What I Carry:

Glock 19 Gen5
9

For this writer, “personal primary carry gun”...

… is a fungible thing. I’m constantly testing firearms, mostly defensive ones, so how they carry is a test metric. Teaching with them — and shooting demo quals with them in front of the class, if I can’t at least get to a match — gives me feedback on how they handle under pressure.

I also make a point of teaching with different platforms: striker-fired pistol, 1911, traditional double action, and revolver. That said, though, my personal preferences dictate what I carry “on my own time.”

Lately, that has been a Glock 19 Gen 5 9mm pistol. I liked it so much when I tested it for GUNS Magazine right after it came out, that I bought the test sample. My bond with this gun is a classic example of why individual needs must take precedence over anyone else’s recommendations.

Mas demonstrates G19.5’s controllability with fast double taps. Gail Pepin photo courtesy of GUNS Magazine.

Arthritis had been encroaching on me for decades and had hit my right thumb to where it was getting awkward to reach the mag release. The Gen5 Glock’s release was reversible so I could hit it with my trigger finger, and the release was shaped in a way it never accidentally released during shooting or in the holster. Testing showed me this was a 2” gun at 25 yards with duty loads, as accurate as earlier, longer-barreled G34’s. Reliability was top notch: I’ve fired thousands through it with no malfunctions of any kind.

Out-of-the-box, the Gen5 Glock 19 has worked well for Mas, even in high level competition.

It simply shoots well for me. It won me division champion honors at the one IDPA match I shot with it last year in CCP (Concealed Carry Pistol), and brought me the High Lawman title at the national Rangemaster Tactical Conference in 2018. Bone stock with factory optional AmeriGlo sights, it is generally loaded with 127-gr. Winchester Ranger-T ammo. These fly at 1,250 fps, a most thoroughly “street-proven” 9mm round. Favorite carry rigs include a Concealment Solutions holster for IWB and a Bravo Concealment scabbard for OWB. A SureFire weapon-mounted light makes things less scary in the dark and creates a standoff effect that allows the G19 to function even at press contact distance.

In every qualification I’ve shot with it, from LEOSA to demo quals, it has given me 100% scores. Yet it carries like a Detective Special. No wonder the Glock 19 is so popular!

Even with a SureFire light mounted, G19.5 rides comfortably and discreetly OWB in a Bravo Concealment holster (left) or IWB in a Concealment Solutions Black Mamba holster (right).

For more information:
https://www.bravoconcealment.com/
https://www.concealmentsolutions.com/
https://www.glock.com