FOG HORN June 2020

Twobirds Flying Publications

GLOCK’S SURPRISE a 22LR G44!

Copyright 2020, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.

 GLOCK’S SURPRISE a 22LR G44! 2020

GLOCK’S SURPRISE a 22LR G44! holsters and magazine carriers work perfectly
with the Glock 44. Based on that compatibility, I
By: Sal Palma will venture a guess that Glock wanted a small
caliber plinking pistol, something emulating the
Glock 19, which is the most popular handgun on
the planet, knowing it would sell like hotcakes.
The timing couldn’t have been better as it
started shipping just before the COVID-19 gun
buying extravaganza, and try finding a pistol
and ammunition today?

Calling the Glock 44 controversial is an

understatement. You have reviewers who feel
that firing 5,000 rounds of .22lr through a pistol
without cleaning and without a failure is a
reasonable expectation. You then find those
who follow reviewers who think firing 5,000
rounds of .22lr without a malfunction is a
critical evaluation. To them I say that firearms
are machines as such they need maintenance.

The Glock 44 is identical in form factor to the

Glock 19 and any variances in dimension are
On 10 Dec 2019, just three days after our negligible; ergo, your Glock 44 can be reliably
remembrance of the Japanese surprise attack carried in your Glock 19 holsters.
on Pearl Harbor, the world’s leading pistol
manufacturer surprised the global community
with the introduction of the Glock 44. Glock’s
surprise was not a carbine, as we all
anticipated, nope, no carbine; instead the
Smyrna, GA Company announces a .22lr Glock
pistol designated Glock 44. The bewilderment
was palpable, what drove Glock to introduce a
.22lr pistol, have they’ve taken leave of their
senses? No folks, they did not!

Even to the unanointed, a mere visual

inspection of the pistol suggests a grander plan
begging the question, why does this thing look
like a Glock 19?

Only Gaston Glock knows the real answer but

it’s certainly convenient that all of my Glock 19

Copyright 2020, Towbirds Flying Publications. All Rights Reserved.

 GLOCK’S SURPRISE a 22LR G44!
Glock 44 magazines too can be carried in your
Glock 19 mag carrier.
Appearances and physical dimensions are not
where the similarities end. The G44 keeps the
characteristic Glock design to include field
stripping procedure.
While the Glock 19 slide is an all steel
construction, Glock engineers have done
something that is extremely creative; they used
a polymer slide with a steel insert for the metal
to metal contact. The end result is an
Copyright 2020, Twobirds Flying Publications, All Rights Reserved
2020
extremely lightweight pistol coming in at just
below 15 oz. with an empty magazine, that’s 9
oz. less than the Glock 19.
Glock ships the G44
with two ten round
magazines, which
created an industry
wide uproar. We
cried out, why can’t
they be 15 round magazines. Glock’s answer,
which was perfectly reasonable to me, was to
express a desire to produce a magazine similar
in size to a Glock 19’s that would feed reliably.
I’ve owned .22lr firearms for years and 99% of
all problems are ammunition quality and
magazine stacking; not weapon reliability, it’s
just the nature of the beast.
 GLOCK’S SURPRISE a 22LR G44!
So, this has all been very interesting but how
well does the G44 shoot? I’ll answer that in two
words, Glock Perfection.
I’ll start with the trigger. A number of reviewers
have described it as “like a G19.” I compared
the G44 trigger with that of stock G19 to
validate that claim. The trigger pull weight of
the G19 was 4 lbs. 2.8 oz. while the G44 came in
at 5 lbs. 9.0 oz. The measurement was an
average of three trigger pulls. Trigger reset on
the G19 was shorter and smoother. However,
having said that, the G44 trigger is well within
the acceptable range.
Glock’s documentation indicates that the G44
can be dry fired but suggests in moderation. My
personal recommendation is that you do not
dry fire a rimfire weapon to avoid damage to
the firing pin or dulling it.
The G44 ergonomics are excellent. The grip is
customizable to suite your hand. It features
interchangeable backstraps with or without a
beaver tail so you can adjust the size and shape
of the grip. The pistol rests in your hand exactly
like a G19 minus the weight, and its low recoil
and ergonomics provides a very comfortable
shooting experience.
Copyright 2020, Twobirds Flying Publications, All Rights Reserved
2020
All controls are exactly like the G19 making the
G44 an excellent training platform for existing
or future G19 owners. Every aspect of shooting
a G19 except recoil and report is experienced
firing the G44; it’s a highly effective training
tool. A shooter can focus on improving weapon
manipulation like magazine changes, trigger pull
and sight alignment.
The G44 sights are consistent with Glock’s
traditional factory rear bracket and front dot.
Most Glock owners ultimately end up changing
the factory issued sights. Whether by accident
or intent, Gaston Glock created a Glock sight
replacement industry.
The G44 differs from other Glock models in that
it has an adjustable rear sight, a complete
departure from Glock’s modus operandi in the
U.S. market.
Glock provides a small rear sight adjustment
tool.
Some reviewers complain about the G44
reliability suggesting that it’s finicky with
regards to ammunition. At the range I tried
about 10 varieties of .22lr including Lapua
subsonic, CCI CB shorts, 40 grain standard
velocity and high velocity variants. The CCI CB
 GLOCK’S SURPRISE a 22LR G44!
short does not cycle the action which is true
across all other .22lr pistols I’ve tested.
The only failure I experienced in 300 rounds
fired was with the Aguila .22 Super Colibri.
The Super Colibri is a 20 grain powderless
subsonic round with an overall length of 0.81”
and is significantly shorter than your average
.22lr with a 0.98” overall length. For the reason
previously mentioned, the Super Colibri lacks
the blowback pressure to fully cycle the action;
it also does not stack well in the magazine
having a tendency to nose down. With the
Aguila ammo, I experienced a number of
failures to eject, double feeds and extraction
problems. All failures were directly attributable
Copyright 2020, Twobirds Flying Publications, All Rights Reserved
2020
to the ammunition. Otherwise, the G44 ran like
a Swiss watch.
Staying on the magazine for a bit, do not load
the magazine by pulling the follower all the way
down; then dropping in ten rounds. You want to
load this magazine one round at a time by
pushing down the follower sufficiently to load
one round. The lingering magazine question is
will Glock Inc. introduce a 15 round magazine
for the G44?
I did not have the opportunity to test fire the
G44 suppressed; the Glock Store was out of
stock on the G44 threaded barrel kits. I’m fairly
certain that the added backpressure from a
suppressor would have eliminated some of the
problems with the Aguila Super Colibri.
In closing, any suggestion that the Glock 44 is
unreliable is unsupported by my experience.
The pistol is fun to shoot and makes a great
training tool. Skills developed or sharpened in
trigger control, weapon handling and
manipulation techniques are directly
transferable to the G19 platform. The fact that
it’s chambered in the inexpensive .22lr makes
greater training frequency a possibility and as
it’s been repeatedly proven, repetition is the
mother of learning. The Glock 44 continues the
Glock Perfection tradition.
-SP
Manufacturer Specifications
 CALIBER: 22LR.
 LENGTH: 7.28”
 SLIDE LENGTH: 6.85”
 HEIGHT: 5.04”
 WIDTH: 1.26”
 SLIDE WIDTH: 1”
 BARREL: 4.02” MARKSMAN BARREL.
 WEIGHT: 14.64 OZ. (W/EMPTY MAGAZINE)