I am a self professed, self styled Glock hater. They are ugly. They have no soul.
About seven years ago, I had a very good opportunity at work. The down side was that it required me to give up the SIG P226 I was carrying, and forced me to a Glock.
I bought my first Glock 22 in around 1994, predating my entrance into law enforcement just a bit. All the other cool guys were carrying them, and it was the “wave” of the future. I shot it for a while, had some marksmanship problems with them, and quietly sold the G22 and went back to a P226. Now, in fairness, that was probably about the start of my wanderlust of pistols. I traded pistols at work every couple of years looking for the “One” that would make the bronze God of all things tactical. I drifted between calibers, and manufacturers every so often. As this offer came up at work, I made the switch to the G22, and eventually the G35.
The Glock 22 is arguably the most common issued pistol in American law enforcement today by the sheer numbers. Regionally, you may see other caliber Glocks, or other manufacturers pistols, but from a sheer numbers standpoint, it seems to reign king. This data, in itself is nothing. Many factors come into play from an issuance stand point, I understand that. But, the Glock 22 has a lot going for it from the end user standpoint, and can be shot at a pretty high level. In shooting standardized tests, I am slower than I am with the Glock 17 chambered in 9mm. But, it is marginally slower.
Recently I noticed a couple of things that really made me take another hard look at the Glock 22. The first was from an ammunition standpoint. The first ammunition that came back into stock on a regular basis was .40 after the great 2013 ammunition depression. The other calibers have been on the come back, but even regionally I have noticed that even Walmart has .40 back in stock on a regular basis. Our department sales rep from Federal has even noted that .40 was the first to come back over the other calibers.
The second thing I noticed was ironic. Some Police SWAT teams have the same habit by and large. The “special” pistol syndrome. Been there, done that. The idea that the department SWAT team, whether it has six members or sixty, needs something that sets them apart from patrol. Something cool guy, operator approved. Most are looking at moving away from the Glock to something different. About a year ago, I noticed a couple of M1911 centric special operations groups that specialize in hostage rescue and they were carrying……Glock 22s. This is ironic to me as most police teams are wanting to get away from the Glock to go to something else, by necessity or perceived necessity. I get the fact that what such-and-such group carries is not relevant to the viability of any given firearm. What seeing these guns in the holsters and hands of these outfits did was confirm that the gun can be shot at a high level.
The Glock 22 has its good times and bad. Some shooters don’t like them because of the grip angle, or stock trigger. Some of the older guns had issues with weapon mounted lights. And because XYZ unit carries them is meaningless, except from the standpoint that these units are given a choice in what they carry. But, I do think that out of the box, the Glock 22 is as good as it gets in a .40 caliber pistol. Everybody and their dog makes holsters for the pistol these days. Accessories and magazines are plentiful.
Those of you who know me know that it kills my very soul to type this. Every so often, I as a bonifide Glock hater, have to drive a stake through the heart of the M1911 idea when it comes up at work for support and financial reasons. I just know in my heart that I could shoot the M1911 better, even if it didn’t show up on paper or the timer.
Interesting write up. I am definitively NOT a Glock -hater, but I used to be. Then came academy where we ran the 17s into the ground, and with that trigger time I was converted, so I thought. I noticed the same as you did with agencies and units converting, so figured I’d try the 22s out. A gen 2 was followed by the newer Gen 3.5 w/RTF2 and the fish scallop rear slide serrations, and bought a few cases of .40 from Georgia for upcoming classes. Several thousand rounds later it was as if I had just started shooting again, with the similar problems of inconsistency per accuracy, and there I was in the hotel rooms stinking of gun cleaning tryng to figure out the 22s’ problems. Though a Glock Armorer I do not like to do X+Y+Z changes to their platforms, chasing solutions. The 24 I love, and imagine I’d like a 35, but why go there when I have an excellent 24? Are the Gen4 22s shipping with the dual stage RSA, as the 27s are?
Erickson
Yes the Gen 4 Model 22 has the Dual Spring RSA. They are an improvement over the first generation model 22 in all aspects.
I carried a G22 from 1995 until 2006. I had the gen 2 at first of course as thats all there was at the time. We swithed over to the gen 3s and I liked it better than the 2 but I still didnt love it. We started having issues with FTF’s. Most of them caused by weakened magazine springs. While you may be able to get away with a weakened mag spring in a 9mm, the .40 is not as forgiving. The flat nose of the bullet caused it to nose dive into the feed ramp, so regular magazine spring hanges were a must for our .40’s. I do like the .40 in the right bullet configuration and the new guns have improved followers in the magazine and seemingly better springs. We have currently switched to the G17 and it has worked flawlessly, but there is still something about that old 22 that keeps me coming back. Thanks for the great article it took me back to some nice memories.
Some anecdotal observations…I run the FTU for a 155 man agency. We ran Gen 3 Glock 22/23s from 2003 until 2012. We had a number of issues related to FTF on guns with mounted lights. Overhauled guns in 2009. 2012 and time for another overhaul, magazine refurbishing etc, I decided to pitch new guns. We went with 22/23s again, this time Gen 4. We have had them for a year and a half. Each officer ran 400 rounds per gun through each issued pistol when they got them. I observed ONE FTF issue that was ultimately found to be shooter-related. The gun just plain works. And as far as proficiency, obviously an officer gets back what he/she puts into any weapons system, this one is no different. And the pain of writing this is minimized by the ease of maintaining them! Now if I could just get ammo…..been waiting 13 months….from Federal. I can now talk to the ladies at the factory like friends, but still no ammo.
I have a Gen3 Glock 22. It shoots great, and has a good-enough trigger. Super reliable. But something about the frame geometry causes my trigger finger to drag – hard – against the top surface of the bottom part of the trigger guard. Even after having Robar drastically reshape the grip.
So the M&P remains my carry gun, and the G22 has become my night stand gun with a nice weapon light and a spare mag.
Question for ya, what type of plate carrier is displayed in the picture?
The plate carrier is a London Bridge 6094. I’ll probably be doing a review on it here soon. Great armor.
The very real and numerous issues with the Glock 22 are not confined to older guns, or only the guns running lights.
Just sayin.
I taught at the academy for a couple of days and witnessed this myself.
4 shooters, all from the same agency, had multiple malfunctions with their Gen4 G22’s. One poor guy had multiple FTF’s on a 60 round qual. He had a WML attached.
The one guy who did not have WML on his G22 seemed to have less malfunctions…but it malfunctioned nonetheless.
It should be noted that these issues did not pop up until the guys had close to 1000 rounds through each gun.
Being a dyed in the wool 1911 fan, and carrying one on duty for 15 years, I also fight that internal feeling that I can shoot any 1911 better than my Glock 22 gen 4, until I look at my targets and can overlay groups that match bullet hole for hole.
I most defiantly hate Glock Anything.
But I bought G22 Gen4 few years back. I was offered a deal that’s hard to walk away.
Figured I can always sell them.
More I shot the stupid thing, more I had admit that it does everything well.
It shoots well, It carrys well(it weigh half as much as full sized 1911), and carry X2 ammo.
I hate to admit it, but Its the gun that sits in my night stand…