This is a reader gun review.
By Renegade Dave
If you’ve ever shot a defensive pistol match, you probably came away with a couple conclusions. The first is that “tactical” vests are probably the worst/most obvious “concealment” garment a civilian could ever hope for. The Second is that the GLOCK 34 is as ubiquitous as bad do-it-yourself memes. Even as the current iteration of the long slide gets longer in the tooth, it still sits atop the pile of other plastic wonder nines and also-rans in the competitive circuit . . .
That’s really what the long slide 34 is about: competition shooting. GLOCK has since launched a series of web commercials suggesting the long slides are for “tactical” use as well, and that may be true to some extent. As it is, the 34 is approved for USPSA Production and IDPA Stock Service Pistol and Enhanced Service Pistol competition. Even with tall sights, the 34 will fit in the IDPA box (providing you don’t want a tall baseplate on your mag). I suppose you could run the 34 for Limited and Limited 10 but you are locked into minor scoring. If Limited is your preference, it’s worth looking at a 35. The 34 is a popular fixture at 3 Gun as well.
Overall Appearance
This is one aspect of the gun that is well documented at this point in the history of the internet. Put simply, the GLOCK is a plain looking gun. The slide is basically a hollowed out piece of bar stock with all of the hard corners rounded and some cocking serrations cut in the rear.
This variant features a lightening cut along the top of the slide to keep weight down. The roll marks are plain jane and nowhere near as exciting as the theater that takes place on the XD, M&P, or PPQ slides. The frame is pure vanilla with no exciting “GRIP ZONES” or fancy moldings barring the small “GLOCK” logo. Due to GLOCK’s marketing success, the iconography means a lot of people think a GLOCK is what a handgun looks like…for better or worse. There’s not much more than can be said about the gun that glancing at the photos won’t tell you.
I suspect the slide is as simple as it is for a reason. Fewer cuts, contours and gingerbread mean less machine time during production, making finishing the slide likely faster and easier. There is some Spartan beauty in a GLOCK’s plain-ness, but not nearly enough to earn it the positive moniker, “sleek”.
Fit and Finish
GLOCK pistols are very consistent from example to example within a given generation. The slides are all “space without the stars” in color with a very smooth finish in the more recent Gen 4’s. Earlier Gen 4s (pre-beavertail notch) had a rougher texture to them. The finish the 34 wears well and is extremely resilient.
As with any finish, the slide will show minor holster wear with extended use. Rusting will typically only result from wanton negligence (leaving it in salt water for days) or desire (intentionally leaving it in saltwater for days). GLOCK barrels are treated with the same finish, but the barrel will begin to show wear on the hood after 500-700 +/- rounds and the tip of the barrel will begin to show wear in the finish (“smiley”) after north of 1000 rounds (generally).
GLOCKs are designed to have comparatively looser slide to frame fit. This allows for better operation in adverse conditions. That’s not to say it’s by any means “loose,” but it won’t come off the shelf like a higher end 1911 that requires a herculean effort to cycle the slide until it’s been broken in. An off-the-shelf GLOCK will manipulate about as well as a “broken in” model, maybe slightly stiffer. The barrel locks up very tightly when the gun is in battery, but the whole slide will have some very minor side-to-side play. The extractor will sit flush to the slide when unloaded and slightly protrude from the slide with a round in the chamber.
The frame is made about as well as a frame of this design can be made. There are no seams anywhere your hand interfaces with the frame. On my Gen 4 examples there is a seam/rough edge around the mag well, which is annoying. Actually loading the magazine into the gun is pretty easy, but when you’re on the clock in competition, it’s easy(er) to flub a reload with a GLOCK. I don’t like the design of the mag well. The FNS-9 has a brilliant mag well, and I hope GLOCK takes a hint in the next iteration.
The stock sights are basically “space fillers” until you buy something aftermarket to put on your gun. The standard sight picture is the “ball in a cup” / “ U-dot” / “field goal” sighting system that isn’t very popular despite the fact they actually do a decent job.
The G34 ships with an adjustable rear sight in place of the fixed version found on most other models. If you practice drawing a lot, which most competition shooters do, the front sight can get rounded off on the corners if it rubs the holster on extraction. Apparently the plastic the sights are made of is softer than the Kydex that makes up most holsters. Those in the southeastern US can take their stock GLOCKs to the mothership in Smyrna and have factory night sights installed on your gun for just shy of $60. Here is a picture of some fixed GLOCK sights not on my gun.
The magazines are metal jobs coated in polymer. They are reasonably easy to load to capacity even when new. As the springs break in you can sometimes stuff a “bonus” round in there. Floor plates are simple to remove if you’re OCD and don’t like your floor plates getting banged up in competition. Or if you want to use some 140mm or 170mm affairs for some USPSA goodness. When you’re on the clock, you can use Armor All wipes on the sides of the mags to ensure drop free functionality (I’ve seen it done, but not sure it’s really required).
