My First Pistol - Glock .40 Caliber Model 23 and Why I Bought It © 2016 by Phillip Evans

By 1989, officers in about 2000 police departments in the United States were carrying around 150,000 Glock pistols.

1990 was when production began on the model that I ended up purchasing in the Spring of 1991 as my first pistol, the first generation Glock 23. At the time I had no savings, but wanted to be able to protect myself from criminals, so I charged it on a credit card. It cost a reasonable $399.00.

Here are my reasons for buying this particular model Glock:

1. I wanted a semi-auto because a six-shot revolver was not my idea of protection if a poor boy could have only one gun, and if there were ever multiple attackers. But I knew that semi-autos sometimes jammed, so reliability was of primary importance. I was aware that many police departments carried Glocks, so that spoke volumes to me about reliability.

2. .40 cal was desired in order to have a little more power than the 9mm parabellum round.

3. At least a 4" barrel length was preferred.

4. The firearm had to be fairly easy to conceal.

That's it, that was my criteria. After looking at a lot of pistols in gun magazine catalogs, the Glock 23 was the perfect choice for me. I have to admit that I liked the fit and feel of the Glock 22 better in my hand, but at the time I considered it a little too large for concealed carry. With plenty of cool, modern holster designs available now, even the model 22 will conceal well.

Shortly after purchasing my Glock, I learned from Glock's efforts that a voluntary recall was offered. The internal trigger bar was to be replaced with a stronger one, for free. So I drove to the Smyrna Glock plant, and had my pistol quickly and cheerfully upgraded, at no cost as promised.

Other modifications I've done myself are a Hogue grip sleeve, a steel guide rod, a slightly stronger recoil spring (20lb to replace the stock 18lb spring) in order to fire +P rounds without causing premature wear to my pistol, and tritium night sights.

If ease of disassembly had been my fifth criteria, Glock excels with this as well. Field stripping is easier than boiling water, and detail stripping is not very difficult, as I've done it once with help from Youtube videos, in order to polish the trigger components. Not that it really needed it - I didn't notice a difference afterward. But I enjoy fiddling with mechanical things sometimes.

Multiple accessories abound for Glock - everything from conversion barrels to sights to competition triggers, and more. 

Speaking of triggers, the Glock stock trigger is absolutely fantastic. It is easy to find the reset point, and as a result it can be rapidly fired even with my fumble fingers.

As for reliability, I'd say my Glock gets an A+++. The only time it has ever failed to properly cycle was when firing lightweight 84 grain Magsafe ammo. It eats everything else flawlessly, and goes "bang" every time the trigger is pulled. It's comforting knowing it will perform when called upon. To be fair to Magsafe, my less than satisfactory experience with their ammo occurred more than 15 years ago. Their present ammo may function perfectly now, but I have not tested it recently.

If you are considering buying your first pistol or your tenth, you can't go wrong with a Glock.

This article was not written to sound like a commercial for Glock, nor did Glock ask me to write it. For quite a while I've been wanting to tell the story of my first pistol. I've had it for 25 years and will never sell it.