Best Glock Pistols: Ultimate Guide for Glock Shooters

To me, Glock isn’t the perfect gun for anyone. But it is the perfect gun for everyone.

If you don’t know what you need, if you’re new to firearms, if you need the Honda Civic of pistols — Glock is where it’s it.

The reliability and durability are simply unmatched. Even in the most modern pistol trials, nothing beat Glock.

With so many calibers and configuration options on the market now, there is a Glock for every role and every job.

And since the platform is so popular. It’s easy to find upgrades, holsters, lights, and everything else.

Glock Safeties 

If you’re new to Glock you might be off-put by the fact that no Glock model has an external safety like a grip safety or a thumb safety.

That doesn’t mean they don’t have safeties, just that their safeties are internal.

Glock has 3 internal safeties: trigger safety, firing pin safety, and drop safety.

The trigger safety is a small lever that prevents the trigger from being pulled unless direct and proper pressure is applied. This is easy if it’s your trigger finger, but harder if it’s anything else.

A firing pin safety prevents the firing pin from moving forward unless the trigger is pulled. If the trigger isn’t pulled, the firing pin cannot physically move.

Lastly, the drop safety makes sure that even if everything else failed that the firing pin couldn’t hit the cartridge with enough force to set it off. But when the trigger is pulled, it always does.

These three safeties combined make for one of the mechanically safest pistols ever made.

Plus, there is no thumb safety to flip off and no grip safety to hold on tight.

Best Glocks in All Calibers

Glock G19

When you think of Glock this is likely one of the two that you conjure in your mind.

The Glock 19 is the gold standard for the goldilocks size 9mm pistols between concealability and effective fighting firearm.

Basically, every other EDC CCW “compact” pistol is measured against what the G19 is and does.

When your product is the literal measuring stick that everyone else uses, you know you did something right.

Glock 19 comes in locks of flavors and generations, the newest being Gen 5. While Gen 3 is likely the most popular due to aftermarket options and some states being limited to Gen 3, the Gen 5 is a much better pistol.

If you’re looking for an EDC CCW, range pistol, or home defense pistol — you can’t go wrong with a Glock 19 Gen 5.

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Glock G17

Basically, the exact same thing as the G19, except slightly bigger in every way.

Still chambered in 9mm, the grip is a bit longer, the barrel is a touch longer, and the whole thing just has a little more meat on the bone.

Designed as a full-size duty/service pistol, it still is a wonderful gun for EDC CCW and home defense.

Depending on your body type, carrying the slightly larger gun is often easier than you might suspect.

And when it comes to defending your home, the extra size soaks up more recoil, the longer grip gives 2 more rounds in standard magazines, and the whole gun is flatter shooting.

While the G19 is the EDC CCW gold standard, the G17 is the duty/service pistol standard.

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Glock G43X

Glock has forced more innovation than any other manufacturer since Armalite and the AR-15, but they aren’t always at the bleeding edge.

When Sig Sauer released the P365 with its sub-compact size that held 10+1 rounds, Glock was officially behind for the first time in a long time.

It wasn’t long after that Glock updated their old G43 with the G43X and gave us a Glock-made sub-compact 9mm with a 10+1 capacity.

Slightly larger than the G43, the G43X is more than worth the tiny extra size so that it can boost the round count.

If you need it really small but still with teeth, the G43X is the way to go.

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Glock G21

Roughly the size of the G17, this time Glock comes in .45 ACP!

While those 1911s of old carried only 7+1 or 8+1 if you were lucky, the G21 packs in 13+1 rounds of .45 ACP.

Maybe size doesn’t matter, but capacity does. 

Those old 1911s were rated for around 900 mean rounds between stoppages, Glock (depending on the model and the testing event) is rated for around 2,500 MRBS.

So if .45 ACP is what you crave, give the G21 a shot.

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Glock G20

If you want more power, 10mm Auto is a great caliber to choose. With more than double the power of 9mm, 10mm is one mean little cartridge.

The Glock 20 gives you 15+1 rounds of 10mm while still maintaining a very G17 feel to the whole gun. That’s impressive, to say the least.

While some magnum-caliber guns have the tendency to beat themselves to death, the G20 is one of the few that can actually handle the cartridge it carries for a very, very long time.

Friends of mine have well over 15k rounds through their G20s and are still going strong.

Sadly, Glock has said that the G20 will not be updated to the Gen 5 pattern — but Gen 4 guns are still in production.

If I had to pick one gun as the perfect woods pistol to defend yourself against anything you might bump into, the Glock 20 would be my one and only pick.

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Glock G23

Basically a G19 but in .40 Smith & Wesson. If you’re not familiar with .40 S&W, it’s a cool round that we have a ton of information on.

Invented due to the FBI’s need for a slightly less powerful cartridge, but still more power than 9mm, the .40 S&W was massively popular with police departments for almost 2 decades.

However, in recent years there has been a big shift back to the 9mm due to better bullet designs.

That said, .40 S&W is still a solid round that packs a punch. The G23’s 13+1 capacity is a good amount of firepower in your hand when you need it.

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Glock G42

Chambered in .380 ACP this is basically the smallest and lightest Glock that is still a defensive firearm.

While some would say that .380 ACP is too small, it is the smallest I would recommend. I carried a .380 ACP for several years and still do when I need something extra small.

The G42 is exactly that, extra small. 6+1 capacity with a loaded weight less than 1-pound this is truly one tiny little pistol.

If you want Glock reliability but need something very small for EDC CCW, this is a great option.

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Glock G44

Fairly new to the market, this is an exact clone of the G19 — except that it is in .22 LR.

The first run of the G44 wasn’t great and goes down in history as one of Glock’s only failures on launch. With broken firing pins galore, the G44 didn’t start off well.

But a few months later and Glock worked things out and the reviews since then have been outstanding.

This is a great training tool for anyone that carries a G19. Now you can shoot and train with a gun identical to your carry gun, but shooting ammo that costs a fraction of the price.

It’s also perfect for training new shooters that need a smaller caliber but are planning to get a real Glock soon.

In classic Glock fashion, this is also one crazy reliable pistol. On release Glock claimed that it could cycle with any standard power .22 LR ammo. 

While that didn’t actually turn out entirely true, it does function with a much, much wider range of ammo than any other .22 LR pistols on the market.

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Glock G48

If the Glock 19 was the perfect pair of jeans, the G48 are skinny jeans. For some of you, you’re already in love. For the rest of us… ya.

Chambered in 9mm and basically, the same size as a Glock 19, the G48 is a “slimmed down” version of the G19.

While the G19 comes in at 1.34″ thick, the G48 is only 1.10″. Oddly, the barrel on the G48 is a full 0.15″ longer than the G19 at 4.17″.

The overall length is the same at 7.28″, as is the height at 5.04″.

Really the most notable difference is the G48 is almost 3-ounces lighter.

Oh, and the G48 is a standard 10+1 whereas the G19 is 15+1.

So, is sacrificing 5 rounds of capacity really worth *checks notes* um… less than 3 ounces of weight and a quarter-inch width?

Like I said… skinny jeans.

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Wrapping Up

There are a LOT more Glocks on the market, but most of them are just size variations of what I picked here.

Still, one of the nice things about Glock is that there really isn’t a bad choice in the lineup. 

Some might be more useful to you than others, but they all work and they all come with legendary Glock quality.

You might also like to read:

• The Best Glock Suppressor Sights
• The 4 Best Glock 43 Sights
• 6 of the Best Glock 19 Shoulder Holster
• The 4 Best Glock Speed Loaders