Okay here it is for your viewing pleasure/displeasure. The opinions are mine, and the history is a bit iffy but that's not the point. Please comment on the formart, writing, sentence structure, and composition in general only please. The content isn't important.

A Glock for the Ages, and Everyone Else: A review of the Gen4 Glock.
In 1911 the United States Army adopted the Model 1911 .45ACP pistol as the primary sidearm. The 1911 was its self a revolutionary design quickly becoming one of the first greatly successful automatic pistols ever created. Its simple design, ease of maintenance and reliability helped make this design one of the most popular pistol, if not the most popular firearm, in history. Almost seventy years later though, a new design would prove to be as popular if not more popular and would bring with it a surprising twist: polymer. That’s correct, plastic would attempt to knock the American juggernaut off its pedestal with a mix of quality, reliability, simplicity and plastic. Gadsen Glock had no prior experience designing firearms, his forte was polymer, but when Austria was looking for a new side arm for its military Mr. Glock was there to answer the call. His lack of experience enabled him to do away with any preconceived notion of what a pistol should be, and allowed him to offer a fresh design of the automatic pisol. By the mid 1990s the Glock platform of pistol has become a staple in a huge majority of U.S. police forces armament. Glock had also found a calling among private gun-owners as a high quality but low price defense weapon. It was official, The Glock Pistol was here to stay.
Although very popular the Glock was not without its faults. Many Americans were not comfortable with its European influenced grip angle and large size of the grip its self. The Glock pistol being made of polymer was textured on the grip, but would often get too slippery with sweaty, wet, or muddy hands. Small framed shooters dislike the original design due to its large grip. Glock had set its sights on offering a pistol that would appeal to all shooters, The Gen4 Glock.

When I opened the box of a new Gen4 Glock for the first time, I immediately came to terms that this is not your older brother’s Glock. The Multiple Back Strap Frame, which offers a wide array of sizing options, and the new Rough Texture Frame (RTF Gen4) signal that this will be a new experience.
The Multiple Back Strap Frame gives the shooter the option of changing the grip size up to 4mm to suit their needs. Consisting of two back straps each of 2mm the user has the option of no back strap which is 2mm smaller than previous versions of the Glock, the medium strap is the size that america fell in love with (or learned to hate), and finally a large strap which adds 2mm to the size used by previous models. The small strap was almost too small for my hands but seemed to be a perfect fit for female shooters. The large strap was a bit too big for me although it did seem to be very comfortable at first. I finally opted for what I know and love and went with the medium strap. Changing the straps is a process that could be completed in only a few seconds. Pop out the trigger housing pin snap in the strap of choice and replace pin.
The next thing I noticed is the oversized and reversible magazine release. The Gen4 incorporates a vast improvement to the small magazine release that was found on the Generation 3 Glocks, by adding a magazine release that provides positive, and easy release of the magazine.
The Gen4 Glock also enables the left handed shooter to better adapt to the Glock pistol by allowing the magazine release to be reversed. Although many south-paws will have to retrain their muscle memory to use this feature. All magazine being shipped with new Glock pistols are capable of using this feature. The “Gen4” magazine is identifiable by its cut out on the left side. The Gen4 Glock will accept older model magazines but only if it is configured in the “right hand” mode.
When I removed the slide I could see the biggest innovation that Glock used in the new pistol. The Gen4 Glock uses a double recoil spring in their Gen4 pistol reminiscent of the recoil spring used in the earlier model G26 and G27 models. The new spring help to ease the recoil and allow the shooter a second follow up shot quicker and more accurately. The barrels are interchangeable between the 3rd Generation and the Gen4 pistols to allow ease of manufacturing for Glock, but also the ability to still convert calibers for the casual shooter.
Glock Inc. originally adapted this pistol to the Law Enforcement market. This can be seen in their choice to release the first batch of Gen4 pistols in .40S&W. Unfortunately the decision to keep the double recoil spring from the .40S&W and use it in the 9x19mm models left the first 9mm customers feeling robbed when the smaller cartridge was unable to overcome the force of the larger spring. As this problem as only existed in the first 1000 or so 9mm pistols, Glock as since fixed this issue and their 9mm line runs as effective as ever.
Glock set out to update its pistol line to reflect the needs and wants of the 21st century. Glock has heard the masses and given them what they wanted, a reliable, easy to handle and maintain pistol with a grip with the texture and fit for any of its customers.



Works cited
http://www.glock.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2011.