Today was SHOT Show’s Industry Day at the Range, which is also lovingly known as Range Day to many of us. Today was the first time many of us got to shoot Glock’s newest pistol, the G44. The G44 is a Glock 19-sized semi-automatic pistol that is chambered in .22 LR.
This is a tremendous thing for a couple of different reasons. First, Glock is known for making reliable pistols and the .22lr isn’t exactly known to be a reliable round. Therefore, I’m coming out as saying that this is a brazen move on their part.
Second, this is cool for those of you who carry a Glock 19 or similar gun and want to practice on the cheap while still managing some (albeit less) recoil with similar ergonomics.
The G44 is set up like any Gen 5 Glock is, without finger grooves which many folks, including myself, were not fond of. Also standard are the front cocking serrations, flared magazine well, and Glock Marksman Barrel (GMB).
I’ve gotta admit that I was skeptical at first. I wasn’t exactly thrilled at this announcement but after shooting it I kinda get the hype. This Glock 44 has minimal recoil as you’d expect, and is a lot of fun to shoot.
That, coupled with the fact that if you’re already used to the way a Glock pistol feels in your hand, makes it an excellent training tool both for yourself, as well as getting new gun owners trained up as you ready them to move on to a bigger caliber.
When starting off with a small caliber pistol chambered in something like .22, it helps to build confidence with lower recoil, less muzzle blast, and better accuracy. Then, once the newer shooter is a bit more advanced and comfortable shooting, introducing a bigger caliber gun with the same ergonomics makes a lot of sense.
You can watch Glock’s Team Captain Shane Coley talking about the G44 in the following video:
You can learn more about the G44 on Glock’s website. And, Brownells is taking orders for them, here.
What did you think about this release? Have you had a chance to shoot the G44 yet? If so let us know what you think about it in the comments below.
