A new Glock for Lemuel

Unlike those of you fortunate enough to have revived a refund from Uncle Sam this year I am one of those self employed who winds up owing our dear uncle nearly every year. So when I have recovered from the quart of blood, arm, leg and several internal organs which I am required to pony up to help to pay minority women to have illegitimate children I will begin saving my pennies for a new firearm.

I have chosen the new Glock 21 SF for my next firearm purchase.

Glocks are simply the most durable and reliable handguns on the market today. I have never had a failure to feed or fire or eject with an unmodified Glock in the thousands and thousands of rounds which I have fired with them starting with the first generation model 17 and going all the way to the subcompact model 36.

My personal preference for a handgun caliber is the .45 ACP. The full sized Glock in .45 is the model 21 however its grip is simply too big for my hand. In fact it is too big for most people's hands. It is possible for a person with small or normal sized hands to shoot a Glock 21 quickly and accurately once one has a proper grip on it, however there are issues with proper drawing and presentation and there are issues with weapon retention which are important in a firearm which is carried for self defense.

The large grip area of the Glock 21 distributes the recoil of the .45 ACP cartridge over a large area of the hand lessening the felt recoil and helping to control the pistol in rapid fire. However that same large grip area makes it difficult to consistently obtain a proper grip on the gun when drawing, especially from concealment where getting past clothing can be an issue. Any errors in one's grip must be dealt with before firing or one is very likely to miss the target. And if the target is an enraged rapist, mugger or campus shooter the first shot might be all you have time to get off before he is upon you.

Weapon retention is also an important consideration for the armed citizen. Suppose you hear a noise at night that could be a home invader or perhaps is just the cat. You do not wish to call 911 for every bump in the night, but you also don't want to simply roll over and go back to sleep with the possibility that Richard Speck may be heading toward your daughter's bedroom. So you get up and investigate. Not being an idiot you take a firearm. If there really is an intruder in your home you might wind up struggling for the gun. In this case you want to have a good grip on the weapon. But if the gun is too big for you to get a proper grip on it you are at a disadvantage. For this reason it is important to match the size of the handgun with the size of the hand which will be holding it.

When I heard that Glock was making a version of their model 21 with a reduced grip area I was interested, to say the least. Having now handled the Glock 21 SF (the SF stands for short frame) I can tell that while it is on the large end of the range of handguns which I can comfortably use, it nevertheless is within that range.As an added bonus the larger size of the frame spreads the finger grooves out and makes them properly spaced for my hand.So, as I said earlier, I am saving my pennies for a brand spanking new Glock 21 SF and at the rate I'm socking back cash I should be able to celebrate my 50th birthday by taking my new Glock .45 to the range!