The Damn Glock Thing

So, anyone who knows me, or has read my posts on WeTheArmed.com, knows I don't like Glock pistols.

There's a laundry list of things I don't like about Glocks. The grip angle is a problem for many people. The trigger safety bugs me, along with a disassembly procedure that requires dry-firing on a closed chamber. That has resulted in many negligent discharges and even deaths. Plus, Glocks are just ugly.

Of course, they are extremely popular guns. They're as simple as they come- point and shoot. There's no manual safety and they're reliable to a fault. They're inexpensive. Their popularity has created a huge and mostly inexpensive aftermarket for magazines, accessories, and upgrades. I even recommend Glocks as an option for new shooters, even though I'm not a fan. They're good guns for a lot of people.

Just not me.

A while back, my friend, Jason, who is a fellow Sig pistol lover, Glock hater, and who has an often strange "gun idea of the day," mentioned he was looking at Glocks for a pocket-carry gun. This opened my mind to Glocks for a few days. His "idea of the day" passed within 24 hours, and my thoughts about them passed shortly thereafter.

Then one night, I had a dream; a nightmare really.

I usually don't remember much about my dreams other than the general gist, but rarely details. I remembered a scary amount of this one.

I walked into Abilene Indoor Gun Range, plunked down an unknown amount of money, and they handed me a Glock. Don't remember choosing or thinking. I just gave them money and took it home. I remember what the empty magwell and empty chamber looked like when I cleared it. Then I started dry firing. I remember pulling the slide back just far enough to reset, which isn't far on a Glock. I just dry fired for a while. I don't remember the trigger biting me, like that stupid trigger safety always does on me. I don't remember the normal discomfort I usually feel with the grip. The next thing I remember is thinking it was a G23, then looking at the barrel and finding it was marked "9X19mm" and realizing it was a G19.

And then I woke up, in a sweat. This was a bad dream for me.

I haven't been able to shake it. I think if I could buy handguns in Arizona I would've gone and bought one by now, but luckily I have another month plus to try and shake it.

I'm thinking I might get one even when I get back to Texas. Reason is a couple things. One, I should be proficient with any gun I pick up. Glocks are different from real guns in the grip angle, which few other designs share. That's one of the things keeping me from one. But they're so damn common, I should be able to shoot one. The other reason is that in order to badmouth...I mean, intelligently critique a weapon, you need to know it, know it's strengths, shortcomings, etc.

To evaluate it, I'm not going to risk my life by carrying it. I just have so much muscle memory in DA/SA guns, and I carry such weapons on and off duty, I'm not willing to risk that. But I plan to target shoot with it. I'm even going to shoot it in IPSC matches, once I get through the Double Tap match. I'm practiced enough with my Sigs and Beretta, and I've paid too much to enter that match that I'm not going to change my gun two months out. But after that, I'm going to wring it out in action pistol competition.

I'm hoping I can get one, shoot the crap out of it and still hate it for one reason or another. If it has negative impacts on my real gun shooting, due to grip angle or trigger or whatever, that will be enough reason for me. I'm invested enough in my DA/SA's that I carry on and off duty, and shoot well, if a Glock takes away from that, I'll sell it in a heartbeat.

I just have to know.