Ease of Use
The GLOCK manual of arms is as simple as it gets. Placing your finger on the trigger depresses the dingus/dongle/trigger tab/whatchamacallit that moves a little plastic edge (that would otherwise protrude from the rear of the trigger and catch the frame) allowing the trigger to continue rearward. As the trigger moves to the rear, a hump on the trigger bar inside the frame pushes up the barbell shaped firing pin block in the slide (firing pin safety) and simultaneously finishes the cocking of the striker. The rear movement of the trigger drops the cruciform at the rear of the trigger bar off the drop safety “shelf” and releases the striker.
That sounds like a lot going on, but the shorter version is, you pull the trigger, the magic happens, the shot breaks and a hole shows up somewhere down range of the business end of the gun. The ‘safety’ is GLOCK’s safe action trigger. No manual safeties to disengage. Very nice.
The magazine release in the Gen 4s is large, however not as easy to use as the large button suggests. The oversized button takes the same force in the same area of the button as the smaller Gen 3 release. You can’t just throw your thumb over it and press. More than likely you’ll end up having to shift your grip, engaging the button toward the trigger guard end with the point of your firing hand thumb.
The magazines drop free just fine depending on the angle of the grip at the time of release, but the mag release doesn’t throw the magazine out. The release can be swapped over to the opposite side for lefties, but like other ambi-capable designs obstructing the rear of the magazine catch on the other side of the frame prevent the mag from dropping free.
The stock slide stop on the 34 is considered “extended” but it’s smallish, but it’s not as diminutive as the stop on smaller-framed GLOCKs. The slide rockets forward into battery with a comfortable sweep of the thumb…if you’re right handed. Lefties get no love, as the release is not at all ambidextrous.
Disassembly
GLOCK basically set the standard for ease of disassembly. Drop the mag, rack the slide and verify the chamber is empty. Put the empty gun in battery, point in a safe direction and, yes, pull trigger. Now pull the slide slightly to the rear and pull the takedown tabs with your free hand toward the floor. The slide will now exit the gun from the front of the frame.
The whole process takes maybe 10 seconds. The photo above shows a convenient way to pull the slide back for disassembly. With the slide off, you can lift out the recoil spring assembly (RSA) out of the slide and then the barrel. Now you’re field stripped.
To reassemble the gun, put the barrel back into the slide, then feed the fat end of the RSA into the front of the slide, slightly compress the RSA and work the rear into place on the barrel lug. Feed the assembled slide back onto the rails on the frame and pull the slide all the way to the back and release. No big deal.
Ergonomics – In the Hand
The 34 is a fairly light weight job for its size, even fully loaded and plussed up to 18 rounds of 9mm. The balance is decidedly top heavy as most polymer framed pistols are, especially when the gun is unloaded. The grip angle has been hotly debated since forever. It’s steeper than the gold standard established with a 1911. You can love it or hate it, but “it is what it is” as they say.
The shape of the grip is kind of lackluster based on the current offerings in this market segment. On one side of the aisle you have the M&Ps, PPQs and VP-9s that are sculpted to fit a human’s hand. On the other side there’s the XD/XD(M)s, P320s, FNSs and P09s with the classic oblong cylinder typically thought of as a gun’s grip. Somewhere in the middle is the GLOCK.
The front strap is molded with finger grooves, yet the backstrap kind of falls in the oblong cylinder with a hump category. In short, you have to design your grip around a GLOCK. It wasn’t designed around your grip. It’s reminiscent of a 2×4 with eased edges.
You may look at the trigger guard and think, “Hey, they relieved trigger guard!” It sure looks that way, but the square corner is unforgiving and rubs. This leads to a callous over the middle knuckle of the middle finger some folks affectionately refer to as “GLOCK knuckle”. This is why trigger guard undercuts are a popular frame modification to GLOCKs in competition shooting.
But it’s not all bad news on the frame. It sports a shelf along the side providing an excellent ledge to anchor the heel of your palm and thumb for your support hand. The Gen4 puts the Gen3 frame on a diet so folks with smallish to medium hands should be comfortable with the trigger reach.
It’s worth mentioning that the backstrap of the full-frame GLOCKs differs from the compact and subcompact offerings. For me the full-frame GLOCK provides easier access to the trigger than either the 19 or 26. The removable backstraps provide options for tuning the length of pull. Beavertails keep our thicker-fisted friends from the heartbreak of slide bite. The grip texturing of the Gen 4 is aggressive without being over the top, and most seem to like it.
