Key Points and Summary – Glock lost the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System contest to SIG Sauer’s P320-based M17/M18, but the “defeated” Glock 19X quickly turned into a commercial winner.
-Built as a crossover pistol marrying a Glock 17 frame to a Glock 19 slide, the 19X offers ambidextrous controls, a Marksman barrel, corrosion-resistant nPVD slide, and high-capacity magazines up to 33 rounds.
Glock 19X. Image Credit: Glock.
-GAO records show SIG’s cheaper, more complete bid – with full-size and compact pistols plus stronger ammo licensing terms – carried the day.
-Yet special operations units, federal agencies, and hundreds of thousands of civilian buyers have ensured Glock hardly walked away empty-handed.
The U.S. Army’s Glock 19X Mistake?
You have to hand it to Glock. The famous Austrian gun maker did not go down without a fight when it lost the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System bid to SIG Sauer.
The competition in 2017 was meant to replace the Beretta M9 sidearm that had served the Army for decades. Glock filed a complaint with the government to protest the award to SIG Sauer. Glock believed its 19X crossover pistol was superior to the P320 variants that SIG Sauer entered.
Let’s take a closer look at this interesting story of how Glock finished in second place to SIG and how the U.S. military never got to use the Glock 19X for its main sidearm.
Civilians Loved the Glock 19X
After losing the competition, Glock unwittingly had a hit on its hands after it sold the 19X on the civilian market. It was released to the public in 2019 and quickly sold 100,000 units in under six months.
Glock 19X. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Glock 19X. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Special Ops Are Fans of Glocks
Glocks, overall, are still popular with U.S. Special Operations Forces, who independently have a greater say in what firearms they use.
In 2021, the Army even awarded a five-year, $15 million contract to Glock “for various firearms, spare magazines, and spare parts.”
More About the Glock 19X
The 19X is Glock’s first crossover pistol, it combines the large Glock 17 polymer frame to the smaller Glock 19 all-metal slide. The 19X has ambidextrous controls, and the company boasts about its outstanding accuracy due to the GLOCK Marksman Barrel, a polygonally rifled barrel. The nPVD slide coating keeps the corrosion minimized.
It is “coyote colored” instead of the familiar black that Glock is known for.
Large Capacity for Ammunition
The Glock 19X has 17-round standard magazines. But you can also choose 19, 24, 31, or even 33-round magazines. The Glock 19X has three different backstrap sizes (small, medium, and large) depending on the shooter’s hand size.
Glock 19X and Glock 44 side by side. Image Credit: 19FortyFive Original Image.
It weighs around 31-ounces loaded. The barrel length is little over 4-inches and the overall length is 7.4-inches.
SIG Wins the Competition
Unfortunately, all of these features weren’t good enough for the Army as it picked the SIG Sauer M17 and M18 models. These were later adopted across the U.S. military.
Two Was Better Than One
The initial reasons were that SIG Sauer’s lower-priced bid and ammunition partnership with Winchester were key factors in the decision. Plus, SIG entered two pistols (full-size and compact) for test and evaluation, which gave the Army a better look at their features.
What Happened Upon Appeal? There Was Another Evaluation Phase
After Glock filed the complaint with the Army for losing the initial competition. The Government Accountability Office held its own appeal trial. I looked at the evaluation parameters from the GAO for National Interest. I found that:
“The SIG models scored outstanding in initial reliability; outstanding in ammunition; outstanding in three categories of license rights, and outstanding in three aspects of manufacturing including ammunition. The 19X was outstanding in initial reliability; only ‘acceptable’ in warfighter ergonomics; and ‘marginal’ in ammunition licensing.”
Glock Did Not Totally Lose
WeAreTheMighty.com noted that:
“[T]he Marine Corps officially adopted the Glock 19M, developed for the FBI, as the M007. The compact, double-stack, 9mm handgun is issued to criminal investigators and members of the Presidential Helicopter Squadron One. Marine Raiders and the Army’s Special Forces have also been seen carrying Glock sidearms, often extensively modified. Additionally, the Coast Guard rejected the adoption of the M17/M18 through the Department of Defense and instead acquired 9mm Glock models through the Department of Homeland Security’s CBP contract.”
So, the Glock 19X never saw combat for the Army or other branches of the military, but Glocks are still popular with local, state, and federal law enforcement. Plus, civilians are enamored with the guns.
Glock came in second, which in the military head-to-head pistol competition meant nothing, but the gun manufacturer still sold more than 100,000 19X pistols to the general public and that was right out of the gate. Glock never gave up.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
