Picture two equally rough cowboys, facing off from either side of a dusty street in a western gold rush town. Which one is tougher or faster on the draw? That’s what it's like trying to compare these two veteran combat handguns.
When I was training to go back into Afghanistan in 2010 and 2012, I had to qualify with the M4 and Glock 19 as my primary firearms. In order to get into theater with firearms as a defense contractor, one of the first steps is to pass a standard qualification test. Ironically, in 2010, this would be the very first time I would pick up a G19.
The various militaries throughout the world probably buy the full-size 9×19 Glock 17 service pistols for their fighting men and women than they do any other Glock. In the United States, where the Glock is by far the most popular brand of police duty handgun, the .40-caliber Glock 22 seems to have been adopted as standard issue by more law enforcement agencies than any other. Among law-abiding private citizen gun owners, however, the most popular model appears to be the Glock 19. Some close to the company call the G19 Gen4 the “gateway Glock,” because so many people who now own several Glock pistols for assorted purposes started their collection with a G19 Gen4. It’s a significant phenomenon that can be explained.