Why the Glock 19 Is Still the Measuring Stick

The Glock 19 is one of those pistols that almost every handgun gets compared to eventually.

It doesn’t matter if the new gun is polymer-framed, metal-framed, hammer-fired, striker-fired, optics-ready, compensated, compact, or somewhere in between.

At some point, somebody is going to ask:

How does it compare to a Glock 19?

That says a lot.

You don’t have to believe the Glock 19 is the best handgun ever made.

You don’t even have to particularly like Glocks.

But it’s difficult to ignore just how much the Glock 19 has shaped the modern compact handgun market.

And with the new Gen 6 Glock 19 now here, I recently picked one up for review, which has me thinking about that influence all over again.

Because even after all these years, the Glock 19 is still the measuring stick.

The Glock 19 Got the Size Right

One of the biggest reasons the Glock 19 has remained relevant is pretty simple.

The size works.

It’s large enough to shoot comfortably.

It’s small enough to carry.

It holds enough ammunition to be practical.

And it’s compact without feeling like a tiny concealed-carry pistol.

That combination created a category that nearly every manufacturer has tried to compete in.

When a company introduces a new compact handgun, the dimensions are often somewhere in the neighborhood of a Glock 19.

That isn’t an accident.

The Glock 19 established a formula that works for a huge number of shooters.

You can carry it.

You can use it for home defense.

You can take it to the range.

You can train with it.

You can compete with it.

You can modify it heavily or leave it completely stock.

That versatility has always been one of its biggest strengths.

It Became the Baseline

The Glock 19 isn’t necessarily the benchmark because it dominates every individual category.

There are pistols with better factory triggers.

There are pistols with better ergonomics.

There are pistols with better factory sights.

There are pistols with more aggressive grip textures.

There are pistols with better optic mounting systems.

There are pistols that shoot flatter out of the box.

But that’s almost beside the point.

The Glock 19 became the baseline because it does almost everything well enough.

And it has done that consistently for decades.

When people compare another handgun to a Glock 19, they’re usually comparing things like:

• size

• weight

• capacity

• reliability

• aftermarket support

• holster availability

• magazine availability

• ease of maintenance

• optic compatibility

• overall shootability

That’s a pretty complete checklist.

Very few pistols have remained relevant long enough to become that kind of universal reference point.

The Aftermarket Changed Everything

Another major reason the Glock 19 has stayed relevant is the aftermarket.

There may not be another modern handgun platform with more available parts.

Triggers.

Slides.

Barrels.

Sights.

Magwells.

Recoil systems.

Controls.

Frames.

Optic cuts.

Compensators.

Magazine extensions.

You can build a Glock 19 into almost anything you want.

A basic carry gun.

A competition gun.

A heavily customized range gun.

A suppressor host.

A ported setup.

Or something that barely resembles the pistol that originally came out of the box.

Retailers like Brownells have supported that ecosystem for years, and just browsing the available Glock parts gives you an idea of how massive the aftermarket has become.

That kind of support matters more than people realize.

When you buy into a platform, you aren’t only buying the gun.

You’re buying into everything surrounding it.

Other Manufacturers Learned From It

The Glock 19 helped establish what many shooters now expect from a compact handgun.

Polymer frame.

Striker-fired operation.

High capacity.

Simple controls.

Reasonable weight.

Easy maintenance.

Strong reliability.

A compact footprint that can still be shot comfortably.

Today, those things sound completely normal.

That wasn’t always the case.

Now almost every major manufacturer offers some variation of that formula.

SIG has its compact and carry-size offerings.

Smith & Wesson has the M&P Compact line.

Walther has compact PDP variants.

Canik has multiple compact options.

Springfield has its own offerings.

Even companies traditionally associated with metal-frame or hammer-fired pistols have moved into the same general size category.

And every time one of those guns comes out, the Glock 19 comparison starts almost immediately.

The Funny Part Is That Glock Wasn't Always Quick to Change

This is also one of the reasons Glock has frustrated people over the years.

The market moved quickly.

Glock usually didn't.

Other manufacturers began offering better factory triggers, aggressive grip textures, modular chassis systems, factory optics cuts, metal frames, compensators, and increasingly feature-rich pistols.

Meanwhile, Glock's changes between generations often felt much more conservative.

That led to the running joke that Glock would introduce a new generation and somehow make three small changes while everyone else was redesigning the entire handgun.

There’s some truth to that criticism.

But there’s another way to look at it.

Glock has rarely seemed interested in changing something simply because the market says it should.

Sometimes that makes the company look behind the curve.

