[Sarge]

Everyone knows the story. At least I have always heard it something like this. Glocks don't point well, the grip angle is FUBAR. Etc.. I have been shooting an M&P PRO and I love everything about it except all the minor(or major, depending on when it happens) breakdowns such as past FTE repairs and now light strikes. These issues concern me enough to not be too thrilled about waiting on the rumored 40L to play in limited. I am looking at MAYBE getting a 35. So hence the question, Can a guy learn to shoot a Glock?

[Jay6]

sandman, on Nov 2 2009, 06:32 PM, said:

Everyone knows the story. At least I have always heard it something like this. Glocks don't point well, the grip angle is FUBAR. Etc.. I have been shooting an M&P PRO and I love everything about it except all the minor(or major, depending on when it happens) breakdowns such as past FTE repairs and now light strikes. These issues concern me enough to not be too thrilled about waiting on the rumored 40L to play in limited. I am looking at MAYBE getting a 35. So hence the question, Can a guy learn to shoot a Glock?

I will preface this with the fact that I am a huge Glock guy.

You can learn to shoot ANYTHING well with enough practice and a Glock is a great place to start

[gunnerBU]

Yes.

Your grip on a Glock is the key to shooting it well (IMO), but with enough repetitions, you can learn to shoot anything.

[Codycoyote]

Coming from an M&P, the Glock might not present well the first few draws, but as with anything, if you practice with it you will become proficient with it. I shoot mainly Glocks, so when I switch to the 1911, it takes a several draws for everything to feel right, but it always feels right after those draws.

Buy a G35, you won't regret it, and best of all, you don't have to send it away if you ever happen to get light strikes or FTE's, you just buy the new springs and throw them in and continue to rock.

[iainmcphersn]

Dave Sevigny seems to have learned how...

[maineshootah]

I give this a day before it is closed ..

Anyone can learn to shoot anything.

[Jman]

Yes.

If I can, you can bet just about everybody else can too.


Jim

[Chris Keen]

Alot of people start out with Glocks ..... so that should say something.

Other than that I shot Glocks for years, switched to 1911's about 3 years ago, and recently picked up a G17 at the practice range and did just fine with it. Sure it feels different, but it's not completely un-shootable.

[G-ManBart]

I'll go against the grain somewhat and say "maybe". I've been shooting Glocks since 1993. I carry one (or two) every day and practice with them on a regular basis.

I don't think I'll ever be able to shoot a Glock as well as I can shoot a 1911. I picked up an M&P and was shooting it nearly as well as I can shoot a 1911, if not every bit as well, from the first shot.

None of that is a bash on Glocks....I carry them and trust them completely, I'm just never going to be as comfortable with them as I am some other designs. R,

[sargenv]

Um.. I had been shooting a Para P18-9 LDA for production on and off for a while (when not shooting a wheel gun). A couple years ago I wanted to shoot the local GSSF match and borrowed a G34. I bought a bunch of factory ammo (at the time for $120/1000) and fired that up in anticipation of the match. I also shot the G34 for uspsa matches locally.. well, when I was shooting the Para I was a C shooter.. after I was done with the G34, I made B class with it.. so at least for me, yeah I think you can learn to shoot a Glock well.. given time and ammo.

[Revopop]

This just isn't as big a deal as people make it out to be. I just made the switch from Glock to M&P, and it points more naturally for me, but with a small modicum of regular practice it just isn't that hard to do. The reason I made the switch is all of the little things that I think are better. No one thing was enough to make me ditch my beloved Glocks, but all of those things together was plenty.

This post has been edited by Revopop: 02 November 2009 - 08:34 PM

[Heckler]

I started shooting a Glock 35 as a "cheap" way to get started in limited. After a little trigger work and a magwell, i have a gun I can shoot very well, until I can afford to go the S_I route.

[Sarge]

Heckler, on Nov 2 2009, 10:23 PM, said:

I started shooting a Glock 35 as a "cheap" way to get started in limited. After a little trigger work and a magwell, i have a gun I can shoot very well, until I can afford to go the S_I route.

This is kind of along the lines of what I am thinking as well. I will without doubt end up with a 2011 someday but just cant quite convince myself to dive from that high just yet. I will admit that I have only shot a Glock once but I will also admit I played hell shooting A's on a practice target with it. I am sure I did not shoot it enough to form an accurate opinion of my abilities with it but it did scare me a little. And yes I can shoot A's on a practice target just fine with my current gun.

Why would this thread get shut down? Seems like good informative discussion to me.

[Loves2Shoot]

Roll your shoulders forward and the Glock points straight...

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Buy the Glock 35 and don't look back. I shoot Glocks, 1911's and 2011's. I find it takes about 100 rounds when I switch over and all is good again. I really like the fact I can buy all the parts I need for spares but have not needed any of them I also like that the Glock has a lighter slide than most of the other Production pistols and points well. I had one of the best Production pistols and sold it and went back to the Glocks. What can I say they work for me and are cost effective for parts and mags. If you start looking at STI 2011's just add up all the other stuff you are going to need and the Glock 35 becomes even more practicle. You can have a great setup for under $1000 total maybe cheaper if you find deals Hope this helps. Thanks, Eric

[Nik Habicht]

I firmly believe it comes down to "pick one and practice....."

I didn't always shoot Glocks, but I settled on a G-34 as my main competition blaster sometime in 2001.....

