GLOCK GENERATION 5 M19 AND M17 FRONT GRIP FIX

I know, I know, I'm just a flurry of activity here after years of just posting every now and again. 

This post concerns an excellent firearm with an inexplicable feature. When Glock decided to do away with the finger grooves, which fortunately fit my hand but I would rather not have them, I was overjoyed. As soon as they hit the nearest GT Distributor, I was there.

Glock is the only firearms company I know that gives LEO prices to prosecutors as well. I got on the waiting list for one with the Ameriglo night sights and bam, less than $470 (before tax) I've got new discount Glock Gen 5 M19 in hand.

When I got home, the first thing I noticed was the not popular half moon shaped groove on the front end of the grip at the bottom. It's sorta roughly finished and my first order of business was turning the edges of the half moon cut out a little softer and better angled.

Obviously, it's a feature designed to aid magazine extraction. Frankly, in any Glock, even my Zev Spartan M19 with the added magazine well, I've never had a problem with mag extraction. I don't need a cutout on the front of my magazine. It's uncomfortable on my little finger of my right hand and even though smoothed out, it doesn't feel good and it's a bit irritating when shooting.

I like the Glock Gen 5 way more than the Gen 4. I have sold the two Gen 4 Glocks I had because I did not like the Gen 4 trigger feel at all, especially as the trigger put my index finger to sleep while shooting it. On both those Gen 4 guns, the trigger surface and safety were roughly finished.

I've never had my finger put to sleep shooting any gun before or since. 

I knew it would be a matter of time before Pearce Grip or the excellent Larry Vickers made a Glock magazine baseplate that would have an insert and solve this problem. And sure enough, Pearce Grip came out with this very solution, a Glock magazine base plate with a half moon size piece in the front to fill this hole. BAM! Problem solved for $10 bucks a mag. 

Obviously, you can only use mags that are so outfitted with the Gen 5, but the Gen 5 can still take any Glock mag.  Most importantly, it solves the problem and makes the grip really comfortable, like the finger groove-less Gen 5 Model 19X.

You just have be be careful if you have multiple Glocks that you don't take the Gen 5 with the Pearce base plate for use with almost every other Glock in existence.

See, that's the strange thing. Glock wisely omitted this cutout feature on the Glock 19X, as well as on the Gen 5 Model 26, but they have it on the Gen 5 Models 19 and 17.

I do like the design of the Vickers base plates for Glocks. They are flared and serrated on the sides, where one would naturally grab a magazine to remove it if it didn't pop out on it's own. Mr. Larry Vickers is a renowned designer and manufacturer and shooter and so many other things, I hope to see him adopt this same solution with a Gen 5 model of his Vickers Glock baseplate for those of us stuck with this Gen 5 M19/17 issue. 

Going back a moment, the trigger pull is, to me, greatly improved over the Gen 3 trigger I've become accustomed to. I'm glad they fixed what was wrong with the Gen 4 triggers (to me, anyway) and again, except for this at times painful groove on the front strap of the grip, Glock hit a home run with this gun.