Ergonomics – Firing
The 34 really shines when it’s breathing fire at cardboard or paper bad guys. The combination of a low bore axis, high hand positioning, and a strong support hand welded to the frame leads to grins on even the most experienced shooters. The sights minimally lift in recoil and the “good enough” sight picture nets quality 0- or A-zone hits if you do your part. Mechanically, it all works as it ought to and the sum is somehow greater than the parts.
Fresh from the factory, the 34 sports a standard “minus” connector, or 3.5 pound connector. This nets a trigger pull with a break of 5 to 6 lbs when new. With some polishing or lots of shooting, that trigger break comes down to 4 to 4.5 lbs, maybe less. The trigger has a long double-action type travel like most striker fired pistols in this category. It is effectively a 2-stage trigger with very light slack and a clearly defined wall. The break is predictable and a little creepy/spongy. After the break there is some overtravel. In higher round count examples, the trigger begins to feel more like a lightly gritty rolling break. The trigger face is fairly broad and smooth on the full size models allowing great contact with the trigger finger.
For most, the GLOCK trigger takes a good bit of practice before attaining anything approaching precision or mastery. A lot of right-handed shooters put shots left with GLOCKs and will swear up and down they need to drift the sights. Usually more of the first pad of your trigger finger is required to get nice uniform pressure on the trigger face as you pull straight to the back.
The trigger reset is where the GLOCK system really shines. It’s short, very pronounced and once it resets you’re right at the breaking point again, so follow ups don’t tear up your sight picture too badly. The quick reset is a highly desirable characteristic in a competition gun and, I would argue, a personal defense gun as well. As you likely know, GLOCK is consistently a top law enforcement pick.
Reliability
GLOCKs have storied reliability. They’ve been dropped in just about every kind of mud puddle and sand slurry to see if they will still still cycle. They usually do. This particular model has successfully touched off close to 2000 rounds of 115 grain, 124 grain and 147 grain projectiles in the few months it’s been in my possession. The ammo has been a mix of different roundnose loads ranging from Federal White Box, Winchester White Box, Winchester Train & Defend, to Atlanta Arms and Freedom Munitions.
I’ve not bothered with hollow points, but I have no reason to believe it would have any issue chambering them given my experience with GLOCKs whose mission is self-defense. I have never had a feeding issue, failure to fire, or any sort of ejection issue.
Accuracy
Rather than use this space to show you pictures of how I can nearly make five 9mm diameter holes touch at 7-10 yards (or not, because I’m a lousy bullseye shooter), allow me to regale you with why the 34 is desired for its accuracy: sight radius. That’s the distance between the rear of the front sight and the rear of the back sight. The effect of sight misalignment becomes more pronounced the further the target is down range. The longer sight radius mitigates the effect of misalignment somewhat.
In bag-rested conditions the difference between, say, a 17 and 34 may be hard to appreciate. Shooting off-hand and on the clock, the effect becomes more obvious. The 34 is promoted as having over and inch more distance between the sights than the GLOCK 17, and an inch and a half over the GLOCK 19. This is a little misleading. The 34 is set up with the rear sight flush with the back of the slide while the 17 comes with a fixed sight that extends straight up from the rear sight dovetail. If both a 17 and 34 are set up with the same set of sights, the difference in sight radius shrinks to the difference in slide length. Some aftermarket sights can actually increase or decrease the sight radius.
As a bonus, the 34 generally has the longest barrel allowable in most competition divisions at 5.31 inches. Plus, it has polygonal rifling. The marketing department at GLOCK will tell you that makes the pistol more accurate due to increased velocity of the bullet compared to conventional rifling. While this has been tested and observed to be true with a chronograph, I don’t think any shooter alive is precise enough to really exploit this design feature to their benefit. But what the fancy shmancy rifiling does do is allow the effective use of downloaded ammunition.
All of that said, the sight radius and extended barrel will not magically grant you the ability to centerpunch a target at 25 yards if you didn’t have the chops to begin with. It should help you speed up your sight picture and generally help you get better hits than a shorter slide variant in dynamic shooting.
Doing side-by-side comparisons with a GLOCK 19 and 17 and the 34, I was able to post slightly faster times (less searching for sight picture due to more daylight between the posts even with the same sights) and better hits as the slide is longer. That’s an extremely personal anecdote and your mileage may very well vary, but many guys I shoot with report similar results. If my goal was bullseye shooting at longer ranges, the 34 wouldn’t be my first or even my second or third choice.
Aftermarket Options
If you compete with a full-framed GLOCK, the world is your oyster. You have myriad choices of holsters, sights, frame modification services, doodads to rest your thumb on, slide plate covers, grip plugs, magazine base plates, extended or reduced sized controls, alternate manufacturer internal parts, aftermarket frames and slides, manual safeties, and, and, and…it’s ridiculous.
