A SHORT ODE TO THE GLOCK 19

I just recently acquired a new 3rd generation Glock Model 19 in 9mm and have to quote a line from Seinfeld character George Castanza: "I'm king of the idiots". I'm king of the idiots because I waited 20+ years before buying a M19. I totally fell into the whole Glock experience myself in 1992, with the introduction of the Model 21 in .45 ACP. Before that, when first the Model 17 and then 19 in 9mm were debuted as the revolutionary pistol that they still are today, I puffed at the idea of a 9mm and awaited the day that the .45 ACP variety would arrive. I then shot competitively with the Model 21 for a number of years in various combat shooting events, with great success. I've written elsewhere that I bought one of the first Model 21's I could find in Houston in 1992, and pretty much carried it for the next decade until becoming enamored with the "slimline" subcompact Model 36 in .45 ACP. And the Model 36 has been my main carry gun for the past six years or so. So although I've been carrying and shooting Glocks for the past 19 years, not exclusively but certainly the Glocks have been the most carried and probably most shot centerfire guns that I own and/or have shot. It's not like the 9mm has been a mystery round for me. As far back as my police days, I owned and carried a Heckler and Koch PSP (A P7 with butt magazine release lever, which, in my experience, is superior to the button release P7M8 which I also owned, and which used to activate the mag release button in every holster it rode in, bar none.) that I bought used from a narcotics officer. It was a fine shooter and a mighty safe gun to carry with the squeeze cocking system. I've owned a Browning Hi Power, as did my father, and the grip was just a bit big for me. I tried numerous grips, and like always, decided I liked the Pachmayr grips best, and although it's a fine firearm, it's not the one either for regular field carry or defense carry or even home defense. I would, however, love to see one of these companies cranking out 1911 replicas in .22 caliber make a nice hi capacity Browning scaled down version (as Browning did with the 1911 .22 version) for about $350. That would be a cool gun to shoot. As I mentioned, I then owned a NIB Heckler and Koch P7M8 that I got in the 90's from a great Houston gun dealer for a very fair price. For hot days when the Glock 21 was too big to carry as a concealed handgun, the P7 did much better. That version of the squeezecocker had the magazine release in the traditional spot on the grip near the trigger guard, and it liked to accidently activate every now and then, not making the magazine fall out, but just disengage enough to not feed. A great gun but the Glock Model 36 pretty much took it's place when it hit the scene a decade or so ago. So along the way there have been other fine guns, with fine triggers and some even with custom work. Some have been especially excellent firearms, accurate and reliable, and some have not. For some reason, since the introduction of the Glock 19 in the late 80's, I never felt the need to own one. I'd shot several, and of course it was just like the Model 21. As I would later discover, it was just like the Model 36. There was no down time adapting to a new gun. It's pull trigger---goes bang. That is the true Glock advantage, my friends, reliability. Pull Trigger, Goes Bang. Like my other Glock, my Model 19 eats any kind of ammo. Any. Kind. Of. Ammo. And it does it with gusto and verve. No feeding issues. No failure to feed or failure to fire issues. Even with cheap surplus ammo. Even with hot rod Cor Bon ammo. And all kinds of in between ammo. There is no break in time with a Glock. Every Glock I've bought went straight from the store to the range. Several hundred rounds generally get fired and there are no problems. No surprises. The gun is accurate from shot one. I've never even had to adjust the sights on my Glocks. They have been spot on.