Glock Gen 4 26 Review - We had a terrible time coming up with a catchy and funny title for this Glock 26 review.
Is that a glock on your ankle or are you just happy to see me? No deal. This website is rated PG-13. usual
Glock Gen 4 26 Review
If this Baby Glock burps, buy a bigger diaper bag! Hmm. While most gun people refer to the subcompact models as "Baby Glocks", this is probably not the approved brand name.
Glock 26 Gen 4 Review 2018
We will keep working on it. In the meantime, let's take a look at the new Glock 26 Generation 4 Subcompact pistol.
Our first impression is that the description 'subcompact' is misleading. Pretty. The Glock 26 is not a mouse gun as the term subcompact might imply. It happens to have a form factor that allows it occasional access to mouse gun parties and debutante balls. Make no mistake, the Glock 26 is a fully functional, full capacity 9mm pistol. But because of its size and weight, it facilitates several common mouse weapon carrying modes, including the ankle, jacket pocket, wallet, and several alternate positions within the waistband. The big difference in the Glock 26 platform is that it manages to achieve a small form factor without losing that elusive concept, shootability.
The grip width is the same as its longer and larger cousins - the Glock 17 and Glock 19. The only dimensional differences are the length of the slide and the height of the gripper. Depending on your particular hand configuration, you can probably grip your middle and ring fingers comfortably while the little finger travels under the bottom plate of the magazine. Later we will talk about the accessories that allow the addition of the little finger. With or without the little finger extension accessory, the shootability factor works because the grip fills your hand - just like larger Glocks. We feel that certain narrow subcompact pistols require adjustment of your trigger finger as the finger can naturally travel too far over the trigger guard. Not so with the Glock 26.
[color-box]If you can shoot a compact or full Glock with grace and confidence, you'll be fine with the Glock 26 Subcompact.[/color-box]
Meet The \
The loaded weight of the Glock 26 Generation 4, which will only vary depending on your specific ammunition preference, is 26.1 ounces. That's more than half a pound if you don't mind the math. That is also equivalent to five iPhone 4S smartphones. As a side note, we found the Glock 26 to return better than the iPhone. Although, if you choose to carry five iPhones instead of a Glock 26, you'll have to toss four of them before using the fifth to call 911. Just a thought in case you live in a gun-unfriendly state like California or Massachusetts. For comparison, the Glock 17 Gen 4 weighs 31.92 grams loaded. Or six and a half iPhones if you want to look at it that way.
The outstanding feature of the Glock 26 is that it is "compact enough". It is a comfortable rifle to shoot with - no turning of the handle is necessary. The grip width and circumference are the same as the full size Glock 17 Gen 4.
Most of the Glock 26 Generation 4 Subcompact testing was done by our female team - mainly with wallet. For those of you who haven't tried a hidden wallet yet, these usually have small dedicated weapon pockets and a relatively small access opening. Add some pressure from a bag full of stuff and you should think about ease of drawing. A large rifle, combined with small access pockets and a day's worth of absolute necessities can result in a hopelessly jammed gun. The Glock 26 turned out to be the right size for two different hidden wallets.
Our human editors wore the Glock 26 less, but shot a lot with it. That said, the Glock 26 clearly works in any traditional waist-wearing scenario. Where it excels is in the deeper storage options. It is small enough to effectively carry in an ankle holster or cummerbund. We've never been a fan of the SmartCarry/Thunderwear options, but it'll work just fine there - if you want to carry a Glock on your man's belt.
Glock 26 Gen 3 Oem Frame (complete)
The Glock 26 Gen 4 has a 10-round magazine, allowing a load capacity of 11 rounds, including one in the chamber. Not bad for a compact pistol.
The ability to use Glock 19 and Glock 17 magazines makes the Glock 26 a great backup pistol.
One of the other things we really like about the Glock 26 is the inclusion of 3 magazines in each new pistol. This is something new in the Gen 4 series - the Gen 3 models we see for sale at places like GalleryOfGuns.com still offer 2 magazines in the box. While we believe 'more magazines are better', Glock gives you a good start with everything you need for a respectable carry setup - one magazine in the gun and two spares. And Glock keeps their magazine costs reasonable in case you want to buy more. They are often available for around $25 on the street - sometimes less.
Like other Glock Generation 4 models, the Glock 26 offers the same improvements in the design family. This is called brothers-and-jealousy.
Glock 43 Vs. Glock 26 Comparison
The standard grip size is the smallest option, while one of the 2 included back straps can be added to achieve the standard or large grip circumference common to the Generation 4 family.
As we saw with the Glock 17 Gen 4 we tested a few months ago, the new grip design is fantastic. The "micro pyramid" texture on the side panels really keeps your hand in place - without excessive wear and tear. We really like the new grip texture. Of course, this is especially important and noticeable on the Glock 26 Gen 4, as you probably only have two fingers on the grip.
As with the Glock 17 Gen 4, the magazine release button has been significantly enlarged. This makes a big difference in ease of use. The increased surface area makes it easier to eject the magazine, but we had no issues with the magazine dropping accidentally. We've seen issues with other handguns where the pressure of a holster on the inside of the waistband can inadvertently cause a magazine release button to become too large. Not so with the Glock Gen 4 design.
The final key feature is the new Gen 4 captive double recoil spring assembly. Glock claims this design significantly improves system longevity. We noticed no difference in reliability between the single-spring and dual-spring designs. That's a good thing. While we've shot a lot with this Glock 26, it hasn't been in use long enough to comment on longevity differences.
X Grip For Glocks
[color-box] Generation 4 Glocks can use Generation 3 magazines. It's almost like your older sibling's discarded clothes, except discarded magazines usually don't have sweat stains on them. [/Color Box]
With older magazines, you simply lose the ambidextrous magazine release feature because older magazines do not have release slots on both sides. This is a nice and thoughtful feature if you're upgrading from an older Glock model or if you have other Glock siblings in your home.
We're talking speed here - not Gansta-style semi-auto rapid fire. Shorter barrels mean slower velocity, all other factors being equal. The barrel length of the Glock 26 Gen 4 is 1.06 inches shorter than that of the Glock 17 Gen 4, so we'd expect a noticeable drop in speed for any given round. To see how noticeable the speed difference is, we broke down the Shooting Chrony Beta Master and moved other ammo to range.
We found an average speed difference of about 20 meters per second between the full size Glock 17 Gen 4 with a 4.49 inch barrel and the Glock 26 Gen 4 with a 3.43 inch barrel.
Glock 19 Gen 4 Review 2022
As per our previous comments, this is not a traditional pocket pistol. It works like a full size gun, only... smaller. With every load tested easily breaking the 300 feet per second barrier, and well over 1100 feet per second, we wouldn't hesitate to rely on growing ammunition in the Glock 26.
We even made a separate ammunition feature, looking at some 9mm rounds fired by the Glock 26 Gen 4 in particular. We found that performance stretched well through heavy leather and clothing barriers, along with some brand of premium self-defense ammunition.
We have a variety of Speer Gold Dot Standard and Short Barrel bullets for another project and unfortunately they did not arrive in time for this review. The Glock 26's 3.43-inch barrel length is about to be about Speer's recommended length to switch to short-barreled ammunition. We'll try both and post an update once that ammo arrives.
The Glock 26 Gen 4 is ready to go
Glock 19 Light
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