The Glock 19X honestly never made sense to me. Who wants a long grip and a short barrel? All the downsides of a tough-to-conceal firearm and none of the benefits of a longer slide. When Glock dropped the Glock 49, it finally made sense. The Glock 49 isn’t revolutionary, but it does represent a model shooters have wanted for a long time.
The Glock 49 – The One We’ve Waited For
The Glock 49 utilizes a Glock 17 length slide, or Glock 47 to be specific, with a Glock 19 frame. The shorter grip is easier to conceal, and the longer barrel allows for a longer sight radius and higher velocity, as well as more control overall. The M49 series will be an MOS gun with the Glock-optic system in place.
The Glock 49 was present at range day and performed exactly as you’d expect a Glock to perform. It’s clean and crisp, with the same Glock trigger we’ve all grown up on. It’s also boringly reliable and quite accurate. The gun was easy to handle with low recoil, and dropping multiple rounds on multiple targets didn’t feel too tough.
The Glock 49 falls into the Gen 5 series of guns and delivers all those Gen 5 treats, like the Glock Marksman Barrel, the front and rear serrations, the high-visibility follower and more. It’s a Glock, and we kind of know what we are getting with a Glock.
It might not be fancy, but it will perform and perform well. They are the most proven firearms currently on the market and dominate it for a reason. To me, this will likely be one of the best options for those who desire a full-sized handgun without all the full-sized penalties. The penalty you pay is two fewer rounds when compared to the full-size frame. It should be hitting the market as I type this, and maybe it will outsell that Glock 19X.
“It’s a Glock, and we kind of know what we are getting with a Glock.”
Understatement of the year. It would be nice if they worked on the springy-feeling trigger one of these years…
napresto, I own quite a few GLOCKS and I have no problem with the so called “springy-feeling” trigger. Can you be more specific?
To me, Glock triggers have always felt kinda mushy, with a little bit of vibration after a pull. Much more noticeable dry firing than with live ammo, obviously. I don’t love the feel of it. They are certainly dependable firearms, and I own a couple, but they aren’t especially exciting. I could feel the author struggling to find a way to say, “it’s a Glock,” using 300 words instead of three.
Mike
That philosophy makes no sense after you put a red dot on it. 9mm works fine out of shorter barrels. There’s no need to go over 3.1-3.5″ if you’re running a red dot.
My lowly new Taurus G3x has a “full size” grip & a 3.25″ barrel. 15rd capacity No frame safety. Easily the best Taurus trigger I’ve shot. Only a bit longer grip than G2,G2c or G3c with 3 more rounds. I absolutely agree you don’t need a 4″ barrel for carry! Dunno if I’ll run a red dot but my eyesight is pretty good at 70 in May. Oh & I dislike the gluck grip angle🙄
Taurus has been coming out with some good stuff lately. The G3C I bought a couple years ago is great. I normally carry my Ruger Max-9 instead since it is smaller (and mine doesn’t have a manual safety like my G3C). The Max-9 will work for pocket carry. The G3C is.a bit too big for pocket carry, but is an excellent all around handgun. Your G3X without a safety sounds like an excellent defensive firearm.
Between the Taurus G3 series, and the PSA Dagger series, I don’t see a reason to pay double the price for a Glock (and I’ve owned several over the years G19, G22, and G21).
Extra velocity for some rounds can be meaningful especially with light for caliber copper types. Outside of that yeah user preference.
The point of those light-for-caliber types is to deliver extra velocity regardless. Even if a micro shooting HERO loses 100fps vs. the factory test barrel, it’s still going 1550. Probably not retaining much in the Suomi performance envelope, but more than adequate at across the bedroom / dark alley ranges.
Kevlar penetration was substantially improved in the subcompact to compact lengths increase and became somewhat reliable in full sized for 9mm (depending on projectile weight/shape). For 357 SIG yeah all lengths worked well. As to the more normal data points I am pretty sure you are correct.
SAFE,
Ah, thanks for the context!
I forget how niche my views can get so thank you as well for reminding me there is a much wider set of considerations.
No problem! I do the exact same thing, looking at everything with particular design objectives in mind and then thinking of them that way when I comment sometimes.
I actually thought of that as well, but 99% of the time, people just prefer easy concealment. Plus the article is talking about sight radius. Buffman has some vids on what those light 9s will do. I don’t recall what barrel length he used.
