Glock 19: The ‘Coupe’ of the Glock 9mm Family

After returning to a full size 9mm platform via the Glock 17 and putting several thousand rounds through that gun, I got the urge to pick up a compact 9mm. So I put in a backorder with a local gun shop for a Glock 19 (3rd generation) and was able to pick it up last week.

As far as the Glock 9mm family is concerned, the Glock 19 is referred to as a ‘compact’, while the Glock 17 is considered a ‘full size’ and the Glock 26 is considered a ‘sub-compact’. The compact G19 is a nice in-between, offering balanced handling. It doesn’t feel as ‘hefty’ as a G17, gives better sight radius over a G26, and recoil management is excellent.

In the title of this blog entry, I refer to the G19 as a ‘coupe’ and that car comparison is fitting. The G19 is smaller than a sedan (G17) and smaller than a city-car (G26), making the G19 the ‘sportier’ Glock 9mm (smaller size but still maintains good sight radius and muzzle velocity).

I also immediately ordered a Surefire X300 Ultra weapon light and a Raven Concealment Systems Phantom LC holster (for the G19 and X300U combo) after I DROS’ed the gun. A quality holster is pretty much a mandatory accessory for any pistol, and since I like to run a weapon light, I made sure to order the SureFire X300 Ultra (which replaces the now discontinued SureFire X300) and had the Raven holster built for it.

Just to cover the SureFire X300 Ultra a little, it is similar to the X300 in design. It is slightly longer than the X300, but more importantly, the X300 Ultra puts out 500 lumens of light versus the 170 lumens in the previous X300. The one noticeable effect of the 500 lumen rating is that the X300 Ultra does emit more heat than the X300.

As far as Raven Phantom LC holster, I already have one for my Glock 17 with SureFire X300, so I am already familiar with the quality of RCS which is why I acquired another Phantom LC holster.

Today I went to my club’s range and put 250 rounds through the new Glock 19 to break it in, and it functioned without a hitch.

After shooting my Glock 17 with a Trijicon RMR these past several months, I did not realize how much faster I am with just basic iron sights in terms of the time between the draw and presentation on target to the initial shot. Obviously, I still need to continue to improve my fundamentals with the micro red dot.

Anyway, the Glock 19 is the newest edition to my toolbox and affirms my move back to the 9mm cartridge (from 9mm to .40 S&W to .45 ACP back to .40 back to 9mm). I will write an article in the near future on pistol cartridges, what I have used in the past, and why I have decided to go back to 9mm. Note: Cost of ammo was not the impetus for me going back to 9mm.