Gen 3 vs Gen 5

[Arik]

Well. There's Gen3s, and there's Gen3s.

The early 2-pin Gen3s weren't the same as the early 3-pin Gens, and they aren't the same as the what a Gen3 is now.

The early 3-pins were the best.

The past decade has been a rough one with Glock.

These latest Gen5s are showing promise to be the best guns they've made so far.

Both 17 and 19 I have are 3pin. The 19 I bought used around 2009, ex police gun from somewhere in FL. The 17 was bought a few years ago, also a ex police gun out of Norfolk VA PD. Has that cut out on bottom of the grip to rip mags out

I avoided gen4 cause I didn't see a point to them. Aside from the interchangeable back straps, which I didn't need, 4 did nothing 3 didn't so I just saw it as a waste of money

[17K]

Sounds like you have a couple of the good ones.

You likely avoided a headache skipping the last decade!

[robbins290]

i have a 6 year old gen3 G33 that i have beat the living hell out of. same with the 1995 g22. I do not see a difference to them besides the older one has the frying pan finish. that also has the mag cut out. Can someone enlighten me of why the newer gen3 are different the older ones?

[bobbytucson]

i love both the gen 3 and gen 5. i have my gripes with both however.

gen 5 gripes:

-for me persoanally i can-not stand the ambi slide release because it wont spring forward when i sling shot after a reload because the meat above my index finger holds the slide lever up, ive had to re-train myself to thumb the lever on the button side to send the slide home. i will add, this is not a big deal, and most dont slingshot anyways so this really just bothers me

-trigger is garbage. its ironic because when i first dryfired it at the store i loved the way the new gen 5 trigger felt and i thought it was an improvement. i racked the slide over and over and dry fired it 50 times. it actually lead me to making my decision to buy it and ordering my blue label gen 5. but man, after actually putting rounds through it, totally different story. mushy, weak, just yucky. had some polishing and other touching up to do till i could tolerate it, but still, nowhere near as good as gen 2-3-4 with a glock minus connector. as to why glock changed the design and positioning of the housing spring is beyond me. they could have just left the previous gen design of 30+ years untouched.

-had to re-contour, shave and smooth down the radius for the notched magwell. i learned this the hard way during my first couple of painful reload bites. sumbitch pinched the hell out my pinky. glock removed this entirely on the latest revisions of gen 5 aswell as adding forward serrations to slide. they sure did listen to us finger bleeding consumers.

-i miss the finger grooves. so all in all, i wish i would have gotten a gen 4. (however, i do love the flared magwell mouth).

-the action doesnt cycle anywhere near as fast as gen 3. my split times and followups are much slower on gen 5 (this goes for gen 4 too). not a big deal for duty, but it does mean a huge different in matches. the gen 3 spring softens/weakens up a bit, and naturally compresses easier/quicker compared to the new captured+dual spring in gen 5. when it comes to racing in matches and you are rocking glock, you are rocking gen 3 because of this. better cyclic rate in gen 3. that and gen 3 has better trigger adaptability/workability.


gen 3 gripes:

-mag release too small and too forward. gen 4 & 5 were much needed realistic improvements, i dont have to break my grip on new generations.

-recoil spring needs changing often. i put a few thousand rounds down the pipe a month between both idpa and uspsa & practice. the solo flat wire spring wears out very quickly and causes some hangups fur sure if you let it go too long and gets sloppy jaloppy. . 2k rounds is the threshy for these guys. the gen 4 & 5 springs are awesome, havent changed it yet in about 5k and still rock & rolls.

-rail slot is not picattany. really pisses me off. you have to make sure to get each light manufacture's glock version. not hard to find, but still man, its an annoying 1st world problem. gen 5 is now 1913 thank god

- bottom portion of the circular steel loop on slide where recoil spring dome cap sits is thin and weak. sent 2 slides back to glock because hairline cracking occured. never really gave me problems, but still. gen 5 fixed this issue and beefed up the meat in this area.

overall, for duty, ill take my gen 5 over the gen 3. i think its glocks *almost* best iteration yet, especially the opening of the magwell mouth. but...for matches, gimme a gen 3 please. gen 3. thats the stuff. finger grooves lock my hand in place and shoots way faster accurately (for me).

mileage may vary here.

[17K]

I agree on the ambi slide stops. Annoying with no benefits.

You gotta have some wicked fast split times to be waiting on any pistol to cycle...

[Arik]

I agree on the ambi slide stops. Annoying with no benefits.

You gotta have some wicked fast split times to be waiting on any pistol to cycle...

Unless you happen to be a lefty... especially during malfunction drills!

[Buncheong]

I’ve only ever owned Gen 3 but am too tempted by the excellent reports of Gen 5 to pass them up any longer.

Wondering if I’ll regret selling my surplus Gen 3s, though ... money not growing on trees in the yard, buy one/sell one and all that.