Honest Outlaw's Glock Gen 5 vs. Gen 6 Review: Is the New Generation Worth Switching?

Is Glock’s sixth generation actually worth trading a working Gen 5 for, or did they spend the new-model money on texture and a beaver tail? Honest Outlaw put Gen 5 and Gen 6 17s and 19s on the range to find out.

Glock Gen 5 vs. Gen 6 Watch on YouTube — Honest Outlaw Channel

The short version of what he covers: Chris already has tens of thousands of rounds on Gen 5s (19, 17, 26, 34, 47, 49, 19X) and about 2,000 through a Gen 6 19 and 17 he bought himself. Glock did not send him guns. The changes he actually cares about sit in the grip. Wraparound texture, closer to the old RTF2, is his favorite. The longer beaver tail cuts slide bite but, from a deep concealment holster, it can slow the draw if you wrap the grip on the way out. Palm swell fills the hand in the store and, under recoil, it can twist compared with the flatter Gen 5. Thumb ledges pull some of that twist back, at the cost of becoming a crutch on guns that do not have them. The new trigger is a chevron bow at the same advertised 5.5 lb, which he measures more like 7 or 8; he calls it a wash, maybe a hair heavier. The optic plate is better than MOS, but the competition shooters he trusts still replace it for duty or high-round-count work. Reliability in his 2,000 rounds matched the Gen 5, including the usual Glock choke on very light competition ammo. Accuracy to 100 yards is the same gun. Street price is about $100 more. His closer: if you like your Gen 5, stay. If you are in the store and the grip feels right, the Gen 6 is a fine Glock, not a reason to dump a working one.

Here’s our take. This is not a new action. Texture, beaver tail, and palm swell are the whole argument, and they fight each other: better index versus more twist versus a slower deep-concealment draw. Honest Outlaw is right that a working Gen 5 is not obsolete. Buy the Gen 6 if you picked it up and the grip fit. Do not buy it because the slide serrations look deeper on the website. Watch his draw-from-concealment note before you assume the longer beaver tail is free speed.

We stock the Glock 19 Gen 6 he compared.