[Review] Glock 19X: A 9mm To Be Reckoned With

Glock – the polarizing gun company. A lot of shooters really, really like their pistols, while others can’t even hear the name “Glock” without wanting to throw up a little. Why is that, you ask? Well, I guess it’s because that so many shooters have (over)sung the praises of the gun so often that others are just sick of hearing about it. The Glock Haters say the gun is too blocky, hard to get a good grip on, is “blockys”, uses cheap sights, has a “sproingy” spongy trigger, is too slick to grab, etc. etc. The Glock Lovers point out the gun’s reliability, availability, price (which can go into either camp), the fact that way more than half of U.S. police departments use them, etc. etc. So, no matter where you stand on Glock pistols, you’re not alone.

Where you stand on this issue is your business – I don’t need to know. I know where I stand, which is actually somewhere in the middle. I can see points on both sides of the debate. I’m not coming at this with no personal Glock experience – I owned, for a good while, a Model 30 .45 ACP compact and shot it a lot. I finally decided that it was just too short for me to shoot comfortably so I traded it. I found nothing wrong with it – it just wasn’t comfortable for me to shoot. I tried, I really did, but alas…away it went. I wouldn’t mind owning another model, maybe one with a little more to hang on to, but time will tell. Now, about the 19X on the table here in front of me…

The Glock 19X

The Glock on steroids, according to some. The tan Glock, to others. So…what do we have here? We have a hybrid pistol, basically a Glock 19 slide on a Glock 17 frame. Why in the world would they want to do that? Well, there are a couple of reasons, as I see it. The first is that the “shorter-barrel-taller-frame” is becoming more popular – look at almost any major pistol maker’s line and you’ll see guns with shorter barrels/longer frames. Heck, even my Springfield Armory XD(M) .45 Compact (3.8-inch barrel) came with a couple of 13-round magazines. Talk about a longer frame to hold onto…this 19X is certainly that. The other reason is the more important one – Glock wanted to submit a pistol for possible acceptance in the Army’s Modular Handgun System trials a few years ago. Anyone who knows about pistols and who has not been living in a cave knows that SIG Sauer won the contract with their M17 9mm (and M18 compact version). The Glock did very well in the trials but the SIG was selected, so Glock decided to sell the same gun they’d submitted for testing (minus the manual thumb safety) to the public. So, in January of 2018, the 19X was introduced to the shooting world.

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The Glock Factor – Plus Or Minus?

To some shooters (the self-acknowledged “Glock Haters”), this pistol presents somewhat of a problem. It isn’t made like the standard black-Glock-blocks that they had grown to dislike over the years. This Glock is built a little differently than its stablemates. Here are some differences:

• It’s a true Gen 5. If you are unclear about Glock generations, check out my article where I explain the differences between them here.
• The slide front is beveled to aid in re-holstering.
• As mentioned, it uses the shorter 19 slide mated to the longer 17 frame – Glock’s first hybrid pistol.
• The trigger pull is generally lighter than the standard 19.
• The cut-out at the bottom of the magazine well is gone.
• This pistol sports a lanyard loop.
• Night sights are standard.
• And, the most obvious difference is the color – “coyote tan”.

These differences matter a lot to many shooters, while others really don’t care much – as we discovered above, if it says “Glock” on the gun, for many shooters that’s all they need to see. I try to take a slightly more unbiased approach to this pistol. I truly see its usefulness in a competitive shooter’s range bag, or a police officer’s holster. I don’t see it having much use as a concealed carry gun due to its longer frame but I suppose that if the carrier is taller, it might work. If you are simply looking to add “the Glock that the Army tried” to your collection, by all means go for it if you can afford it – it’s a heck of a shooter. It’s not cheap, but what quality item is? I have not drunk the Kool-Aid from Austria, so I am not a do-or-die Glockoid, but I do see some objective usefulness to this pistol. First, it carries a whole lot of 9mm… you get two 19-round extended mags plus a 17-rounder…

You’ll want to buy your ammo in bulk, because filling up just what Glock sends with the gun will take more than a 50-round box. 19+19+17=55, I believe. If you do carry this gun concealed and take all three magazines with you, I think you would be pretty well covered in the ammo department. One 17-rounder on the left with two 19-rounders (17+2) on the right. All three are only marked for 17, but Glock thinks that you’ll be able to figure out that the longer mags are +2.

