Having never written a review of any Glock pistol, this is a first for me. I have, however, owned, shot and tried various Glocks. Didn’t review them because I have considered it much like evaluating a hammer. Whether you wanted a tack hammer, a claw hammer or a heavier framing hammer, they are, after all, hammers. Swing them correctly, and they work every time.

That was my impression of a Glock pistol. It was -and remains -first, last, and foremost - a fighting pistol. Like a Bic pen (Google it) fighting pistols are expected to work, first time, every time.

And, like a hammer, it offered functionality, but lacked the appeal to have me queued up in a media line to get a turn running one of their guns.

Glock is proud of their new Gen6 line, and consider it a continuation of late founder Gaston Glock’s demand for “Perfection”. Inside it’s pure Glock functionality. Outside, it actually displays ergonomic appeal.

After spending a day with the people of Glock, including their senior most leadership from the U.S. and Austria, I have a new respect for the company and have found their new Gen 6 pistols to be, for lack of a better word, appealing. For four decades Glock owners have used everything from skateboard tape to Dremel tools and woodburning pens to wrap, file and melt their Glocks into something that represented uniquely (occasionally) or awfully (frequently) their “take” on Glock. There’s also a much larger-than-cottage-sized clone industry out there offering customized frames, slides, barrels, and sights in every color, flavor or trigger pressure imaginable.

Then, only a few weeks ago, the foundations of Glock-world were shaken when word leaked (semi-accurately as is the way of all leaks), that Glock was “discontinuing all their current pistols and introducing an all-new line.”

The webs went wild. And the rumor mills went to three shifts, speculating on what Glock was thinking.

Speaking with senior Glock leadership, the whole social media thing gobsmacked them. A leak had definitely upset their usual uber-organized launch plans.

That’s background to say, the first models in their new Generation 6 pistol line leaked over the weekend (accurately) announced formally today, have been in development, testing, revision and production planning for years, not weeks.

The Gen6 is not in response to either legislation nor litigation. It is the product of extensive development, not knee-jerk reaction.

Glock U.S. and Austria worked collaboratively on the guns, making innumerable revisions, modifications and extensively testing (40,000 rounds per gun) with a variety of US/European ammos. That level of testing per gun/prototype is a lot of shooting, but not unusual for any major gun company’s test protocols.

It’s also an impossible amount of work to accomplish under the rumored “rush” to produce guns to satisfy either litigation or “lawfare” threats.

All that having been said, the Gen 6 pistols appealed to me. I have always been able to shoot Glocks, I just never wanted to. They appealed to me as much as the hammers in my toolbox. I knew they worked, but could never see myself buying another one because other guns appealed to me more. Not for their significantly superior performance, for their a more personal intangible: feel.

As invited media poured over the new Gen6 pistols the photos we took (top) and the displays of the pistols before the first shots were fired (bottom) made it obvious changes had been made- inside and out.

The new Gen 6 pistols have the look and feel prior models lacked for me. Glock listened to customers, looked at the after-marketplace and in their measured and methodical way, revised their pistols to make them feel like the melted, Dremeled or otherwise customized pistols and myriad clones in the marketplace. Then they evaluated what worked and made the decision to introduce the new series.

ALL prior Glock models, FYI, will continue to be supported by Glock. The V and Gen6 lines will, however, represent Glock’s path forward.

From an improved palm swell (interchangeable backstraps are still there) to the enlarged beaver tail and the new RT6 grip texture (it’s an RTF2 substrate and RTF 4 combination of some sort), the Gen 6 pistols feel good in the hand.

It won’t hurt the feelings of the Gen 5 owners to know that Gen6, despite the changes, will still fit just fine in their Gen5 holsters.

Talking with Glock executives about the reasons for subtle changes like a flat face trigger and reduced trigger finger reach, they had a simple explanation: helping everyone shooting the Gen6 pistol better control recoil to be more accurate.

As it was explained to me “dominate the frame and you can slap the trigger and still stay on target.” Couldn’t agree more, and no less than great competition shooter Rob Leatham used to tell me the same thing.

Gen6, they told me, reflects the company’s guiding principles:

Test.

Learn.

Improve.

“We are slow to change,” one exec explained, “because we do not beta test into our customer base. Other companies do.”

Their listening and responding is obvious. They are optics-ready, with three polymer optic plates that allow optics to screw directly into the slide. Rather than forcing the optic higher over the slide cut, these polymer “plates” serve as a “crush washer,” improving the mount, yet keeping the optic lower over the bore axis. This change came in response to owners of earlier optic models using a combination of too-long aftermarket screws and too-much torquing (and LockTite) to create pressure that affected case extractions.

After our detailed briefing on the Gen 6 models, we headed to the range to try the trio (17,19, 45) for ourselves.

Talking helps understand the “why” of changes. Only trigger time tells whether they actually mean anything substantive.Everyone took advantage of the opportunity.

I liked them. With fewer than 150 rounds through each, I found the G17 to be my favorite, but had very acceptable results across the trio. I shoot optic equipped pistols better than iron sights, and prefer a simple dot to the more complicated options on the variety of open and closed-emitter models on test guns.

But pistol optics are definitely no longer something I consider “optional equipment.” They make shooting, especially when surrounded by really good shooters, more enjoyable and less frustrating. That means an increased interest in the single most missing ingredient in this (and most other) shooting toolkit: practice.

The new Gen6 pistols are carrying an MSRP of $749 regardless of the model, and there is a fourth model being introduced into the international market: the G49.

Our editors are waiting for T&E models for considerably more detailed testing and evaluation, and, as always, we’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd