After initially not liking the feel of a Glock in my hand, I broke down and purchased a G20SF a couple of months ago (I wanted a 10mm) and found that I shoot that thing better than most of my other pistols. That being said, I'm now considering picking up another Glock for shooting steel. My question is how much of a difference does a 5.3" barrel vs a 6" barrel make? I'm considering the 34 gen 4 and the 17L. What do the Glockaholics here think?

 

The Glock will be replacing my Sig P226 Tac ops .40. Love the trigger and sights, but I don't shoot it as well as my other pistols. I know the Glocks I mentioned are in 9mm and not .40 like the Sig. I figure I don't need .40 to shoot plates plus I can swap barrels and mags in the G20 if I decide to keep the caliber.

I'm confused.. ur profile pic is XDM, where is the love!!!

I'm confused.. ur profile pic is XDM, where is the love!!!

 

Yes, there is much love for my XDM .45. It was my first .45 pistol. I see a lot more accessories available for the Glock and more people shooting the Glocks in a competition setting.

 

Thinking I may have to change that picture

Glock= best combat tupperware you can buy..often imitated never duplicated IMHO

I'm getting a xdm .45 as soon as my paper work clears.

Glad to see you came to your senses.

 

I don't have either the 34 or 17L but the 34 is the more popular model. I hear the the 6" barrel only adds weight and makes the 17L front heavy.

 

BTW, if 45acp is your thing, you can buy a G21 upper and 45 mags and just slide it right on to your G20 frame. I see them for sale on GB and GT all the time.

Thinking I may have to change that picture

 

Get a xdm 5.25 i have one in 45 and one in 9mm. love em to death.. glocks are not made for human hands. unless u happen to be a mason then bricks will feel more natural to you.. but glad you found something you truly like.

Glock= best combat tupperware you can buy..often imitated never duplicated IMHO

 

*Cough* PX4 :-)

OP - the 34 / 17L question leads to a miriad of other questions.

 

What is intended purpose?

 

The 34 is USPSA production legal and popular and less expensive AND IMHO points better.

 

The 17L is less popular and if you want something not everyone else has go with a 17L. To me they seem slower to point.

 

I don't find the extra sight radius a big advantage. Any sight radius advantage can always be compensated for by narrowing the notch width of the rear sight on the shorter pistol.

 

Just my $.02

After initially not liking the feel of a Glock in my hand, I broke down and purchased a G20SF a couple of months ago (I wanted a 10mm) and found that I shoot that thing better than most of my other pistols. That being said, I'm now considering picking up another Glock for shooting steel. My question is how much of a difference does a 5.3" barrel vs a 6" barrel make? I'm considering the 34 gen 4 and the 17L. What do the Glockaholics here think?

 

The Glock will be replacing my Sig P226 Tac ops .40. Love the trigger and sights, but I don't shoot it as well as my other pistols. I know the Glocks I mentioned are in 9mm and not .40 like the Sig. I figure I don't need .40 to shoot plates plus I can swap barrels and mags in the G20 if I decide to keep the caliber.

 

Welcome to the 10MM club...

Yes, there is much love for my XDM .45. It was my first .45 pistol. I see a lot more accessories available for the Glock and more people shooting the Glocks in a competition setting.

 

Thinking I may have to change that picture

 

In the MDTS Competitive Pistol Skills class last Sunday I counted 11 Glocks out of 16 shooters including the instructors who were shooting Glocks. In one of the exercises, we had to clear jams out of 12 assorted weapons and speed and accuracy counted since the bad guys were supposedly shooting at you. I could not push the mag release fast enough on the M&P (too small and too recessed) and had trouble locking the slide back on it and the 1911 (due to the external safety confusion). It was certainly nice to work and shoot 6 different weapons and see the differences in operation, handling and sights in use during this exercise. I still liked my G19 set-up best, but then I had it accessorized the way I wanted.

