Last night at one of our weekly IPSC matches, Chris Edwards, and Scott Gilbertson from Glock brought down the extremely cute models 26 and 27 for perusal. They also let us shoot them :) Here's what I noticed about them:
I was able to pretty quickly take down 6 plates with 8 shots from the 26. Not being used to iron sights lately (yep, I'm "dot infected"), and definately not being used to the stock Glock profile, I'd say that was pretty decent :) The pistol handles pretty darn well, for being so small. I can't even fit my pinky on the grip!! Recoil is stiffer than either the M17 or M19, but it's certainly controllable, even for those with small hands. For something small enough to fit in my pocket (in my baggy jeans, anyhow), this little sucker smokes!!!
Of course, it takes the big mags from either both of it's larger brothers (in the same caliber, of course).
I will be buying an M27 to match my soon-to-be-purchased M22 sometime in the fairly near future (at least, as soon as the guns are readily availible, which means next year). Heck, I'd almost feel comfortable shooting this puppy in a match, in a pinch :-)
I thought I'd relate to you all my impressions of the new Glock. The Glock model 26 that I saw last weekend is an ultra-compact 9mm pistol, which feels quite different from the other Glocks I've examined.
First off, the length of the handle is so short that I couldn't get more than two fingers and my thumb around it. My other two fingers were left dangling. At least the grooves in the handle give me a little better feel for proper grip of the pistol.
Because the gun is so compact, the polymer frame is much smaller than the larger guns. It feels as though the steel slide is more massive than the other guns, probably because nearly all of the gun's mass is in the slide and it is rather top-heavy.
I would not be comfortable using this gun, simply because it is too small to be used with a decent grip. Also, the grip radius is virtually identical to the larger guns. It is rather thick and thus apparently harder to conceal than many larger, slimmer guns. The Browning Hi-Power is much thinner, although it is a double-stack gun as well.
I'm disappointed that Glock didn't come out with a single-stack model, slightly smaller than the model 19, and significantly thinner. The Kahr K9, the S&W 3913 and the Astra A-75 appear to be good alternatives to the new Glocks, at least for concealed carry.
In my hands at least, the Kahr K9 and the S&W 3913 are nearly ideal. However, the grip panels on the Ladysmith 3913 that I examined were quite slippery and impractical. This gun was also DAO- isn't the DAO 3913 called a 3953? Can the grip panels of a 3913 be replaced with something tackier?
The Kahr K9 is quite expensive- over $500 at my local gun stores. The Kahr also has a terrible, long DAO trigger. For the price, I expected a much better trigger. Unfortunately, IMHO, this gun needs a slightly shorter, lighter and smoother trigger to be worth the price. The S&W 3913, at approximately the same price ($500) is nicer, although a bit larger as well. The salesman, who was very helpful, agreed with me. He said that he considered the Kahr K9 for a personal carry weapon, but the trigger was not what he wanted in a rather expensive gun. The Glock was a little too short, although according to him, it is rather pleasant to shoot.
As my search for a nice carry weapon in 9mm continues, the options are becoming more and more limited:
SIG P225 S&W 3953 (with better grip panels- I like the DAO concept for this purpose) Astra A-75 (the inexpensive alternative)
Hey Glock, when are you going to realize that you should make a compact, single-stack pistol, about the size of a Kahr K9, in either 9mm Para, .40 S&W, or .45 ACP?
Steve, are you listening?