Sweeney - The Gun Digest Book Of The Glock

This time around, Glock came through with loaner guns. No questions answered, but loaner guns.

And just to make sure you know where I stand on the issue (firmly in the middle) it is my personal feeling that a Glock has all of the warmth, charm, personality and character of an industrial tool. It also has a standard of reliability, durability and function that Im not sure other pistols can achieve, even the 1911.

I have to admit, having spent more time with them, and learning more since the first book that Im starting to warm up to Glocks. Just dont say that so loudly, will you? The rest of the guns in the safe might feel neglected. Glocks are legendary for working right out of the box, every time and without fail. If you were to say to me, We expect you to put this warehouse full of ammo downrange as quickly as possible, with as few malfunctions as possible, Id have to go with a Glock as the tool for the job. If you allowed me a lot of enjoyment at the possible cost of a very small margin of reliability, Id much rather do it with a 1911.

As far as accuracy is concerned, its hands down for the 1911, but the margin isnt as large as youd think. For the jobs we ask of a handgun, anything better than three inches or so at 25 yards is gilding the lily.

The fact that some competitions require more accuracy than three inches at longer distances than 25 yards should not distract us from the Glocks reliable performance. Yes, more is better, but just because a Bullseye target has an X-ring that is less than a couple of inches at 50 yards doesnt mean a pistol that cant deliver to that standard is a failure (except as a Bullseye pistol, which explains why you dont see many Glocks at Camp Perry). Glocks deliver as much accuracy as we need and more than many can take advantage of. So much accuracy, in fact, that practical shooting competitors often dont bother to change the factory barrel for a better one.

When Im writing about firearms, I try not to say too much about the bad ones. Not that Im sucking up to the manufacturers (no one who knows me would believe you if you were to assert that idea) I just dont have the time or room. In most writing projects, I have a specified and limited amount of space, and if I spend it thrashing a bad product I cant get that space back in order to talk about a good one.

But there is no avoiding things here. This is a book about the Glock. If I leave something out, my editor will be the first one wanting to know why, and the readers would be the second. So, youll get the straight skinny from me. Good, bad, indifferent and downright strange, its all here. Or at least as much as I could get my hands on. In the world of firearms, youd think pages of essentially free advertising (while running the risk of falling into the clutches of a cranky gun writer) would call for lots of free and loaned stuff. Guns and ammo, and parts, and accessories. T-shirts, posters, key rings, etc. Guess again. I wrote about what I could get. If I couldnt get it, I wasnt going to speculate, at least not much. I have to get my hands on stuff to write about it. What I got, is in here.

Id like to regale you with tales of how Glock flew me down to Smyrna, put me in the Presidential Suite and let me shoot to my hearts content on the test-fire range. Id like to be able to tell you all that and more, but it wouldnt be true. Every request of Glock USA was met with the same answer: We have to ask Austria. In the first book and the second, not a single question could be answered without approval from above. If I wanted a repeat of the answer, I had to call them and ask, as no one in Smyrna knows how to dial a phone and return a call.

Apparently I was not being singled out in this regard, as getting anything out of Glock is apparently a quixotic quest best left to those with more time, patience and a better calling plan than I have. And a longer deadline. I did, however, make use of my position in the gun world to actually lay hands on loaner guns. Apparently I am among a few dozen in the writing field who actually get loaner guns from Glock. However, no questions were answered.