The Glock that Glock Doesn't Make, But I Have

So while I ponderate and fulminate and ruminate on other vast and weighty issues, like the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and whether to do a Kingussie, or a reverse Kingussie kilt, I’m thinking about my Glock.

Now, Gunny Ermey to the contrary, it really DOESN’T go “This is my Glock, there are many like it . . . .”

It’s funny, how the fanboyism spreads. We call it “drinking the kool-aid,” a Jim Jones reference that’s probably grown detached from its origin, and just floats out there, like tight as Dick’s hatband. (Who the heck was Dick anyway, and why didn’t he get a new hat?) The world, and the intarwebz, are full of Glock fanboys.

They’d probably hunt me down and burn me out over this, but I don’t really dig on Glocks.

Revolutionary? Heckaby-yeah, baby. Dang few parts, polymer construction for the body, the “chassis” of course is steel—think back on Schumer saying they could pass through metal detecters, and the unfortunate “Glock 7, a ceramic pistol from Germany” reference in Die Hard 2.

Heck, if the only pistol I owned was a Glock 19, I don’t think I’d feel too badly about “what I could do with it.” There’s other pistols I dig on more, though.

Lots of ‘em.

But this is about my Glock, and the rest is just prefatory.

I’ve got one Glock. It’s a Glock that Glock doesn’t sell, in fact, it’s a Glock that Glock doesn’t even make. I think they SHOULD make it, because the version I’ve got is pretty neat. You may be scratchin’ at your pate and wondering, “How can he have a Glock that Glock doesn’t even make?” Answer’s pretty easy, although I hadn’t thought of it before.

You see, with the polymer frame, you can build it up with other polymers, grind it down, modify away at it. You can do this with steel pistols, too, of course, but it helps if you’re a poop-hot TIG welder. (And I’m not.) Brownell’s, the gun parts supply house in Indiana, has a nice little article about Glock frame modifications here. (Brownell’s is the bomb, yo!)

Well, I’d known in the past about grip reductions on the Glock, and had liked the idea. The Glock uses a grip angle like the Mauser P-08 “Luger”, and generally American hands are conditioned to a grip angle more like the 1911s. It’s not a matter of “right” and “wrong” but “this fits my hand better’n the other one does.” If you remove some of the hump on the backstrap, you can alter the way the pistol sits in your hand, and that can be a very good thing indeed.

Well, the Glock I have was modded in a way that’s similar, just different. Glock makes three “frame sizes”, the “double column 9mm”, the “double column .45" and the “single column .45.” The double column 9mms are available in big (17), medium (19) and small (26) sizes, and the double column .45s are available in big (21) and medium-smallish (30) sizes.

Glock followed the general trend in introducing these pistols, starting with the full size model and then releasing smaller versions over time. The smaller versions show reductions in both barrel length, and butt length. The smaller guns are more concealable, while the bigger guns are bigger gripped (and thus easier to hold) and have longer barrels (and thus longer sight radii) and thus are easier to hit with.

Given that the most common type of concealed carry holster in use today is a variation on a vertical belt scabbard, it’s fun sometimes to re-examine our old beliefs and see if they hold water. After all, sacred cows really do make the tastiest hamburgers.

Today’s sacred cow is the idea that, all other things being equal, a smaller gun makes for a more easily concealed gun.

With a vertical belt scabbard, the barrel of the gun is along the long axis of the body. Even a full sized service pistol like a 1911 with a 5" barrel (and an overall length of 8.5”) is pretty easy to carry in a IWB (inside the waist band) holster----as long as we’re talking about the barrel length, along the long axis of the body.

It’s the butt of the gun that causes concealment problems–it sticks out on the short axis of the body (unless you really are as wide as you are tall, in which case you are all out of short axes). While revolvers can generally be fit with a wide variety of grippy-stock-handle-thingies of various sizes and shapes, such as the Ruger SP101/GP100 series, which use a “grip stud” of minimal dimensions, the use of a magazine in automatic pistols greatly limits grip choices. Generally, to get a shorter butt profile, you have to go with a shorter butt.

Sidebar: there is a neat treatment for 1911 pistols, designed by pistolsmith and small house manufacturer Ed Brown, called the “bobtail.” This is one of those rare ideas which a) works, b) works better, c) does not introduce greater complexity and d) is fairly simple and inexpensive. It retains a full size grip, but reduces the “printability” of the butt. You can get the parts (the mainspring housing and the jig for modifying your pistol’s frame) at Brownell’s, too. They the bomb, yo.

Anyway. We’ve established that the Glock pistols can have their grips modified, and have asserted that it’s the butt that causes concealment problems in an automatic pistol carried in a vertical scabbard, which brings us (at last!) To the issue of “my Glock.”

You know, the one Glock doesn’t make.

Essentially, my Glock is a mix of models 21 and 30. It has the 4 ½" barrel (really 4.60" but let’s not quibble) of the model 21, but the butt has been trimmed to the dimensions of the model 30. That cuts about 3/4" off the height of the gun, and makes it easier to conceal.

A picture will follow. This has gone on long enough that you’re going to have to wait for the next installment where I’ll discuss my thoughts on this pistol, and plans for what to do with it.