Glock 26

December 8, 2010

Glock Model 26 9mm Parabellum By Roger Eckstine

Courtesy Gun Tests

Our G26 performed without a moment\'s worry and carried 10+1 rounds. The Glock 26 was never meant to be a target pistol or a primary weapon. But as a hideout gun or backup pistol, the Glock 26 is a solid choice.

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The 9mm pistol was the breakthrough sidearm that ushered in today’s massive popularity of the self-loading pistols. One of the ways in which the semi-auto has evolved is in its variation in size, making it possible to wear a full-size gun and/or conceal a smaller complement of the same make and model. In this test we looked at Glock’s $599 Model 26, whose tube measured 3.4 inches in length.

The popularity of the Glock pistol is undeniable. It is the preeminent polymer design and the G26 can be found in lots of tight spaces, purses, fanny packs, or inside the boot of a Texas state trooper. The Glock pistol is simple, relatively inexpensive and a natural complement to carrying a full-size model on the hip. But it is stubby and wide, with a short grip that can be a turnoff.

Companies such as Pearce Grip offer a $10 replacement basepad aftermarket to add a third finger groove that makes room for the pinky finger of all but the largest of hands, (pearcegrip.com). We tried using a magazine with such enhancement at the bench, but we did not always find it to be an advantage.

Firing our 115-grain ammunition from the bench left us with five-shot groups measuring approximately 2.5 inches across. We felt that the reason for this mediocre performance was that there just wasn’t much gun to support with the sandbags. The dustcover was very short.

Our best accuracy was achieved by loading the G26 with Federal 124-grain Hydra-Shok ammunition. A 2.4-inch group ruined a succession of sub 2-inch groups to expand the average to about 2.0 inches across.

The Glock trigger actually offers a fair amount of takeup without a strong sensation of stacking or gathering resistance. At the bench we applied even pressure with both hands, read what little light could find its way around the wide front sight and padded the trigger until we felt we had a go.

Elsewhere, we noticed a couple of other nits. Racking

Courtesy, Gun Tests

The standard Glock fixed sight on our G26 was drift adjustable and accented by a bright white outline. On bigger guns with a longer sight radius, focus on the front sight might push your vision so far ahead of the rear sight that a white outline can go unnoticed, especially under stress. But on the little G26 we never lost sight of the outline during our fast-action drills.

the slide to load a round or pulling it back slightly to make sure there was one in the chamber should always be performed by pinching the rear of the slide. Grasping the slide of a short gun such as the G26 forward of the ejection port puts the shooter’s hand dangerously close to the muzzle. In terms of reloading, the wide mouth of the magazine well was easy to fill, but when pressing the magazine release care must be taken not to block the falling magazine.

In our action test we had no trouble landing hits to the A zone center mass in a one-two stroke of the trigger. Even without the support of the basepad magazine extension, the G26 rocked back on target after each shot. Seventeen of our twenty shots to the body were on target. But elevating to the B zone we landed only five of ten hits.

The reason for this in our opinion was simple. We were rushing our shots. Aiming directly forward on to the body was easier than transitioning to a smaller target. Without the support of a full grip we needed to take more time between shots and allow the sights to settle.

To many eyes, Glock pistols have changed little since their introduction. But several design changes have taken place each without any fanfare that we can recall. For example, the grip angle has become more user-friendly, including finger grooves and a palm swell to the rear with added texture to enhance grip. Carefully inspecting our G26, we couldn’t help but notice that the barrel crown was recessed and polished. The cut appeared to be even and flawless, with the recess serving to protect the rifling.