Dude,
Not sure what you mean. There are two main arguments in favor of a longer barrel. You cited one means (dot sight) to made one of them (sight radius) irrelevant. SAFE noted the other potential drawback (reduced velocity), and I answered that the velocity from the ammo he mentioned would still be adequate for most purposes at the expected ranges for a micro pistol.
I knew that’s what he meant about the extra velocity. I think it’s interesting, and a consideration, but it doesn’t matter 99% of the time when plain old HST works great out of 3.1-3.5″ barrels (which are also more convenient to carry). How often will you need to poke holes through IIIA? Regardless, I probably have some of those Xtreme Defenders because reasons.
Buffman’s vid. 4.5″ barrel used.
Dude agreed with overall assessment. I tend towards longer barrels and shorter grips partly because we have had a few incidents with gang members with vests and for my body shape the grip is a bigger issue than the slide while carrying…….also 10 round limits tends to moot many larger grips if the smaller one is comfortable enough to shoot.
Dude,
Ah, sorry, your response came up as a reply to me and I couldn’t figure out how our perspectives disagreed.
It gets you closer to the target.
There are more than a few articles here with data to dispel the barrel length = accuracy myth. Zimmerman’s probably the best one.
Anecdotally barrel length has always been the worst part of carry for me. Always jamming, poking, pushing.
Grip tended to be more noticeable on my end but body shape, outfit, and activities cover a lot of variables to consider with what works for anyone.
Glock’s answer to the Sig P365 xMacro
I’ve been waiting for the model 46..
I would end up just walking right by Glock without even blinking. Too many other more interesting stuff.
Prndll, whatever floats your boat.
Whiskey, and I fall overboard a lot.
I understand the author’s point regarding the barrel length and frame size. Thing is a shorter barrel/slide on a full size frame does make sense to a lot of people. Look how long the Commander has been around. That little bit of length gives that pistol a completely different feel. Same for many other makes and models.
This sentiment has been around as long as the 19X and it has never made any sense to me. As you pointed out, the Colt Commander was doing this nearly 70 years before the 19X and it was obviously a popular design. The philosophy of design was obviously so bad and unnecessary that Glock applied it to their subsequent mistake, the 43X…which became the best selling pistol in America. How can a “reviewer” be so oblivious to what the consumer values and still find work?
Anonymous, I have a 19X. It has given excellent service. It came from the factory with two spare mags, tritium sights, etc. It’s a good deal made even better if qualify for the Blue Label program. The frame thing is no big deal for me. I’ve carried a full size 1911, open and concealed, all my adult life. So there’s that. I carry my 19X a little different though. It’s primarily a truck gun. It’s in a vintage Galco butt pack w/a spare mags, Spyderco, Surefire, Leatherman, spare batteries, etc. All I do is pick it up, sling it over my shoulder and walk out the door. It’s on the seat beside me now. Of course, I keep a handgun on my person also. And a rifle in the truck. I’m at the farm BOLOing for poachers. Those assholes tend to travel armed.
“Look how long the Commander has been around. That little bit of length gives that pistol a completely different feel.”
Oh, yeah, and not just barrel length. I really noticed that when I bought my compact CZ RAMI.
It feels like a completely different gun if the 14 round mag is in it, compared the 10 round mag. That one extra finger on the grip makes all the difference…
sounds like a what poly 80% has been doing for a while. a 17 frame with the 19 grip. and the 19 with the switch grip to go long 17 or short 19 grip on a 19 sized slide with rmr.
I predict this model 49 will last about as long as a snowball in hell.
Its ridiculous and just plain stupid.
Having a long slide dig into your gut is something no one is going to put up with.
The overall size of the Glock 19 was about the upper limit in concealability and comfort that is why it became so popular, it was not so short that if limited magazine capacity to a great degree or produce unwanted excess muzzle blast, and it still had enough sighting radius to make it an effective defense weapon. You gain nothing with the new model 49 except more unnecessary weight and a longer slide digging into your gut.
Big thumbs down on another stupid Glock design, almost as stupid as the Glock Gap cartridge. No large amounts of people ripped the doors off of gun stores to buy that turkey either.
Is that what you read on the Glock-boi forums?
How about a 19 slide on a 26 grip? Or has that been done.
Doesn’t matter. Probably won’t buy a Glock anyway.
Eric, your choice…
Thanks for that enlightening comment.
