I hit the range to do a bunch of different things, one of two which was to put the new Gen 5 Glock 19 and Glock 17 through its paces. I installed the standard set of Ameriglo BOLD sights which come with Gen 5 Glock's from the factory on the G5G19 and a set of BOLD sights with a green front on the G5G17. Both are .140 fronts. With the two G5's I brought various ammo to test. None of which is ultra-premium "self defense" ammo, I specifically avoided that because I wanted to see how it functions with off the shelf "range" or "drill" ammo, no one shoots drills with Federal HST's, so doing a practical accuracy test is stupid with them for range related activities. I will touch on this later down this post.
First thing which was done was proper zero'ing of the pistols using an ammo I knew to be consistent and accurate, in this case it was a mix of winchester white box and S&B 9mm 124gr 9mm, shooting at a B8-P
at 25 yards in 5 shot groups. This is pretty tiresome and I should have only done it with the two G5's but I had brought several Glocks to zero (like 7 different Glock pistols with new sights on them all). Even with breaks I started to get fatigued at shooting accuracy at distance. As I stated in my post explaining the 200 drill, you should not shoot more than three "accuracy" type drills like a 200 or 100 drill which I did about 25 times with various guns trying to zero them all. This was my fault and not something I normally do. I will eventually get into my opinion and considerations of "range fatigue" which is a form of learning fatigue which has to do with static accuracy shooting (but not tactics). A buddy of mine came with me and he experienced the same thing, which is not surprising. I made sure both of us shot both guns to see how they functioned with two different (but usually accurate) shooters. So this means some of the groups were better and/or worse due to the fatigue (yes you can shoot better fatigued in some cases). We also went through a few various accuracy progression shooting drills to double-down on the fatigue. Random Ammo Testing:
The ammo/groups will be from worst grouping to best grouping.
Federal 9mm 115gr FMJ RN Brass grouped the worst. This is not the "champion" labeled stuff, it is a 100 bulk pack from walmart, this was the best group out of three attempts with both guns with a G5G19.
Winchester Forged 9mm 115gr Steel Cased, best of two with a G5G19.
Federal "Champion" 115gr FMJ RN - two sets on one paper, best with G5G17.
Winchester White Box 115gr bulk pack - four or five (lost track) sets, best with G5G17
American Eagle 124gr - two sets on one paper, shot 4 times, best with G5G19, low left shot in 6 ring was called, as with two of the low 7 ring shots.
PPU 158gr - two sets, best with G5G17 - the really high and really low shots were due to fatigue and were called right after the shots.
S&B 124gr EU Contract - shot this 6-7 times with each, and during zero of the guns (fresh and unfatigued) and it performed the most consistently. Would recommend for accuracy testing purposes, way better than typical "blasting" ammo for up close work. We were able to consistently hit high 90's in the 100 with this ammo while zero'ing it and it was one of the last ammo's we shot of the day. Low left shot was called, upper 7 ring shot was called, low 6/7/8 ring shots were due to fatigue of shooting 250+ rounds of accurate shooting. Both G5G19 and G5G17 performed well with it, this particular target was with a G5G19.
Trigger considerations:
Having shot my Gen4 Glock 19 for over 40k rounds, and having currently been shooting my Gen3 Glock 19 for over 20k rounds, also my duty Gen3 G17 with 15k+ all over the last 5 years, I can say that the OEM factory triggers which come in the G5G19 and G5G17 are the absolute best I have shot from an unmodified out of the box Glock. The only competitor is the OEM trigger from a Glock 17L (Gen3) which comes with a minus connector and has one of the cleanest Glock triggers, second now only to the Gen5's. The trigger is easy to take the slack off of, half to a third of the "wall" which my Gen3 and Gen4 have (both of which I shot right after the G5 to see the exact difference in feeling). "Smooth" is the term I want to use and the concept I want people to understand with the G5 trigger. On drills with speed of shot being the factor I consistently put .17-.15 splits without really pushing it and while that is standard on the G4/G3 I felt like I was holding the G5G19 back, it was waiting on me. I did ND several times due to how smooth the trigger is on the draw into the target, this is a really good thing in a training situation because it allowed to work more on my trigger application.
