TL;DR: I’m not a Glock fanboy, but after investing in the Glock ecosystem - mags, holsters, parts, optics, training, and competition, I don’t see enough performance gain from another Rostered service pistol to justify switching. With California’s magazine disconnects, 11% sin tax, and the total cost of buying into a new platform, another pistol feels more like an expensive sidegrade than an upgrade.
With all the newer polymer pistols available in the California market from brands like Sig, Walther, M&P, H&K, Springfield, and others, I keep asking myself if there is anything currently on the Roster that is actually worth getting.
For me, the answer so far has been no.
It is not because I am some hardcore Glock fanboy. I am not. I own and have shot other pistols as well, including CZ, H&K, Walther, Springfield, and Sig. There are plenty of good guns out there, and I can appreciate them for what they are. But when I started out, Glock simply made the most sense here in California. They were readily available, relatively affordable, reliable, and had strong third-party support. Over time, I ended up heavily investing in that ecosystem: magazines, holsters, optics setups, spare parts, and other support gear. More importantly, I have also invested a lot of training, practice, and competition time with Glocks. At this point, they just feel natural and seamless to run.
That is where I have trouble justifying a switch. I honestly do not see a significant performance difference with most of the latest service pistols. More or less, I can pick up a new pistol and, after one or two range trips, get close to the same accuracy, recoil management, and overall performance. Of course, doing it with Glocks feels easier and more automatic because of all the time already invested.
Then there is the magazine disconnects, and now the extra 11% sin tax on top of everything else. That makes it even harder to justify spending serious money on a new platform that does not really give me anything meaningfully better. It is not just the cost of the pistol. It is the magazines, holsters, optics setup, spare parts, and time needed to get equally comfortable with it. That adds up fast.
And with the magazine disconnect issue, I am not really interested in buying a new pistol just to start messing with internals. Personally, I prefer to keep my pistols mostly OEM stock. Aside from grip tape, slide milling, and optics, I do not really like changing internal parts just to make the gun feel normal or to get around California-mandated features.
So I have not bought a new handgun in a few years. Not because there is nothing good out there, but because I have not found anything that gives me a real enough advantage to justify buying into another platform. Maybe I am just bored. Or maybe the current California market is just kind of lackluster if you already have a setup that works.
At this point, instead of buying another polymer pistol that does more or less the same thing, especially with California making everything more expensive, I am starting to think I should just save up for a 2011 - and get something that actually feels like a different category altogether.
Thoughts?
Dang!!! That means, I need to do more due diligence...
