I would recommend giving the gen 5 a shot at your nearest rental range, because those 'small tweaks' actually add up to a huge difference. For me, the combination of much better ergonomics and improved trigger makes for a night and day difference between the two.
Yes, the removal of the finger grooves and overall change to the contour of the pistol grip makes for an amazing difference. It doesn't look like much in pictures but for me it's a huge difference in feel.
In my personal opinion the gen 5 is a substantial improvement over previous generations. Glock redesigned the internals and addressed some known weak points from prior generations. The gen 5 pistols have eliminated the older style trigger return spring which was known to break if not periodically replaced. Gen 5 pistols use a NY1 type spring that compresses instead of stretching with each trigger pull, which is a more durable setup. They also redesigned the slide lock spring and slide stop lever spring, which have also been known to break in previous gens. The gen 5 pistols use coil springs for these parts which is a more durable design than the leaf/wire spring of the prior gens. In rare instances the slide can crack or even completely fracture at the recoil spring lug. This happens in pistols with extremely high round counts or pistols that haven't been properly maintained i.e. swapping out recoil springs at proper intervals. The gen 5s recoil spring lug has been reinforced or "beefed up" compared to the gen 4s in an attempt to mitigate this issue. One of my favorite changes in the gen 5 is that they now have a standard 1913 rail slot so my X300s are interchangeable between my rifles and Glocks. I understand that most people have never experienced any issues with parts breakages in their Glocks but for those high round count shooters, agencies, militaries/units these changes are significant. Oh and I will most definitely be picking up a G45 because I find that I can run a shortened slide with a full sized grip pistol a little faster and just as accurately as a long slide pistol. I contribute this to having a full grip to get maximum surface contact and leverage on in combination with the shorter faster cycling slide. Having a shorter slide makes for slightly faster draws from the holster for me as well YMMV.
Last edited by dirkmagurk; 09-24-18 at 08:41.
I can only speak to the 19X as it's my only Gen5 gun, for now. I recently ran my PD's qual with my issued G17.4 and my G19x back to back, starting with the 19x. To keep things as close to the same as possible, I put the X300U from my duty gun on the 19x and used my used Safariland duty holster. I also had Medium backstops on both. Factory 19x sights vs. Trijicon HDs on the 17.4. I had not shot the 19x before, I literally grabbed it out of the box, loaded mags and got on line. Proceeded to shoot a perfect score. Our qual is shot from distances from about 2 yards to 25 yards. Next round was shot with my issued G17.4 duty gun. I shot a 92% with the exact same qual. I'm not saying it was just the gun, but it likely helped.
I'm starting to see the Gen4s as a bit of a stop-gap to get to the Gen5s. I think the Gen5 guns will become the new standard-bearer for Glock. Please don't get me started on the people who are already screaming that they wanted a 17 slide with a 19 grip. The comments on the Glock social media pages are full of idiots asking for that and "muh .45s/10mm high cap mags!!!"
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Any word on a blue label price?
Or regular price for that matter
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I'm still here... waiting on a G19 frame and G17 slide... oh well.
I am part of that power which eternally wills evil, and eternally works good.
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