5 Reasons You Should Own a Glock

With the recent passing of Gaston Glock, we wanted to pay tribute to this genius gunsmith and engineer who created one of the world’s toughest, most reliable firearms. And here are some of the reasons why every household should own and use this icon of craftsmanship. The first firearm I (John Lovell) ever bought was a Glock 19, and I've talked to a lot of other guys with a similar love and history with the 19, like my friend Paul Perkerson who got this American classic when he turned 21 as a gift from his dad. "I had a choice between the Sig Sauer 226 and the Glock 19. I took the Glock."

And there are reasons why these guns are still around, still being made, and in heavy use. I’ve probably put 15,000 rounds through this classic firearm, which I've held onto all these years, even if it's no longer my primary EDC pistol.

I guess you could say I've "retired" it, but not because I really needed to. It's never malfunctioned. It's still in great working condition. Because Glocks don't really break.

Why Buy a Glock?

Reason #1: Glock Pistols Are Tough As Hammers

These things just do not break down very easily. Despite being a collection of metal and polymer parts, I am amazed at how well Glocks hold up under immense pressure and for many years compared to other pistols. As with any tool that has moving parts and is subjected to heat, pressure, thousands of jolts, and other duress, some of the parts might need replacing. This is virtually unavoidable and part of normal wear and tear maintenance.

But if you maintain them somewhat well, they'll last virtually "forever," and shoot and operate consistently even after a good bit of abuse–even with fairly crappy ammo (though this isn't recommended).

Reason #2: Glocks Are Universal

Just like with the AR platform, you likely won't have trouble finding replacement parts, even with the worsening of supply chain problems. And that's because the Glock is the most widely issued service pistol on the planet. More law enforcement agencies, military units, and civilians carry Glock than any other pistol out there.

(Which reminds me of reason 1.5 to own a Glock–Tommy Lee Jones told you to: "Get yourself a Glock. Lose that nickel-plated sissy pistol.")

This means accessories and parts for Glocks are top of mind for after market, third party manufacturers. Whenever a company makes accessories for something, they always first make items compatible with Glocks. This includes slide stop levers, buttons, magwells, sites optics, triggers, etc.

Perkerson likes to call them the "Jeep Wrangler of the gun world." They're tough and ubiquitous and they're a pistol platform you can do a lot of with, both tactically and in terms of customizations.

Reason #3: Affordability

Not everyone has a lot of money in their gun budget, so in terms of price to value ratio, the Glock is very hard to beat. It gives you everything you need in a defensive handgun, and you can customize and improve it over time without breaking the bank.

So for first-time gun buyers looking for a home defense or EDC pistol, Glock's platform and operation are the simplest, maintenance is fairly straight forward, so if you're only going to buy one pistol–go with Glock.

Of course, you might know that I've started carrying the Shadow Systems MR920 and smaller CR920 War Poet pistols.

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I've sort of switched to these now because they come with all the bells and whistles I enjoy, but they also come with a comparable price tag. And even though I've "moved on" for now to these weapons, I consistently recommend Glocks as the foundation and standard for most firearms collections.

Even Shadow Systems owes a lot to the Glock platform, as do most every striker-fired pistol platform, because Glock absolutely revolutionized the world of pistols when Gaston Glock created the striker-fired pistol. Which brings up half a reason to own a Glock–because it irritates people who love Sigs.

Reason #4: Simplicity of Engineering and Repair

As I mentioned before, Glocks are hard to break, but every gun requires at least occasional maintenance. One of the best things about Glocks is that you can teach just about anyone how to disassemble, repair, clean, and reassemble a Glock with relative ease. And the parts are fairly easy to find just about anywhere.

Reason #5: Big Brother Doesn't Like Glocks–or Any Guns

There will likely come a day when our rulers make it extremely difficult to purchase any kind of firearm, so you should probably make sure you get at least one or a couple of these time-tested, highly reliable, firearms classics. Of course learn how to operate them effectively at the range and for tactical applications.

The only way to do that is to Train Hard. Train Smart. Live Free.