[JohnGaultsGun]

Top 2 guys in L10 Nationals shot Glocks. Same 2 guys in Production Nationals too. The gun shouldn't make too much of a difference. It's the monkey behind it. If you can't shoot a 1911 well, you're performance with Glock won't be much better and visa versa. Pick a gun you like and stick with it. The failures you're having could be cause by things not related to your gun. Light primer strikes and FTE sounds like ammo issues, not gun issues. This is just a guess since there are no other details about your failures.

[Nik Habicht]

G-ManBart, on Nov 2 2009, 09:34 PM, said:

I'll go against the grain somewhat and say "maybe". I've been shooting Glocks since 1993. I carry one (or two) every day and practice with them on a regular basis.

I don't think I'll ever be able to shoot a Glock as well as I can shoot a 1911. I picked up an M&P and was shooting it nearly as well as I can shoot a 1911, if not every bit as well, from the first shot.

None of that is a bash on Glocks....I carry them and trust them completely, I'm just never going to be as comfortable with them as I am some other designs. R,

Bart,
were you shooting other blasters prior to 1993? Do you have the same number of rounds through Glocks as through other guns? I'm wondering how much of what you notice is exposure/difference in quantity of experience --- and you're one of the shooters I know who has a lot of trigger time in multiple systems....

[wurm]

I'm learning to shoot one right now. I've been shooting a 1911 for the last year pretty heavily and deiced that for the winter I would finally shoot the G35 I bought a while back. It has been easier than I thought it would be to transition. I've owned a few Glocks in my life and though I've been able to shoot them ok I never put in the time to make them feel natural until now. They always pointed up to me when I took my normal 1911 grip and I figured they just didn't fit me. Turns out that it didn't really bother me after putting in some time dry firing and some practice drawing. My first match with it I shot about as accurately as I've ever shot my 1911. Most of my work now is focused on the trigger pull and working out all the kinks. Kind of fun learning a new platform.

[G-ManBart]

Nik Habicht, on Nov 2 2009, 11:51 PM, said:

G-ManBart, on Nov 2 2009, 09:34 PM, said:

I'll go against the grain somewhat and say "maybe". I've been shooting Glocks since 1993. I carry one (or two) every day and practice with them on a regular basis.

I don't think I'll ever be able to shoot a Glock as well as I can shoot a 1911. I picked up an M&P and was shooting it nearly as well as I can shoot a 1911, if not every bit as well, from the first shot.

None of that is a bash on Glocks....I carry them and trust them completely, I'm just never going to be as comfortable with them as I am some other designs. R,

Bart,
were you shooting other blasters prior to 1993? Do you have the same number of rounds through Glocks as through other guns? I'm wondering how much of what you notice is exposure/difference in quantity of experience --- and you're one of the shooters I know who has a lot of trigger time in multiple systems....

Nik,

Yeah, I've been shooting since I could walk...pretty much literally, so I had quite a bit of experience before I ever even held a Glock. I got my first 1911 in 1983, but I shot everything I could get my hands on back then. I definitely have more total rounds through 1911s than anything else, no doubt about that. Still, at times I've shot nothing but Glocks for extended periods of time and they never really felt right to me. At one point it was roughly three years straight where I didn't put a round down range with anything but a Glock. For example at the academy (during that three year time) I shot two or three times a week with my issued G22, so I was quite comfortable with it...but it still never indexed the way I'd like it to and doing something like a bill drill was slower and less accurate for me. After all that time I went back to 1911/2011s for competition and it was a very definite and immediate improvement. I'm not saying I can't shoot a Glock pretty well....I think I can, but I can't shoot them as well. Picking up the M&P I didn't notice that same difference.

I've had days where after shooting a couple hundred rounds in qualification and other drills I'd go shoot our plate rack and be okay....nothing spectacular (on the clock), but solid. I'd switch, put on the M&P and instantly be several tenths faster even before warming up to the differences between the two. Intuitively you'd think I'd be slower at first (or at least no better) with the M&P until I ran a few rounds through it, but that simply wasn't what happened. Weird huh?

I'm not sure on the quality of the experience. At the academy we had red handle (dry fire guns) available 24/7 and I spent quite a bit of time dry firing in addition to the 2-3 live fire sessions per week. Other folks were studying Legal and I'd be popping in and out of doors to dry fire at targets down the hall By the end of that time I was shooting a Glock as well as I ever have (go figure) but it still never felt quite right and I'd see things in my performance that I absolutely, positively knew I could do better with a 1911.

Heck, I wish it wasn't the case as it would be a whole lot cheaper for me! R,

[Nik Habicht]

Bart,
I suspected that answer --- but wasn't sure. I think it makes a good counterpoint to "Pick one and practice" in that for some people, it maybe comes down to "Pick the right one and practice" or "Pick anything but this one or two and then practice...."

I don't know if it's lack of experience with other platforms or experience with Glocks --- but I definitely shoot them better than anything else...

[GentlemanJim]

(tongue in cheek)


Can a guy learn to shoot a Glock?


Well...it is a girlie gun....but I guess you could

Jim

[Flexmoney]

Kevin,

I don't think the grip angle is all that important. If the slide doesn't bite you and you can reach the trigger, then the rest is training.

For some, it might mean altering their technique.

[Duane Thomas]

No, no one can learn to shoot a Glock well. Not even a single national or world championship has ever been won with a Glock and never will be. Abandon all hopes in this regard and send your Glocks to me. For only a small fee (Paypal accepted) I will take them off your hands.

[Pharaoh Bender]

With Refinement and Repetition^TM of the proper technique, (read: plenty of dryfire and livefire) anyone can shoot anything.