The combinations are endless, the Glock family never quits growing. At current rates in the year 2525 the latest will be the Glock Model 10,000.
For now baby it’s…
TRUMP 2024
What “we all grew up with”? Not hardly. I grew up with a .45acp 1911 GI starting in 1954 when I was 10 years old. Never even heard of Glocks till the mid-90’s, and didn’t buy one until last year. The trigger sucks, as do their POS guns.
Maybe you’re just trolling, but let’s get real, the Glock has more than proven itself. You do you, but you sound like the Indian who decided that a bow and arrow was better just because thats what he grew up with. I’m almost 40 and the 1911 is starting to feel like antiquated tech, because it is. I have one and I enjoy shooting it. I have a compound bow and I enjoy shooting it. I have a vehicle with a manual transmission and I enjoy driving it. But when I carry a weapon for defense of my family, it’s a polymer striker fired handgun. When I picked up my newly minted Marine from the island last month, guess what the MPs were carrying at the gate? Polymer framed, striker fired handguns. It is what it is.
That makes me antiquated tech then also. I’m ok with that in my 80th year on this rock. Don’t own a cell phone either. As for what the MP’s carry on duty they don’t get a choice. Ditto regulars. But ask around what the SpecOps guys often tote. It’ll be a 1911.
Glock 19 when I saw them but that was a decade ago so who knows now. Did hear 45 was used earlier in GWOT though.
Improvise, ADAPT, overcome. You’re not antiquated, Gunny, your weapon of choice is. It is an elegant sidearm and will always have a place in any self-respecting gun owners safe. It just can’t compete with poly guns in any category but trigger, and that gap is closing.
Pos guns? lol!!!
You have much to learn as data doesn’t lie.
The Glock 19x/Glock 45 makes perfect sense once you shoot it.
The combination of a light slide moving quickly with a full grip makes for a fast, accurate shooter – especially when an optic is involved and sight radius becomes irrelevant.
To me the G49 is backwards. I prefer the 19X and G45 configuration but more options is a good thing.
I am not a Glock guy,but thus could work for me…I oftentimes default to a Sig365XL with a 4.2inch threaded barrel from True Precision..carries well on my bony frame,shoots well in my hands and with my eyes.
I do concur with the author regarding shorter grips and longer(slightly)barrels, slides,sight radius and visibility or the front sight.
if Glock and un- squishy the trigger it’d be something I’d revisit…..YMMV.
2nd attempt to post
I predict this model 49 will last about as long as a snowball in hell.
Its ridiculous and just plain stupid.
Having a long slide dig into your gut is something no one is going to put up with.
The overall size of the Glock 19 was about the upper limit in concealability and comfort that is why it became so popular, it was not so short that if limited magazine capacity to a great degree or produce unwanted excess muzzle blast, and it still had enough sighting radius to make it an effective defense weapon. You gain nothing with the new model 49 except more unnecessary weight and a longer slide digging into your gut.
Big thumbs down on another stupid Glock design, almost as stupid as the Glock Gap cartridge. No large amounts of people ripped the doors off of gun stores to buy that turkey either.
So it took you two posts to show you lack imagination?
“POS” guns? Not hardly, I don’t think. I’ll admit, as an old geezer long used to the 1911 and BHP/GP35, it took some getting used to the Plastic Phantastiques… Now I own more of them than I do the Colts.. Sooo… the 1911 design is well over a century old now, and has proven itself in two major wars and a large number of smaller ones, as well as in civilian service thru-out the world. Will my Glocks still be around over a century from now? I’ll never know and neither will anyone now alive.. but I do wonder…
i think Glock is running out of ideas.
When i first heard about the 19X I was like ‘Huh?’. A friend had I had a discussion several years ago about what would make a good concealed carry gun. We both agreed the grip was the hardest part to conceal. Also we are both 1911 fans. Several years later, he built a 1911 like we discussed. It is an Officer’s frame with a Commander slide. And that was the whole issue, smaller grip with longer slide. It took some time to make it reliable. Glock may have had the same issue.
Glocks are G-H-E-Y .. Ghey!
It took snim/sner/snit that long to plagarize someone else’s posts from another forum as Dacian has never had an original thought in sniz/sner/snits life.
You probably should not use slang in an article. When you say the Glock 49 “dropped” it makes it sound like Glock no longer makes a Glock 49–when the opposite is true.
Instead, the term that should have been used is “released”.
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