Note the finger extensions on the 19-rounders. These really give you something to hang on to, but don’t help in the concealment department.

Before we look at the photos I took, how about the specifications for the 19X…

Glock 19X Specs

Overall Length:	7.44 inches
Overall Height:	5.47 inches
Overall Width:	1.30 inches
Barrel Length:	4.02 inches
Sight Radius:	5.94 inches
Weight (Unloaded):	24.83 ounces
Weight (Loaded):	31.39 ounces (17 rounds)
Trigger Pull:	measured 5 pounds 12.5 ounces, average of 10 pulls
Trigger Travel:	.49 inch
Barrel:	Marksman, Enhanced Hexagonal Profile, R.H. Twist, Polygonal Rifling
Slide Finish:	nPVD
Magazines:	Two 19-round and one 17-round included
Magazine Release:	Reversible
Other Features:	Four interchangeable backstraps, one magazine loader, one bore brush and cleaning rod, and an owner’s manual, Glock padded coyote colored hard case
MSRP/Real-World Price:	$749/$589

Photos

Here are some photos and opinions I took, and proffer…

Note, no bottom-of-frame mag well cutout as the 19 G5 displays (and which is pretty much hated because is pinches your hand when you shoot, especially smaller hands).

The long frame juxtaposed against the shorter slide is really evident here. Also note the Gen 5 right-side slide release. This gun, loaned to me by good friend Devan, shows some wear above the magazine release. This is from attaching it to his CAA Micro-RONI carbine Glock stock. Normal holster wear wouldn’t present itself in this manner, but may rub the muzzle.

Nothing new to see here, folks, move along…

At the military’s request, a lanyard loop. Not sure if these are really needed in this day & age, but I can sure see their usefulness for horse-mounted cavalry. It can be removed if you so desire.

…and, the sight picture through the rear to the front. Sights are replaceable but are more useful (again, my opinion) than the standard “goal-post” Glock sights.

And, in case you’re wondering what comes in the hard plastic coyote-tan-colored case, here you go.

The magazine loader is good, but…trust me…invest in an Uplula. You’ll be glad you spent the twenty-five or thirty bucks.

OK…we’ve seen the photos and now know exactly what separates the 19X from other, lowly 19s. How did it shoot?

Shooting The 19X

I shot a few different 9mm loads through the 19x. I put some Blazer 115-grain FMJ and some Winchester white-box 115s through the gun with decent results. I even tried my do-it-all 9mm handload of a 124-grain Lee round nose cast bullet over 4.0 grains of Long Shot, with not-so-bad results. (Yes, I shot cast bullets through a poly-rifled barrel and the earth didn’t explode!). Notice I don’t have photos here…the 19X shot at least as well as I did. The results were average, about two inches at 15 yards and three at twenty-five. I state right here that I am not the best shooter in our family – I have sons who would take that crown – but will state, with no trepidation, that the 19X is more accurate than I am. I don’t own a Ransom rest, but I do try to sandbag my groups from my backyard bench and do the best that I can. My eyes are almost 70 years old (OEM) and, with bifocals, sometimes do not deliver the best groups from whatever pistol I’m shooting. Suffice it to say that the new Glock Marksman barrel will do all and more than it’s been asked to do. The 19X is an accurate gun…I wouldn’t be afraid to go after small game with it (squirrels), given the right load that’s been properly zeroed.

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Other Reading And Conclusions

I’ve written a lot about Glocks, and especially their 9mms. For more information about some of their 9mm models, read my article on that subject here. It makes for interesting reading. And, if you just want to bone up on your Glockology 101, read my exposition of the company’s history here. The company started out about as far away from gun manufacturing as it could be, and since then has grown into the behemoth that supplies at least 65 percent of U.S. police departments and agencies with handguns, not to mention their other military and world-wide business. This would include, among others buyers, military contracts and all those Glocks sold by your neighborhood gun store and all those online businesses. Not too shabby. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Glocks are here to stay. If you need a very-high-capacity 9mm Glock, give the 19X a hard look. It’s expensive, but I think is worth it. And that, coming from a Glock-Kool-Aid-free guy!

As always, please leave comments below if you are a 19X lover (or hater)…we can only advance the dialog. I take a neutral position, having owned only one, but others out there have opinions…let’s hear them! Keep shooting, and stay safe!