Glock 19x Review

A Love Hate Relationship

The Glock 19x is one that I thrashed when it came out on the market. I saw no value in the design…why would someone want a a compact slide on a full-sized frame? Well, slowly but surely, my curiosity got the best of me. Between talking to a friend who is former LE, seeing all of the torture test articles, and more… I wanted to try Glock again.

I had shot them in the past, but they didn’t do anything for me. My logic? Buy a gun I hated the idea of, give it a chance, and do a review of it. Thus the beginning of a love hate relationship begins. I’ll be going over the specs first as usual, and then we’ll hop into the review.

This review was originally posted by TacCat on his old website on May 9, 2019. Because of that this review will not have the same layout as other firearm reviews that you will find across the website.

Pistol Overview

The Glock 19x comes from the factory in a coyote brown plastic case, in the case you’ll find: 1-17rd magazine, 2-19rd magazines, your typical cleaning stuff, the gun, your typical paperwork, and the obligatory gun lock. Now, the Glock 19x comes with a dual recoil rod and springs. For those that haven’t picked up a Glock in a while, they went to dual springs/rods beginning with Generation 4. It also comes with factory Meprolight night sights, an nPVD coating on the slide, and a GMB (Glock Marksman Barrel). The GMBs have become standard on Gen 5 Glocks and I believe standard Gen 5 Glocks are coming with a nDLC coating on the slide and barrel.

Now to help out the sour 19x owners, IT’S COYOTE BROWN, NOT FDE! Haha.

General Specs:
Frame Material: Polymer
Caliber: 9mm
Flush Capacity: 17
Overall Length: 7.44 inches
Barrel Length: 4 inches
Width: 1.3 inches
Height: 5.47 inches
Weight: 22.05 ounces (without magazine)

The Review

I know I’m not the first to say this, but the Glock 19x is the epitome of a niche pistol. It isn’t exactly ideal for concealed carry (not for the reasons you might be thinking), but it’s an amazing shooter. The stock trigger is better than other factory Glocks I’ve played around with, the factory night sights are usable, and it can take some Gen 4 parts (like barrels).

With the fact that Glock sold 100,000 19x’s in the first 4-5 months of it being released to the public, I did change out my backplate to a Classy Raptor Tactical backplate For starters looks cool, and two for identification purposes on my end (sorry commando’s, I don’t memorize every serial number of every gun I own). Backplate changes are really just a cosmetic change and don’t affect the function of the firearm.

Side Note: I do not recommend the Olight PL-Mini under any circumstances. I was reviewing it while I had the 19x.

How it shoots & Reliability

Shooting wise, the Glock 19x has been nothing shy of reliable. I have fed it a whole bunch of 115gr Remington UMC, Winchester White Box 124gr NATO, and 124gr Federal HSTs. I haven’t had any failures of any kind, which is what I expected after reading all of the fairytale-esque accounts of Glock’s bulletproof reliability and durability.

Shooting the 19x was… a lot different than I expected. I thought it would be snappy with a lot of muzzle flip since it’s rocking the Glock 19 length slide. The opposite was actually the case. It was a very tame, very mild recoil impulse that resulted in an easier time shooting than even a Glock 17. It’s something that doesn’t make sense until you start to look into the physics of it…and I’m not a physics expert.
The magic sauce is essentially this from my rudimentary understanding: Recoil is being routed to a larger surface area meaning it’s less centered in your palm, there’s also less slide mass reciprocating which decreases how much weight is being flung back into your hand.

Ergonomics

Let’s talk about the ergonomics. I’ve handled and shot a few different Glock models, including the 19. The ergonomics were never anything super impressive to me, but at the same time the grip angle wasn’t something formed by Lucifer like some 1911 enthusiasts like to claim. The Glock 19x is different though; and I think it’s because of the gun’s balance.

The balance of the pistol is sublime and the higher grip purchase you’re able to get paired with the low bore-axis really aids in making this pistol a soft and controllable shooter. With the Glock 19x I haven’t experienced what has been coined as “Glock knuckle” from the trigger guard undercut. The stock controls all around don’t get any grief from me. The slide release/stop is easy enough to hit, but I’ve never hit it accidentally.

Even with how much I enjoy the overall ergonomics of the pistol, there is one point of complaint from me. The take-down levers on either side are a pain in the butt to get to for those with fatter fingers. But past that, I don’t have any other complaints ergonomically speaking.

How it carries

How does the Glock 19x carry? Glad you asked! It’s terrible! I haven’t bought an OWB holster for the 19x, but IWB it sucks; there’s no other way to put it. And it sucks because of what makes the balance so nice…the layout. It’s a compact slide on a full-sized frame. In an IWB holster this ratio makes it want to “flip”. A holster wedge or full sized WML may fix this issue, but without it, the gun can be hard to conceal even with appendix carry.

Using the tightest notch possible with my leather belt, the gun still wants to try and flip out. What this creates is a hassle to keep it concealed. Every few steps it wants to push the grip outward and makes it very easy to spot printing wise. Now I have used two holsters with the 19x, one in limited use. The holster pictured is from Steadfast Holsters, the other I believe is from Knightfall Customs and it’s lightbearing (TLR-1). With the TLR-1 the 19x doesn’t want to flip on me, I do believe this is because the light counteracts the length of the grip, and anchors the muzzle of the gun kinda-sorta.

Conclusion

Before the Glock 19x, I really had no desire to own a Glock, in fact, I hated the 19x when it was released. After owning it for almost a year, I can say that my initial observations were wrong, and that I do plan on getting a few more Glocks in the corral. This gun is the epitome of a love/hate relationship to me. I love how it feels in the hand, I love how it shoots, but I absolutely hate the way that it carries concealed; but that isn’t what it was designed to be good at.

It’s a new take on an old idea. Did they hit the mark? I would say so; even with that lanyard loop. If you’re not a Glock fan but you’re just looking to fill a hole in your collection, the 19x is definitely a solid choice to make. If you’re a larger person looking for a new carry gun? I would have to recommend looking elsewhere if your intent is to carry it IWB in any capacity… that or get a G17 holster to prevent the “flip”.

History

Glock first entered the firearms market in 1982 and the media went on a frenzy because it had a polymer frame. The Die Hard fans will remember this quote: “That punk pulled a Glock 7 on me. You know what that is? It’s a porcelain gun made in Germany. It doesn’t show up on your airport X-ray machines here and it costs more than what you make in a month!”

The first gun that Glock produced was the Model 17, coined as the G17. This was a full sized, polymer framed, striker fired pistol. It wasn’t the first of it’s kind by any means, but it was revolutionary to say the least. It sparked the trend we see today in polymer framed, striker fired pistols. The Glock 17 of today weighs a measly 24 ounces unloaded and can hold a flush fit capacity of 17rds.

At the time the Glock 17 did a lot of things that nobody could and it was designed by a man with limited to zero experience with firearms. It had 34 moving parts, take down was extremely simple, and the trigger pull was weighted the same for each pull.

Enter 2018 and we have the Glock 19x. The 19x is an old take on an old request made by the military following World War II. To give a summation, the military wanted a pistol for officers. The pistol couldn’t exceed 7 inches in length or weigh more than 25 ounces and it had to be chambered in 9mm. The solution in Colt’s eyes? The aluminum framed Commander series. This line took off on the civilian market, but it was never formerly adopted by the military.

The 19x is essentially Glock’s take on this. The 19x was designed for the XM17 military trials to try and replace the Beretta M9; Sig USA’s P320/M17 pistol ended up winning the contract however. The 19x was supposed to be seen as a modular weapon, meant for people of all sizes, but there isn’t any real modularity with the pistol.