Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Gen 4 M-21 Glock

Any of you men shooting the gen 4 model 21? I have one the way with the FDE finish and Trijicon sights, thinking of using my handload that chronos 230 gr Gold Dots at 946 fps from my 5" 1911's.

Do these newer gens run as well as the older guns? I carried an old Gen 1 M 21 for 20 plus years with nary a failure.

I've got the Gen 4 21, and it works fine. I carried it for a while. No problems. Nothing wrong with Gen 4. They had some early problems with the 19 and 17, but worked it out pretty fast. I think the recoil spring was too heavy when they first came out.

Thinking about picking one up myself. LGS has two yelling at me when i go in. Previously owned, though.

Thanks for that TRH, sounds good.

LD, you better grab one, I don't think a man can have too many good loaded 45's stashed about his place, I have 500 of the above mentioned 230 gr gold dot loads ready to rip this new pistol in with, and a chit-ton of Nosler 230 gr FMJ-FP seconds to load up and test too.

yes. got my 21 that we traded for the 31s when i was still working. no peoblems at all and prefer it over my Gwn 3

G21 is pretty darned good as a .45 ACP. Conversion barrels offer a lot of versatility from that platform. Later Gen 4's seem to be good to go.

How do you define "later"? Not being a dick. Genuinely curious.


Okie John

Yep, for clarity I don't know that early Gen 4 G21's ever had an issue. The 19 and 17 9mm's did have a few issues early on. Later the bugs got worked out. I have a Gen 4 19 that is gtg with no issues. Sorry for any confusion.

Thanks G12 and MOGC, didn't know you weren't LEO-ing it anymore Gitem, I'll run her stock for awhile MOGC, the only thing that ever gave me a little stumble time with a Glock was the small, slick slide release, may get a bit bigger one if I slip it a few times.

gunner, I've found the Ghost Bullet Forward extended release to be golden. I'm left handed, so it was a godsend over the stock one. You can find it a bit cheaper with a Google search, but this is the one. I have them on my 2 Glock carry pieces, G19 and G41. Highly recommend.

https://ghostinc.com/ghost-bullet-forward-slide-release-combat-black/

Or just learn not to use it as a "release"; that simplifies things anyway. The extended Glock slide releases cause more issues than they solve IME.

Thanks for the link LD, I'll check into it.

Yondering, when I'm jackassing around training [yeah, I know, funny] here at the farm, as soon as the heel of my left hand slams a fresh mag home my right thumb hits the slide release, having to slam a mag in, then grab the back of the slide to chamber, then re grip the pistol would seem to me like wasting a chit-ton of time, plus, I've hit slide releases so often for so long, don't know if I could train past that.

It's the only way I've ever ran my 1911's too.

I don't care for the slingshot method to release the slide. Cost me time and control. Yondering, what issues does the slide release cause in your experience?

I've never had any problem using the OEM slide release.

Me either...

Absolutely never had a problem with the 2 Ghost Bullet Forward slide releases through thousands of rounds through my guns. Work Perfectly as advertised.

And, as I said. As a lefty, it is a godsend.




None, in my experience.

You have to actually use one to have experience with it.

As chitty as I am with a pistol, I best not changeup my practice routine, I'll look into that slide release tomorrow LD.

Mainly bumping it to lock the slide open when firing. Sure, that doesn't happen on a square range with the right grip, but if you train for and intend to use the pistol in times where you don't have the right grip, it can be an issue. Like I said, even if it's not an issue most of the time, it introduces a potential failure point that doesn't need to be there if you change what you do, instead of changing the gun. As some like to say, it's a mechanical solution to a software problem.

Learning to rack the slide after inserting a mag makes your reloads the same drill as malfunction clearing - tap rack. That's not a slingshot grip either, use an overhand grip. It's faster and stronger, and not difficult to learn with a little practice.

I have not used the Ghost forward extended version, but still don't see the need for a slide lock that sticks out if you're not playing race gun games.

So would you design a gun with no slide lock whatsoever? Otherwise how do you get around the always present chance that the slide lock could accidentally be bumped to lock the slide? That doesn't have anything to do with releasing the slide, so at the point of slide lock why not use the slide lock to do its job? Not being a smartass, just for discussion.

Yondering, I examined 2 Gen3 G21's today. The Ghost Bullet Forward slide release does not stick out any further than what I was told was the stock Gen3 slide releases on those 2 guns. The Ghost version is, however, longer and gives me a better purchase from my index fmger on my left hand.