First, the GLOCK is simple to use. In a life-and-death situation you never want to complicate things. New shooters love how the GLOCK doesn’t have any switches or levers or anything difficult to operate. In fact, when I’m teaching one of my defensive pistol courses, I’ll often have a new shooter who forgets to take off an external thumb safety and can’t figure out why his gun won’t fire. When I see this, I hand the person my GLOCK to fire a few rounds, and they usually get a smile on their face when they see how easy it is to operate.
The second reason many people convert to GLOCK pistols is their reliability. One of the worst things that can happen to a new shooter is that they get a gun that malfunctions all the time. These malfunctions cause the shooter to think all guns do this and that shooting isn’t that fun after all. The person quickly loses interest in firearms and may never go to the range again—all because they chose the wrong gun. When people choose GLOCK, they quickly realize that they don’t have to clear jams all the time and they get to spend more time practicing and having fun.
Another benefit of GLOCK’s reliability is that you don’t have to clean the gun after shooting it for just a few rounds. There have been only a few shooters I’ve come across who enjoy cleaning their firearms, and with a GLOCK you know you can put many rounds through it before needing to strip the pistol apart.
The third reason many people choose GLOCK is because of the SAFE ACTION. People who are unfamiliar with GLOCK sometimes say that GLOCKs don’t have any safeties. Of course, this isn’t true. The GLOCK has three different safeties. The safety most people are familiar with is the trigger safety. The trigger safety is built into the trigger. In order for the gun to fire, the trigger safety and the trigger must be pressed at the exact same time. This safety prevents the gun from going off if it’s accidentally dropped or if an object gets into the triggerguard and exerts pressure on the side of the trigger. The next safety that all GLOCKs have is the firing pin safety. This safety blocks the firing pin from moving forward until a person is ready to shoot. When the trigger is pulled, the trigger bar pushes the firing pin safety upwards and the firing pin has a clear path to the round in the chamber. If a person decides not to shoot and releases the trigger before the gun fires, the firing pin safety automatically blocks the firing pin again so the gun is safe.
The final safety on a GLOCK is the drop safety. If I were to try to explain this myself you’d probably end up a little confused, so here’s how GLOCK explains it on its website: “The trigger bar rests on the safety ramp within the trigger mechanism housing. The trigger bar engages the rear portion of the firing pin and prevents the firing pin from moving forward. As the trigger is pulled rearward, the trigger bar lowers down the safety ramp and allows the release of the firing pin. After firing, the trigger bar moves upward and reengages the firing pin. As the trigger is released all safeties automatically reengage.”
One of the last reasons I hear for why new shooters switch to GLOCK is because of their accuracy. Believe me, I realize there are a million and one aftermarket parts for a GLOCK, including upgraded barrels. But the truth is, very few of us will ever shoot well enough to fully take advantage of a GLOCK’s accuracy in the first place. In other words, for the vast majority of shooters, their GLOCK will always be a lot more accurate than they are.
My first job out of college was as a police officer. I was issued a GLOCK 22, and that’s really when my appreciation for GLOCK began. Today, I carry a GLOCK 19 and so does my wife. Over the years, I’ve tried a variety of guns (as any gun person tends to do), but I always end up coming back to GLOCK. Why? For the same reasons that thousands of new shooters and shooters of all experience levels convert to GLOCK each year.