If the stars align and your GLOCK actually goes down at a match and you don’t have a backup, in IDPA about a fifth of the shooters should be able to help you out. In USPSA you’re likely still covered, although not as enthusiastically as in IDPA. Factory mags are comparatively inexpensive ($30-35, as low as $25 to $20 if you’re a savvy shopper) and widely available (as long as Democrats have not won any major elections recently). The Gen 4s also come with 3 magazines, giving it a leg up on other longslides.
Overall, the gun represents a great value, both in initial cost and in the peripherals required to get set up with a competition rig. While the platform itself isn’t the best at any one thing, it’s “good enough” at all of them. It will never be a barbecue gun, or something people look at and fawn over, but it will do exactly as advertised. For people who don’t shoot for a living, a 34 makes a lot of sense as a competition gun.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Caliber: 9 mm Luger (9×19)
Magazine Capacity: 17 Round
Barrel Length: 5.31″
Overall Length: 8.74″
Sight Radius: 7.55″
Height: 5.43″
Width: 1.18″
Weight Empty: 25.95 oz.
Weight Loaded: 33.01 oz.
Price: Street price ranges from $625-$700+. Check Brownells for solid deals.
RATINGS (out of five stars):
Style * * *
It’s not going to win any beauty contests. Some will argue the simpleness of the design is beautiful.
Ergonomics (in hand) * * *
If I wrote this review 3-4 years ago, I would score it higher, but there are other offerings in this segment that are far more comfortable.
Ergonomics (firing) * * * *
Low bore axis, nice little shelf, wonderful trigger reset. One off for trigger break.
Reliability * * * * *
Zero failures in this example at the time of this writing.
Overall * * * *
The 34 is a no-frills gamer gun. Those weighing an entrance into practical/action shooting will be well served by a GLOCK 34.
You could’ve shortened this article considerably.
“It’s a Glock, in 9mm, Long Slide, and Gen 4.”
That is about all you need to know.
Yeah but I am a nerd and couldn’t help myself
If you had said, “… with an alloy frame, steel trigger and hammer…and a version in .40 S&W”, I would’ve kept reading.
; P
Whaaa Whaaa, finish your cry fries.
Battle proven reliability! Simplicity! I doubt there are many pistols that can match its track record. Explain why it HAS to have an alloy frame and a steel trigger? You like more weight? Do you carry? Hunt? I took a deer with my Glock 31 at 30 yds. One shot. I stood for three hours with it drawn in my hand in freezing temperatures in sleet and snow. Do that with an alloy frame and your hand will be so numb I doubt you could make a precision shot. Maybe your jealous?
That goes for John’s comment below too.
you absolutely hit the nail on the head!
Hickok45 loves Glocks and that is good enough for me! I had a custom 1.5 lb trigger put in my 34 Gen4 and that made a big difference to me.
It looks remarkably similar to my GLOCK 35 Gen 4. Pretty accurate description of the gun as well.
It’s almost like you’re suggesting the only difference is the barrel, the slide milling where the barrel comes out, the magazines, and the ejector. They’re two different guns!
/sarcasm.
I think this might be the most fair and non-fanboy-ish positive review I’ve read from a reader. Good work. Spot on star ratings imho compared to my Glock experiences.
Dave, I enjoyed the review and thought it was well-written, but I am wondering why a review of a Gen4 Glock 34 included photos of standard Gen3 and Gen3 RTF2 Glock 34 models, without noting that they are different that the reviewed pistol?
The stock photos were not mine, I did not put them in. I assure my example is a gen 4, made in 2011
Ah. That explains it.
Again, great article.
“If my goal was bullseye shooting at longer ranges, the 34 wouldn’t be my first or even my second or third choice.” ————
Certainly after a fairly glowing review, I’d like to know the author’s preferred choices then. Seems quite an oversight, to have such a caveat unanswered!
Any quality single action trigger would go to the top (1911 or Revolver), CZ Shadow in single action, PPQ 5″ out of the plastic world
I appreciate the details of your review (s). And the recommendation of others to consider as well. The Walther, Sig 226, and FnS all in 5″ have been on my mind. Any reason not to consider the Sig?
A quality single action trigger (1911, revolver, CZ variant), PPQ 5″.
“Hello shorty!” – 17L
“It’s not going to win any beauty contests.”
Isn’t that true! The front end of the gun is always ugly as sin. The Springfield Armory XD also fits better in my hand as for the Sub-Compact, my pinky never hangs off the end. The Glock has those finger groves to help the overall fit a little, but they’re not as useful as the grip on a Walther P22, for me that’s not enough to consider switching to a Glock.
