns with manuals – most people don’t.
February 17th, 2017 at 11:11 am
I own Glocks. I shoot Glocks. I carry a Glock. My son carries a hand-me-down Glock from me. And yes, the grip is difficult. But having practiced with Glocks enough to carry them for their reliability and ruggedness, I find that when handed another gun, it is quickly easy to shoot as well or better than I shoot my Glock. Not that shooting the Glock is hard, but somehow it makes lotsa other guns easier. Someone smarter about guns is welcome to explain this to me.
February 17th, 2017 at 12:09 pm
I have a problem with the nature of the barrel on Glocks. I still don’t like those twisted hexagonal things; prefer true groves. My opinion, lots of pressure gets lost in the Glock because of the excessive space around the bullet. Also, Glocks tend to be a bit more fussy about ammunition than many other handguns.
February 17th, 2017 at 12:19 pm
Revolvers don’t have a manual safety either. Nobody seems to complain about those.
February 17th, 2017 at 12:28 pm
@Mikee
The grip geometry on the Glock is not natural to your hand, which means you have had to learn to compensate for it. When you switch over to something more natural it points easier, making the whole act of shooting easier.
When handing out advice to new shooters I strongly recommend they get something that is a natural fit for their hand, as it makes leaning the basics less painful.
For seasoned shooters this is less of an issue, but I would still recommend you ditch the Glock in favor of something that is a natural fit for you. At the very least it will make shaving off those fractions of a second on the shot timer easier.
This is not a dig against Glocks, they are fine guns. But not everyone has the same hands, so different people need different grip geometry. The more guns you shoot the more you know what you like.
February 17th, 2017 at 1:21 pm
The grip angle is the killer for me. Glocks just don’t point for me, so I pass them over.
M&P’s on the other hand, point just fine.
February 17th, 2017 at 5:01 pm
Lyle:
JMB put grip safeties on nearly everything he designed. It’s an ambi safety. He may have been a left-hander, as non-staged photos show him holding and shooting that way. The final models of the 1911 Army Test guns only have that safety. After the conclusion of the tests, the Army requested a thumb safety be added. However, they made the utility of that rather moot, when they developed their “chamber empty” carry policy.
If you look at photos of the Test guns, the lack of thumb safety is clear. Not sure why the myth of the military demanding the grip safety was created.
February 17th, 2017 at 7:58 pm
“Revolvers don’t have a manual safety either. Nobody seems to complain about those.”
True. But on Double action revolvers there’s a lot of trigger travel involved before the gun discharges and on Single actions one has to manually cock the pistol before it’s ready to shoot.
One could design a handgun that has every known safety feature on it but some bonehead will still find a way to negligently discharge it. The only true safety feature on ANY firearm is the common sense of the user.
February 17th, 2017 at 10:17 pm
I don’t like the grip angle, but I can get used to it with some trigger time.
February 17th, 2017 at 10:32 pm
Good to see that Farago is still living up to the high standards of writing that made him, as you say, “notable”.
February 17th, 2017 at 11:48 pm
@Jonathan
Yeah, won’t read TTAG because a lot of what they produce is crap. They have managed to attract a few good writers, but is is not worth wading through the garbage and fabricated click-bait drama (as I am sure the above article was) to find the decent stuff. They may produce a lot of their own stuff, but they also pad it out with “aggregated” (stolen) content. Over all just a really shady site not worth giving views to.
February 19th, 2017 at 3:44 pm
The grip angle is something to bitch about when you want to produce click bait.
A much more reasonable bitch is the double stack mag size grip. Smaller hands may have a harder time dealing with that but small handed folks that have Glocks issued seem to be able to cope and deal.
@Jeff – “Also, Glocks tend to be a bit more fussy about ammunition than many other handguns.”
Hogwash!
Using 4 different calibers of Glocks in every size they make, I have yet to find one brand, type or bullet shape they don’t feed or fire.
Anything and everything from mouse fart reloads (that won’t cycle my Sigs) to +P+ factory ammo have run in my pistols.
They have been the LEAST picky of ammo of any handgun I’ve ever shot except for revolvers.