Other times it prevents Glock from chasing trends that disappear a few years later.

My Own Relationship With the Glock 19 Has Changed

I've owned a number of Glock 19s over the years.

At this point, the only older Glock 19 I still have is a Gen 3 that has been completely customized.

And for quite a while, I haven't been particularly excited about the newer generations.

That doesn’t mean I thought they were bad pistols.

They just weren’t giving me enough reason to get excited.

The handgun market became incredibly competitive.

Once you start shooting pistols with excellent triggers, improved ergonomics, porting, compensators, metal frames, modularity, and more refined factory features, a relatively basic Glock can start to feel exactly that:

Basic.

But sometimes basic is exactly what makes the platform work.

Which Brings Us to the Gen 6

I recently picked up the new Gen 6 Glock 19 for review.

And going into it, I'm probably looking at this gun differently than someone buying their first Glock.

I'm not approaching it as a lifelong Glock loyalist.

I'm also not approaching it as someone who wants to hate it simply because there are newer or more feature-rich options available.

I'm interested in seeing what Glock has actually changed and, more importantly, whether those changes make the Glock 19 feel competitive with the current handgun market.

Because that market is very different today.

A new Glock 19 isn't simply competing against another polymer striker-fired pistol anymore.

It's competing against guns with excellent triggers out of the box.

It's competing against factory compensated pistols.

It's competing against modular platforms.

It's competing against metal-frame compacts.

It's competing against pistols that arrive ready for optics with increasingly sophisticated mounting systems.

That makes the Gen 6 Glock 19 particularly interesting.

The benchmark now has to compete against a market that spent years trying to beat it.

Does the Glock 19 Still Do Anything Better Than Everyone Else?

Maybe not one specific thing.

And that might actually be the answer.

The Glock 19's strength has never necessarily been dominating one category.

It's the complete package.

Reliability.

Simplicity.

Size.

Capacity.

Parts availability.

Magazine availability.

Holster support.

Training familiarity.

Ease of maintenance.

Aftermarket support.

Resale value.

Institutional adoption.

There are plenty of pistols that beat the Glock 19 in individual categories.

Finding one that beats it across the entire ownership experience is more difficult.

Familiarity Matters More Than We Admit

There's also something to be said for familiarity.

Millions of shooters understand the Glock platform.

Armorers understand it.

Instructors understand it.

Holster manufacturers support it.

Parts manufacturers support it.

Retailers stock parts for it.

Magazines are everywhere.

If something breaks, finding a replacement part isn't usually difficult.

If you want a different holster, there are probably dozens of choices.

If you decide you want an optic, there are multiple solutions.

If you want different sights, you'll have no shortage of options.

That ecosystem creates value that doesn't show up on a handgun specification sheet.

The Glock 19 Doesn't Have to Be the Best

This is where I think Glock conversations sometimes become unnecessarily tribal.

You don't have to crown something the "best handgun."

There probably isn't one.

Different shooters have different hands, preferences, budgets, and intended uses.

Someone may shoot a Walther better.

Someone else may prefer a SIG.

Another shooter may want a metal-frame pistol.

Someone may want a 2011-style gun.

Someone else might prefer a smaller micro-compact.

All of those things can be true while the Glock 19 remains the benchmark.

Being the benchmark doesn't mean being perfect.

It means being the thing everything else gets compared against.

And the Glock 19 has earned that position.

The Competition Has Never Been Better

Ironically, the Glock 19's influence may have created its biggest challenge.

Manufacturers spent decades trying to build a better compact handgun.

And now there are a lot of very good ones.

That's great for shooters.

Competition has pushed manufacturers toward better triggers, improved ergonomics, optic compatibility, better sights, modular designs, and more aggressive factory features.

The average compact handgun today is dramatically more capable than what was available years ago.

And yet we're still comparing them to the Glock 19.

That tells you almost everything you need to know.

So, Is the Glock 19 Still the Measuring Stick?

I think it is.

Not because it's automatically the best handgun you can buy.

Not because everyone should own one.

And definitely not because Glock has always been ahead of the market.

It's the measuring stick because it established the formula.

A compact handgun that can realistically do almost everything.

Carry it.

Train with it.

Defend your home with it.

Customize it.

Compete with it.

Beat it up.

Replace parts easily.

And keep shooting.

The rest of the handgun market has spent years improving on that formula.

Now that I have the new Gen 6 Glock 19 in hand, I'm interested to see whether Glock has done enough to move the benchmark forward again—or whether the rest of the industry has finally moved past it.

Either way, the fact that we're still asking that question proves just how important the Glock 19 remains.