The xd is uglier it and won’t fire with a magazine not fully seated (do you have a choice on drop free/non drop free mags in an xd?). I want my pistol to fire whether i have a mag in or not. I don’t like grip safeties either. My finger is my safety. Again i want my pistol to fire when i pull the trigger, even if my grip is not correct. To me they look like a cheap Glock knock off.The loaded chamber indicator, to me, is a joke. My Glock ALWAYS has one in the hole (except for cleaning). Matter of fact ALL of my handguns ALWAYS have one in the hole. 357SIG, 9mm and 380. No need to look. Treat all guns as if they are loaded anyway.
I am amazed at how many Glock bashers i see. Sound jealous to me. I have shot a G31 for over 20 years. Only malfunction it had was the first time i shot it i tried 5 kinds of ammo. Brand new it had 1 ftf with cheap aluminum Blazer ammo. Thats it . Period. My factory barrel is spotless after thousand of rounds!!
Nice review, if someone wants to get into IDPA or similar competition on a budget they would be hard pressed to do better than this gun, but that slide has a face that only a mother could love.
I have always felt like you can tell when Glock made a new model because they had to, not because they wanted to. Everything about those few offerings looks like they just didn’t care/ half done. It was like they wanted to make the G42 a 9mm but then just sort of fell asleep and decided to make it a 380 instead, it could have been truly amazing in one of the hottest markets right now, but as is, it is just good enough. Or the G36 could have been an industry changer, several years ahead of the other manufacturers, but everything about that gun just seems half done from the magazines to the frame etc, and begs the question, if they could get a 1″ thick slide on a compact 45 why couldnt they make the damn Glock 21/30 with the same width slide? The cynic in me wants to say “because they didnt really care”.
The long slide glocks are another perfect example of all of this. Feels like someone said “just do whatever it takes to make a standard slide longer without changing the current machining process or using too many specialized parts.” The result is that enormous “lightening” cut on the top and the counter bored recess that allows it to still use a G17 guide rod/recoil spring and frame with no effort put into blending it to the rest of the slide, just a big blocky snout with an odd appendage stuck underneath it. With a little more effort and creativity this could have looked pretty good, maybe put a 1911 ball radius and a browning hi-power narrowing cut on the front of the slide, but as it is it just looks like Glock didnt really care…. which is a shame because I actually quite like the look and feel of the G17 and G19 ( and their .40cal counterparts), they have that ugly but rugged simplicity like an old Toyota pickup that actually makes them look quite nice and well proportioned.
Leveraging the reliability and machining practices that’s already there is just good engineering. I would expect no less from a serious gun company. All the stuff you talk about has nothing to do with function and is all about marketing.
I agree, Glock takes too long to come out with new models that fit industry design parameters. They need a slim 9mm that has the same barrel length as the G19 and a 10 round mag. That gun would displace the G19 in sales in a heartbeat. It would be a very good competition gun for those with smaller hands than the double stack glock fits and it would light up the CCW market.
Kahr would go under in short order.
Appreciated the competition focus of the review. Almost everyone knows that Glocks are fairly middle-of-the-road, but they’ve still got some weird appeal. I know there’s better out there, but I can’t bring myself to move to another platform.
Truth told, if I did the plasti-fanti thing NOW then i would likely give the PPQ a long hard look. I demand my game gun be a facsimile for my carry gun, so that limits my options for plastic guns.
PPQ is as good as it gets for competition in this segment, BUT mags are harder to find, parts are harder to find, holsters are harder to find and there is less to fiddle with.
One thing that is awesome about GLOCK is if you do go down in a major match due to bad ammo or wonky aftermarket parts, there’s very likely a GLOCK employee shooting it as well who can help you out, regardless of the terms of the warranty.
Mags for the ppq are not hard to find at all. Midway and cheaper than dirt have plenty. As do other smaller shops online. Where are you looking that your having a hard time finding them? I’m confused by this comment. I’ve found both 40 and 9mm in high supply with no problems
Hell even my local academy has the 9mm mags
I’ve not looked recently, admittedly. I looked toward the end of last summer after a buddy lent me his PPQ setup, all of the 17 rd 9mm mags were sold out. That, and PPQ 5’s are now on the shelf at my LGS’s, whereas they were as rare as hens teeth at the time. That said, when I did source some 9mm 17 rounders in weighing the switch they were marked up $10-15 over what the “fair” price on the internet was. Glad to hear supply has caught up.
I have a Gen 3 G34. It shoots very nicely, excellent stock trigger (4.7# average pull on my pull gauge). If you like Glock grip ergonomics, you like this as well.
After shooting a friend’s M&P9 PRO CORE, however, I am on the lookout for a good deal. It is not that my G34 is a problem, the CORE just sits much better in my hand.
