Glock and 1911, My Conversion.

One of several pieces explaining my transition from the 1911 to the Glock pistol. This is an old piece. I no longer carry or own the 21SF. All are 9mm now and I own only the 19 and 17. Enjoy.

I have spent years shooting and drilling alongside and with both 1911 and Glock pistols.

Since I was 10 years old I was versed in all things 1911 from my father. I grew up shooting a Colt Government series 80 with extensive work done to it by gunsmiths from the Gunsite custom shop back in the early 90's. I can shoot it well, still. I qualify with the 1911 every 6 months in accordance with strict tactical shooting standards to maintain my position on the SRT team. I have been involved in multiple "call-outs" and continue to carry my 1911, for now that is.

I was the spokesman for the 1911 and still am, to those who have the time to train on them and desire to shoot that particular platform. The thing is, I saw in black in white. I considered the 1911 the only platform, period. I never passed up the opportunity to slam on Glocks. Oh how I loved to tell guys that all a glock needs is a treble hook and some glitter to pull behind a boat. I despised and hated the, "tactical tupperware", the "crunch-tickers".

A few individuals on our tactical team carried Glocks and swore by them. I mocked them. I would rat-hole targets, and my 1911 functioned without failures. The thing is, their Glocks did the same. I began to question my hatred for these plastic blocky pistols.

I stared in Awe, as one officer literally out shot a line up of fellow SRT members with his Glock 21. We performed a myriad of drills everywhere from the 3 yard line to the 25 yard line. We did failure drills, speed re-loads, head shots, shooting on the move, oblique right, oblique left, kneeling, etc. Two officers held Nighthawk Custom GRPs, I had my Colt Series 80, a few had Kimbers, and one had a Wilson Combat CQB. All did well. At the end, with over 150 rounds of .45 ball fired and "0" failures, the officer with the Glock 21 had not dropped one single round. He had a 100%. I was shocked that the $400 gun had just competed well with the $2500 guns. My opinion began to shift slowly.

A pistol is a secondary weapon. All operators carry a primary weapon; a rifle, carbine or shotgun. The moment you are forced to use your pistol, you probably are too close to the enemy, out of ammo in your long gun, had a failure of your primary weapon, or worse, found yourself without your long gun. I asked myself, can I justify having $2500 of my hard earned money tied up in a secondary weapon, when a $400 weapon would do the same thing?

A combat pistol must be reliable. The Glock is without a doubt. A combat pistol must have a tremendous availability of parts and interchangability with others of its type. The Glock is. It must be easy to break down and clean, light weight, corrosion resistant, simple to handle and operate, and require little to no maintenance in times of hard use. A combat pistol should also have an increased capacity in its magazines.

Some 1911s, are so highly customized and "tight" that even a new barrel has to be custom fit by a smith. If you take the many 1911 makes, the parts are NOT interchangeable. Where you can dump the parts of 100 Glock 21s on a table and re-assemble at random, you will have 100 functioning Glocks. Try this with 100 1911's.
Without fine oils and lube, or with the introduction of dirt or sand, a 1911 has its issues. 1911 Magazines carry only 7-8 rounds. Yes, "All you need is ONE". However put yourself in a downed Blackhawk surrounded by a seething, roaring crowd of people trying to kill you and tell my all you want is 7 round mags when you can have 13-15 round mags.

Where it takes me a good while to clean my 1911 and swab its rifled barrel, I can wipe down, clean, swab and oil my Glock in mere minutes. The best part. Because my Glock only cost me about $400 I beat it. I don't worry about it like I did my multi-$K pistols. I sold the Nighthawk and bout $2600 worth of Glock and other gun stuff.

For now I will have to continue to eat bowl after bowl of Crow soup. For I am as they say, "EATING CROW". You would not believe the abuse I get now for having "converted" and "switched sides".
"Listend to this guy," colleagues rant. "Six months ago he couldn't hate Glocks enough!"

Well I am here to tell you, I was wrong. I apologize Glock, for any business I steered away. I will make it up to you somehow.

Please don't come after me all ye mall ninjas who hate so easily. Leave your pistol zealotry elsewhere.