Glock 23 40 Caliber Gen 4 Review by David C. Reed

Hello everybody. I’m David Reed with Reed & Ward, the makers of CCW Guardian, the premier smartphone app for CCW permit holders.

This is a review of the Glock 23 in 40 caliber Gen 4. So let’s go ahead and clear, lock and show safe. Check the chamber, nobody behind the camera, we have a safe training area.

This is the Generation 4 Glock 23. It’s a 40 Smith & Wesson caliber midsize handgun. The Glock 27 would be smaller, the Glock 22 would be larger. This weapon is identical to the 9 mm in 357 variants except for caliber. Now as I show this to you you’re going to see the flat dark earth or FDE finish. I purchased those as an instructor because it enables people to see what I’m doing to see the controls better in a teaching or video environment like this, but that’s exactly identical to the black one that you would buy in the store. There is no difference but the color.

So let’s take a look right there this is a 7.36 inch overall length weapon. It is 4.9 inches high. It weighs 23.7 ounces empty so it’s lighter than a lightweight Colt Commander, say. Flipping it over for you right there so you can see some stuff right there. The weapon is 4.01 inches long you can see it has a universal rail upfront not a picatinny rail so if you’re using any sort after market or not aftermarket but any sort of flashlight or laser that you’re going to hang on the front make sure it’s set up for universal rails not a picatinny and then it should go off and on pretty easy if you have it set up for picatinny it may get hung up on there. It has a very ample trigger guard the Gen 3 and 4 started undercutting this trigger guard just a little bit so that you can grip a little bit higher on it but there’s just enough over travel in that trigger so that if I shoved a gloved hand in there I wouldn’t get an accidental or negligent discharge.

Okay by means of full confession now this is my personal weapon so you’re going to see a couple of things on this weapon that’s a little different. One is my gunsight Raven right there because I’m a many time graduate of gunsight. The other is a warrant tactical rear site. They make a lot of sites for Glock. Since the 1980s they’ve been around and this has a tritium front sight a Glock stock tritium front sight and a warren tactical rear sight that ample aperture that enables me to see that tritium front sight really easily. I really like the warren tactical, I also like to 10-8 precision Novaks. There’s all kinds of sights that you can put on here. Suffice it to say the rear sight is grip adjustable for your eyes or ammunition. The front site is pegged on there. You can change the height by buying different sights but you can’t grip to just the front sight the slide is 1.18 inches thick which puts it about halfway between an M&P, which is slightly larger and an XDM, which is slightly smaller.

Either way, a Glock is a Glock. I’ve carried Glocks for years, since the 80’s. At one point they had 70% of the American law enforcement market. You show me a cop these days, I don’t care what they’re carrying at one time they probably owned and carried a Glock. They’re well-known internationally and particularly in this country for the reliability and it’s just the practical aspect of them. They’re not a thing of beauty so to speak this is a polymer pistol, but you know what they’re not ugly either.

Now the grip on here is a Glock grip and I will tell you that as a 1911 shooter I’ve never been ultimately comfortable with a Glock grip until I have a few rounds to warm up. So I know if I’m going to be teaching with a Glock and I’m going to be spending time, I go out here to the T.A.G. range near Falcon, Missouri and I shoot and pretty soon I’ve got my Glock grip back. They’re accurate, they’re practical, they feel good in the hand. All of that and they extract reliably. What can you say about a Glock that hasn’t been said 1000 times, right?

Now let’s talk about what’s a little bit different between this and a Gen 3. The first thing you notice is the stiffly right here on the grip. My Gen 3 Glock 19 I have had to put skateboard tape, rubber decals, I’ve seen people cut up inner tubes and stretch over there or buy those Pak Meyer straps that you add on, just in order to hang onto the thing when it’s cold or wet outside. You’re wearing gloves and you grip a Gen 3 Glock that thing can slide out of your hand if you’re not careful. Glock paid attention.