I hate to be a prick or “that guy’ but this has to be said. Was this long and overdone review for a Glock really necessary? Im being serious here and Im sorry if this comes off as rude, but im just being honest. This was the most unnecessary and drawn out review I have ever seen in my entire life. LONNNNGGGGG and boring. Its like trying to do an hour long presentation on a pencil. its a pencil, it writes and looks like a pencil……the end. Thats how any review on a Glock should be….. Its a Glock. Any review more than a few sentences is far too long and pointless. This gun has been reviewed and shoved down peoples throats to death for a long time. Another attempt at a fresh review with some humor or quips thrown in really doesn’t change the gun or the fact its a Glock. No matter how you spin it they are all the same. Reviewing one model is like reviewing them all. Sure some have small differences and nuances, but as a whole they all look, feel and function the same. This was simply a waste of time to type this review up. Absolutely pointless. You want a REAL and APPROPRIATE review of the Glock 34. Here you go…….
“Its a Glock. This one has a longer slide than the other ones. It shoots, functions and feels the same as all the other ones. It still has the finger grooves that 50% of people will love and 50% will hate. Same goes for the trigger. 5 out of 10 will swear its the trigger of god (usually those to narrow minded to admit there are far better triggers on the market now) and 5 out of 10 will say its the worst trigger ever made (usually a exaggeration by many Glock haters). Its literally the same gun as all the others. It has the same reliability and function as all the other ones also. So in a nut shell its just like all the others. Your either going to say this is the greatest gun ever created by man, or your going to hate this gun with a passion and never own one because you just “dont get the hype” about a plain, ugly and average gun. . The end.”
RATINGS (out of five stars):
Style * * *
Ehhhh
Ergonomics (in hand) * * *
Ehhhh
Ergonomics (firing) * * *
Ehhhh
Reliability * * * * *
Does what its supposed to
Overall * * *
Ehhhh
Yeah but then dorks who research every piece of kit won’t have anything to read. I enjoyed your review a lot haha.
Actually yes they will. Every other glock review.
Well now there is this one for them to geek out on as well.
I really appreciate the details he offers on his reviews, so I go to this page first when reviewing. Just learn to skim instead of complain, some of us appreciate the detail.
Troll, troll, troll… troll troll troll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll troll…. your troll comment was long and boring, WaYYYYYY overboard for a reply… you could’ve just said, “I did not like the review” simple. But no… just had to troll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll trolltroll troll.
Fairly ironic right? A little hypocritical that you rag on the writer.. and then write a REALLY pointless rant that only a real TROLL can write… So to the Writer of the review… I really enjoyed the article, the detail, etc. Only a TROLL would read an entire review they don’t like, and then TROLL-a-lole about it.
As a huge Glock fan, I have to say your review is dead on. You either love them or hate them. They are all I shoot these days and can honestly say all of mine shoot the same, duty weapon, bug, or longslide. Not a lot to say other than they always work well for their intended purpose.
I don’t mean to be a dick, but but why did you have to write what seemed to be a longer comment critical of what you claim to be too long of an article. I enjoyed the article; I can’t say the Same about your comment. In fact, I could hardly get through it.
“More than likely you’ll end up having to shift your grip, engaging the button toward the trigger guard end with the point of your firing hand thumb.”
Except for that never being an issue for me. The Gen 4 mag release button is easier and faster for me to manipulate than the Gen 3 and I am not alone. I do in fact just throw my thumb over it and press.
“The shape of the grip is kind of lackluster based on the current offerings in this market segment.”
The frame is based on guns that came after it? Huh?
“In short, you have to design your grip around a GLOCK.”
No, no I sure don’t. Does a GLOCK work for everyone? No. Does everyone have to design their grip around a GLOCK? No again.
The G34 is far from my favorite handgun and I am not a GLOCK fanboy as much as Joe Grines wants to believe for saying anything favorable about them. There are things I do not like about them that others do but that does not make them a design flaw. Some guns and features work better for some people than others. Just because these design features didn’t work for you does not mean they are flaws or that they don’t work fine for others. Also, there are people that shoot for a living using the G34 and not just a few.
J Zoss,
Comparatively to what’s making a play at the competition shooter market, the 34 is now dated in very short order. The bar has been raised. The grip of the 34 can and does work for me, but it took me studying how the grip interfaces with my palm/web of my hand to reliably get a precise trigger pull to make longer shots at speed. Don’t have that issue with the PPQ 5 or the CZ, even. Google “my glock shoots left” and you’ll see a glut of internet posts of people talking about fixing that issue, part of it is due to how they address the trigger, but part also lies in how the grip is hitting their hand.
And yes, there are loads of really awesome shooters who run 34s at the highest level. Yet and still in USPSA CZ’s and their clones are steadily gaining popularity and on the IDPA side of the house other plastic guns are starting to gain traction, most notably the PPQ 5.
