Glock 29 Gen 3 PROS And CONS

PROS:

• Relatively wide for a concealed carry pistol, but that makes this lightweight 10mm easier to hold onto. 
• The grip’s finger grooves and serrations afforded a non-slip hold.
• This lightweight little 10mm’s felt recoil was much milder than expected, thanks to the pistol’s well-designed recoil assembly.

CONS:

• The Glock 29 sat well in the hand, but pointed high. The grip was so short that it could only be grasped with two fingers.
• Kick and muzzle flip was only a little heavier than a full-size 10mm.

The Glock G29 is a compact 10mm pistol. Frankly, we are surprised Glock is offering another pistol in this chambering (the manufacturer also makes a full-size model, the Glock 20). The round isn’t as popular as it once was, so its future is very uncertain.

Glock 29 Review
This model is a compact pistol chambered for the 10mm cartridge. Like all Glocks, it has a polymer frame with an integral grip, a striker firing system and a Safe Action trigger. This isn’t a true double action mechanism, so there isn’t a second-strike capability. The Model 29 features a 3 3/4-inch barrel, a 10-round double-column magazine and fixed sights.

Physical Description
The appearance of our Model 29 was typical of the Glock line of semi-automatics — plain and businesslike. Nevertheless, we judged its overall workmanship to be above average. Steel parts had a Tenifer finish, making them matte black, very hard and corrosion resistant. The front edges of the slide were beveled to allow for easy entry into a holster. The slide-to-frame fit was a little loose, but there was almost no play between the barrel and slide.

The one-piece black polymer frame and grip had a few molding marks, but was otherwise well constructed. There were two finger grooves on the frontstrap. It and the backstrap were serrated for slip resistance. The sides of the grip had thumb depressions and texturing. The squared trigger guard was undercut and serrated.

Both of the black polymer 10-round magazines furnished with this pistol had steel-reinforced bodies and removable floorplates. Neither had any obvious shortcomings. However, we were only able to insert 9, and sometimes only 8, rounds into one of them, even when the provided magazine loading device was used.

Our Judgments
In 200 rounds, this Glock failed to eject 22 times. These failures occurred 10 times with the Remington load and 6 times each with the Winchester and Federal loads. It was apparent to us that the ammunition wasn’t the problem. When clearing each of the stoppages, we found that the extractor was holding onto the spent case very tightly. This, in our opinion, was the reason why the ejector wasn’t able to kick the brass out of the pistol. Evidently, the extractor needed some work.

We thought the Glock 29’s accuracy was acceptable for a compact pistol. It seemed to prefer heavier bullets. At 15 yards, Remington 180-grain and Winchester 175-grain jacketed hollow points achieved five-shot groups that averaged 2.15 and 2.18 inches, respectively. The groups produced with Federal 155-grain jacketed hollow points opened up to 3.40 inches.

Average muzzle velocities ranged from 1,039 feet per second with the Remington 180-grain load to 1,248 feet per second with the Federal 155-grain ammunition. Our shooters felt these velocities were satisfactory for a small 10mm pistol with a 3 3/4-inch barrel.

The Model 29’s controls were very simple, and right-handed shooters could operate them with their dominant thumb without a grip change. The small slide catch and the rectangular magazine release were in their usual places on the left side of the frame. The manual safety, a pivoting lever that was pinned to the trigger, blocked the trigger’s rearward movement if the safety wasn’t depressed with the trigger finger. It worked properly.

The serrated trigger released crisply at an even 5 pounds with no overtravel. We thought this was satisfactory for a pistol of this type. However, as on all Glocks, there was about 3/8 inch of takeup. This long takeup was necessary to cock the internal striker.

Our test gun came with fixed sights made of black plastic. The rear was a dovetailed blade with a white-outlined 1/8-inch-square notch. It was drift adjustable for windage only. The front was a triangular 1/8-inch-wide blade with a white dot on its face. This arrangement was easy to acquire and provided a good sight picture. The pistol shot to point of aim with all of the loads used.