Glock 19X Gen 5 9mm Luger

The Glock 19X has garnered its share of derision, although we cannot quite put our finger on the reason. It is a credible choice with many of the good features of the Generation 5 Glock. The pistol is fast from leather, fast on target, and reliable.

The most popular concealed-carry and home-defense handgun in America is likely the 9mm self loader. There are service grade and service-size pistols, compacts, and subcompacts available in this chambering, which has gained popularity because of improved bullet function. In this installment, we are firing purpose-designed compact handguns that are derived from service-size handguns. When the Glock 19X was introduced, with its Glock 17 grip and Glock 19 slide, our shooters knew it would be a hot new gun to test, but we did not quite know what to match against it. The editor dubbed it a Commander-size Glock 9mm, so we found a 9mm 1911 Commander to brace against it — the Ruger SR1911 Commander. The SR1911 Commander is, after all, a full-size Government Model pistol with the slide shortened three-quarters of an inch. The Glock 19X is a Glock 17 with a short slide and full-size grip. Bingo.

 

 

This was our price from BudsGunShop.com. The Glock G19X is a mix of the Glock 17 9mm frame and the Glock 19 9mm slide. So we have Glock’s version of the 1911 Commander, a full-size frame and short slide. The pistol is built on the Generation 5 improvements. These include a trigger action that feels different from earlier Glock pistols, with different being better, but difficult to describe. (The Gen5 will not accept aftermarket parts of the previous pistols.) The dust cover differed from earlier handguns, and the takedown lock featured a different spring. The slide lock was ambidextrous. The magazine release may be switched for left-handed users. The pistol was supplied with four grip inserts. There were three supplied magazines, a big plus, we feel. One was a flush-fit 17-round magazine and the others Glock +2 19-round magazines.

 

 

We liked the frame texture. In the Generation 5 pistol, the finger grooves have been deleted. The trigger felt better than earlier pistols, but it wasn’t lighter at 5.8 pounds. Take up was tight and reset fast. The pistol also featured the new Glock Marksman barrel, intended to provide better accuracy.

The pistol was finished in a Dark Earth color. While we liked the finish, we saw wear marks around the muzzle and the ejection port after a few weeks of use. The pistol was supplied with Glock night sights. We feel that night sights are a plus in a defensive pistol. The Glock and SIG were issued with night sights, and the Smith & Wesson was easily upgraded. It would be expensive to upgrade the Ruger. We compared the Glock using the Tulster AIWB ($60 from Tulster.com), the JM Custom Kydex IWB Dual Loop ($77 from JMCustomKydex.com), and the $104 Ted Blocker Center of the Back holster (TedBlockerHolsters.com). The COB really showed the superiority of the short slide for concealment, yet, the large handle did not interfere with concealed carry, save with truly thin raters and the appendix position. Also, during the firing test we drew from the JM Custom Kydex holster. We did this to explore any speed advantage of the Glock 19X.

The handgun, like many new handguns, was tested as much against itself as the other pistols. On the firing range, the Glock was fast to a first-shot hit. It was in league with the Smith & Wesson; however, half of the raters found the pistol was not as fast on target or as accurate in rapid fire as the Smith & Wesson. The Ruger beat the Glock to a fast first shot, but the Glock pulled away from the Ruger in sustained fire. The Glock trigger reset was as fast as the 1911, in our perception.

Our Team Said: The Glock was the least accurate handgun tested. However, it gave the Smith & Wesson Military and Police compact a good contest. The Glock’s combat accuracy was good and the absolute accuracy adequate for the task and better than previous Glock 9mm handguns we have tested. The Glock features a light rail and night sights as well as the greatest magazine capacity of any of the handguns tested. The Glock was clearly an effective combat handgun. We rated the Glock 19X down a half grade on the curve on accuracy.

Originally published in June 2018.