I certainly don’t think I even came close to insinuating anything other than the 34 is a quality piece of kit. That said, I’m switching to CDP/Limited 10 this season and I went the 1911 route rather than the G41 route.
That said, you’re not giving anything up by running a 34. It’s not new and doesn’t have hype surrounding it but it will perform as well as anything in the hands of a capable shooter.
Indians and arrows and all that.
That said, those prone to want to know they are not getting beaten by their kit are picking up other platforms (and performing the same as they were with their Glocks, generally).
I think Glock long slides look awesome, but to me Glocks just don’t feel good in my hands. That, and it feels as if Glocks always seem to point higher. Does anyone else have these problems? And can anyone suggest an alternative to Glocks?
Your concerns literally explain why a lot of people dislike glocks and have moved on to better and more ergonomic designs. Grip only fits certain hands and angle of grip lends to those who use correct grip shooting high. I have a friend who really had only shot a glock 17. Went to the range with him and he shot my colt and my ruger 1911. And my browning High power. Shot all of them low and struggled with accuracy. Go figure
It’s how you’re pointing at the targets. if you lift up your hand and point with your first finger, that’s a 1911 hold. For Glocks you basically roll your wrist forward and point your thumb of your firing hand at the target.
And there in lies the problem………you literally just pointed out its major flaw for most people.
Knowledgeable folks know that the grip angle is not a bug, it’s a feature, and a darned useful one at that. When you roll the wrist downward, you lower the bore axis over the arm, which results in less muzzle flip. Yes, for anyone who is used to a 1911A1, it doesn’t “feel” right, but it is more functional for reduction of recoil effects, and easily programmed with a bit of practice.
“Feel” doesn’t speed up your shooting, less muzzle flip to deal with does. Any gripping technique you can apply to a 1911A1 to increase control and/or reduce flip can also be applied to a Glock, which means that a Glock will ALWAYS have an advantage in this area. Whether or not any given shooter can take advantage of this advantage is another thing altogether…
Now it is my turn to be that guy, and honestly, I like being a prick sometimes. 😉
Who held a gun to your head(Maybe it was a GLOCK), and forced you to read the review, John?
I didnt read it. the sheer length of the review is all I saw, which for a Glock is enough for me to make the point that is been done far too many times in the past and just plain out not necessary. Unless there are anything other than small cosmetic design changes, its the same gun as it has always been and all of them are essentially the same and have been for years. Would you like me to do a 10 page review about a hair dryer? Or an in depth discussion about a toaster? Maybe a lecture on a stapler?
My point? One is like the others. And pretty much means one review is just like the other. Same old same old. I could see a review like this in 1988, but in 2015? Um no. Its been done and overdone and then done again. There is no earthly reason for a Glock review to be more than a few sentences and even those should just point out its the same as all the others and that those have already been reviewed and picked apart by many experts over many many years. I have a great idea for a review……maybe Ill do an in depth report and extensive breakdown of a 1995 Honda Accord….
Perhaps you could go do a review on the latest slightly-tweaked incarnation of the 100+ year old 1911 design; it’s not like THAT horse hasn’t been beaten into dust for the last 4-5 decades…
…but I suppose action is too much to ask for from a person who is complaining about a review that he proudly proclaimed he didn’t even bother to read.
Whining is SO much easier.
So… it’s a glock, then?
“Plus, it has polygonal rifling. The marketing department at GLOCK will tell you that makes the pistol more accurate due to increased velocity of the bullet compared to conventional rifling. While this has been tested and observed to be true with a chronograph”
Is that true? The only data I have ever seen was on ballisticsbytheinch.com and they could not confirm any discernible increase in velocity compared to conventional rifling.
http://ballisticsbytheinch.com/rifling.html
Ummmm…..yea…..not all 1911’s are the same. Not even close. Ever shot a llama 1911? Then tried a ed Wilson? So reviewing each brand makes perfect sense
So refining a basic design, updating it, adding a few new features; any/all of that would make it worthwhile to re-review a older pistol design?
Well guess what, the Gen4 is a refinement of the Gen3, Gen2, and Gen1 Glock pistols, with many completely new features (such as a reversible magazine button, full- and compact-size dual captive recoil springs, more aggressive gripping surface, replaceable multi-sized frame backstrap inserts, etc.) that the earlier versions didn’t have.
Finally, new shooters are entering the world of firearms every day. They haven’t read all those previous reviews that you talk about (that you probably didn’t read either, based on your past history), and having some new reviews, or reviews from a different (common user’s) perspective than those in the past, can help the new folks answer basic questions like “Why are Glocks so darned popular?”.
So in the future, why don’t you click on down to the next article, instead of whining like a petulant child; or even better, put YOUR gold-plated opinions on the line and write/submit your own article, rather than sniveling about someone else’s work.