A full grip with the trigger finger laying wherever it fell was the best method for use. We tried center of pad, breaking the knuckle, and other variations of location of act trigger placement and it became pretty obvious to both of us shooting both G5's that a full trigger finger from a full grip is the most accurate.
Reset is definitely different than the G4/G3 Glocks. The reset is light and you can definitely miss if you are listening for it. I only do trigger reset when I am shooting accuracy at distance, up close I do a full trigger reset (meaning I remove my finger from the trigger completely and reengage it each time). Very easy to miss but even still I never had an issue with it not going back into battery and never had a dead trigger. This method yielded dead triggers on LEM and M&P's for me, but has never done so with a Glock and did not with the G5.
The smoothness of the trigger is a big addition and huge improvement. I really like the smooth face and while it did not really change my accuracy or shooting, it is definitely a comfort thing which we both noted on the G5's.
Length of pull felt shorter but a slight bit, but its hard to tell without a scientific measurement, just going on feels for this.
Frame/Grip/Controls:
Did the grip angle change? It certainly feels like it did, but the grip is also very much thinner than its G3/G4 predecessors, primarily due to the four rear grip attachments. We shot without them and my buddy has much larger bear sized hands, he felt very comfortable shooting the G5G17 and had an issue with the front cutout on the G5G19 biting him. Nothing some 600 grit sand paper cannot fix on the corners. For me the G5G19 is the perfect size and the slight magwell flair gave me a "wedge" to keep my pinky in place. Along with the straight, non-finger grooved grip, this is a winner. I am used to shooting Glocks with trigger undercuts and I may end up doing it on the G5G19 to see how it feels, honestly, I am hesitant as it felt so comfortable to shoot the way it was out of the box. I really do not want to modify it at all but I will because reasons.
The magazine lease is good to go. With my G4/G3 I need to move the gun a little in my hand to drop the mag, with the G5 I can drop the mag one handed with absolutely zero issue or hand movement. Not a factor for bigger handed guys, but I noticed it right away.
The ambi-slide stop does not affect shooting in any way, did not for me, did not for my buddy on the 17. Easy to work and easy to not hit when shooting and moving around.
I have read online people have issues with reloading the magazine due to the cutout. I will have to do a video of the method I have always used, but we had zero issues reloading, even at speed, it worked fine with no catching or snagging or pinching. We ran OEM G5 mags, Magpul Mags and G3/4 mags in the mix as well, zero issues loading, dropping/etc.
Other initial observations and considerations:
Some people online reported erratic ejection of ammo, or BTF (brass to face). Shooting different numerous different ammo types did not produce this result, I even tried to limp wrist it with a few of the cheaper ammos (like steel cased) and no issues with ejecting/etc. So I cannot say I experienced what is posted online.
Out of the box, the G5G17 and G5G19 with the Ameriglo BOLD sights equipped is probably one of the best shooting, feeling and overall accurate pistols I have ever shot. I was surprised during some of the accuracy drills how accurate the guns shot and could only consider how to make them more accurate. I will probably be running the G5G17 with the green front BOLD set and change the G5G19 to a Defoor setup soon just to see how much accuracy I can squeeze out of the G19, I am assuming I will impressed as I was with the .140 fronts. With the .115 fronts I can only imagine touching five shot groups at 25 yards with good ammo if I do my part - pipe dreaming I know, but it feels like it is possible with this gun, it does not feel like it possible with my Barsto fitted G3G19 or G17L with precision trigger or G19L with 2MOA T1.
As for carrying, I will not be carrying either until I have at least 1000 rounds through each (probably the G19 sooner than the G17) and then I will still wait for an SCD "The Gadget" to come out, since after carrying with one AIWB, I will not carry without one.
So if you are on the fence, do yourself a solid and get a Gen5. I am very impressed with it currently and will report back on my experiences.