 

 

*Cough* PX4 :-)

Hmmm...any reason why glock is used by over 65% of LE in world? Just wondering Love beretta shotguns..pistols not so much

 

Welcome to the 10MM club...

 

I now know what a .40 is supposed to be! Can't wait to get the dies and start loading the 10!

OP - the 34 / 17L question leads to a miriad of other questions.

 

What is intended purpose?

 

The 34 is USPSA production legal and popular and less expensive AND IMHO points better.

 

The 17L is less popular and if you want something not everyone else has go with a 17L. To me they seem slower to point.

 

I don't find the extra sight radius a big advantage. Any sight radius advantage can always be compensated for by narrowing the notch width of the rear sight on the shorter pistol.

 

Just my $.02

 

Steel plates is the intended purpose. In this case I'm interested in going with a more common pistol instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. The more I poke around online the 34 looks better and better. I have to go put them both in my hand and see how they feel.

Glock did a great thing when they came up with Slim Frame design.

 

 

Steel plates is the intended purpose. In this case I'm interested in going with a more common pistol instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. The more I poke around online the 34 looks better and better. I have to go put them both in my hand and see how they feel.

 

You won't be disappointed with a 34. Great steel gun.

In the MDTS Competitive Pistol Skills class last Sunday I counted 11 Glocks out of 16 shooters including the instructors who were shooting Glocks. In one of the exercises, we had to clear jams out of 12 assorted weapons and speed and accuracy counted since the bad guys were supposedly shooting at you. I could not push the mag release fast enough on the M&P (too small and too recessed) and had trouble locking the slide back on it and the 1911 (due to the external safety confusion). It was certainly nice to work and shoot 6 different weapons and see the differences in operation, handling and sights in use during this exercise. I still liked my G19 set-up best, but then I had it accessorized the way I wanted.

 

Are you sure it was the M&P that had a mag release that was too small? I too had trouble releasing the mag on one of them, but I'm 100% it wasn't a M&P. (Not saying the one you shot wasn't) But the mag release on my M&P40 is more than fine. I've never had an issue with it. But the slide release is a different story. I could not for the life of me release the slide with the slide release when I first got the gun. I can now, however I prefer to manually release the slide. Plus, 9 out of 10 times, when I slam a new mag in, the slide releases on its own.

 

BTW, which guy were you?

I will take my XDM over any Glock any day!

Glock did a great thing when they came up with Slim Frame design.

 

Ahhhh, but SF stands for short frame. They still take a double stack magazine.

 

I now know what a .40 is supposed to be! Can't wait to get the dies and start loading the 10!

 

Are you sure it was the M&P that had a mag release that was too small? I too had trouble releasing the mag on one of them, but I'm 100% it wasn't a M&P. (Not saying the one you shot wasn't) But the mag release on my M&P40 is more than fine. I've never had an issue with it. But the slide release is a different story. I could not for the life of me release the slide with the slide release when I first got the gun. I can now, however I prefer to manually release the slide. Plus, 9 out of 10 times, when I slam a new mag in, the slide releases on its own.

 

BTW, which guy were you?

 

I was the guy with the Yankees #25 Teixeira t-shirt shooting on the first team at target #3. I was also at the left table for the jam clearing exercise.

 

I was the guy with the Yankees #25 Teixeira t-shirt shooting on the first team at target #3. I was also at the left table for the jam clearing exercise.

 

 

Ah yes! I remember now.

 

EDIT: BTW, I was at the right table for that drill, so we are not talking about the same gun. Weird, as I've never had trouble with the mag release on mine. Maybe you just have a huge bigger thumb than me.

Hmmm...any reason why glock is used by over 65% of LE in world? Just wondering Love beretta shotguns..pistols not so much

 

Glock has a crazy good marketing group. If I can dig up the thread on m4c there was a pretty long discussion about how they managed to capture the overwhelming majority of the LE crowd.

 

 

 

Edit- Not saying that the gen 1-3s are not absolutely fool proof. I have a few friends who have went Glock as their first and they love them.