/rant off
Good comments I say as a newbie!
just curious as to the specs on many have been killed
with this model last year in U.S.
Its an Ed Brown sherlock, Wilson is another boutique 1911 custom altogether.
Thorough review, well thought out. Having said that, I’m still of the opinion that GLOCK is the Honda civic of the gun world, reliable, dependable, moderately priced, and not much to look at. Oh yeah, everyone and there brother has one( most of those customized). They make a good pistol, but as for me, I like my canik 55 tp9. (not the best in the world, but got it new for same price as police trade in GLOCK). I did enjoy your review, Thanks!
have a 34 and a few gamer 1911’s. for some reason I try to not like the 34 but when the timer is ticking I shoot the 34 fastest of any of my guns. Too bad I paid more than double for most of the 1911’s. Dang it.
Thank you for a well written review of the 34. Have been renting all the new guns to make a purchase. The 34 was the most accurate and fed new and reloads flawlessly.
Great information. I see that the G 34 is sold with either a 10 rds mag or a 17 rds. The 10rds are a bit cheaper, so can 17 rds be used also in the same frame?
Yes. Ten round magazines are sold in order to comply with local laws restricting magazine size. If it is legal where you live, you can buy a 17-round magazine from Glock (or any retailer) and it’ll fit perfectly. There’s also a 34-round magazine. The 10- and 17-round magazines are the same size and shape; it’s just that the 10-round magazine has a stopper in it that prevents more than 10 rounds from being loaded. The 34-round magazine is substantially longer than the 10- and 17-round magazines.
I really like my Gen 4 G34, but the finish on the slide sucks. I own two older Gen 3 Glocks with the tenifer finish, and they are both bullet proof. The newer Gen 4 models (mine was produce in August of 2014) exhibit very fast holster wear. The finish seems very thin and scratches very easily.
My names Aaron…. I’m a recovering glock hater. Its been 18 months since I shot a 1911. In all seriousness if you have a gun that shoots straight off a bench but left right high or low off hand YOU’RE the problem not the gun. I was a devoted glock hater for years after having shot a gen 1 17 some time in the mid 90s, I grew up shooting 1911’s I loved them. In my eyes they were what a gun was supposed to be. Then I got serious about DEFENSIVE shooting. Still I resisted Gaston’s creation opting for an XD then an M&P then an XDM. 2012 I decided to hang up my old SW 686, and get a 10mm for Bow hunting backup. I bought a G20 SF, I shot it, alot, as they say practice makes perfect. Now I edc a G19 and will probably never buy another pistol that isnt a glock. Why you ask? In 1000s of rounds with my g17 19 20 I’ve never had a hiccup, and that is not something I can say for any other platform Ive run long term. Screw Glock perfection their motto should be “we go bang every time every where!!!”
I never liked Glocks until I shot one. Now I own 3. They go bang every time and you hit whatever you point at.
The YouTube link doesn’t work.
I just ordered a G34 Gen4 MOS. My 1st choice was a M&P 9 CORE but they don’t offer it in a 10 round configuration and I live in New York State. The 10 round magazines from the non CORE guns do fit and are interchangeable, but there is no legal way to purchase a CORE in NYS and Smith & Wesson have no plans as of now to make a 10 round CORE model.
This is my EDC for several years and have been very pleased with it’s performance. I have a Surefire X300 light on it with a set of night Speed sights. Sure there’s better looking and feeling guns out there but nothing has ever gave me peace of mind like carrying a Glock.
The Glock 34 was recommended to me by a retired Marine because I am ready to compete. Wonder if you have other suggestions for a woman.
The TTAG reviews of guns are extremely valuable to me. It’s the first site I go to when I want to research a gun.
After many years of not shooting the guns I had, this year I got back into it. Bought quite a few — pocket guns, Shield, Walther, Ruger. Then realized I didn’t want so many guns, and I did want the guns I keep, to be reliable above all else. I’ve sold most of the ones I bought, and decided Glocks were what I would go with, based on countless reviews that vouch for Glock’s reliability.
I bought a Glock 23 a few months ago, which is what I carry most days. Then a Glock 17, and a 21. I looked at a Glock 34 today at the shop I like to go to. I like it, probably will pick it up tomorrow, used, for $450 with night sights. I don’t care about the looks, though I find the Glocks look just fine. I care about does it fire when I need it to.
I read plenty of reviews on plenty of guns the past year. While I understand those who say ‘can’t you just say it’s a Glock, and that’s enough’ … as others have noted, there are new people coming into guns all the time. I appreciate the reviews. I skim the parts that I don’t think I need to know for now. I value the comments at least as much as the articles; comments are where regular folks share their pros and cons.
Keep those reviews coming! And all those comments!
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