Naval Special Warfare Command made the decision to add the Glock 19 to the available inventory of the SEAL Teams a little over a year ago. They will slowly begin to phase out the Sig Sauer P226 and replace those with the Glock 19 platform. There is nothing wrong with the Sig Sauer P226. It has served the Teams for many years and is a proven reliable system. However, as firearms evolve the military needs to keep pace. In this case the move to the Glock 19 makes sense.
The Glock 19 has a lot to offer in a compact package, and is by far the most popular platform Glock makes. I personally use, and carry the Glock 17 on a daily basis. While the Glock 17 is the full size variant of the 9mm, the Glock 19 is essentially the same, just a bit smaller package. With that said I will give you my reasons for why I believe the Glock 19 will be a solid platform for both the SEALs, and MARSOC (who have also adopted the Glock 19 into their inventory).
First and foremost what I have noticed with my personal Glock is the reliability. This is extremely important as you want the gun to work when you need it to. I’ve put enough rounds from various manufacturers to know it will cycle just about any ammunition. I recently went to the range and ran though 300 rounds of that dirty Wolf ammunition that is manufactured in Russia. Not once did the gun jam, malfunction, or need the barrel snaked due to build-up (I attribute some of that to the Weapon Shield oil that I use). Reliability also comes in the form of maintaining your firearm. Glock makes maintenance on their handguns extremely easy whether you’re on the range, in the field, or at home. Even a detailed breakdown of the gun only requires a punch tool and can be accomplished by most people who use them. For the SEALs and MARSOC this is huge. Not only having a sidearm that is reliable, but also easy to maintain.
The second aspect I’ve noticed is the accuracy I get out of the Glock with stock parts. I’ve only upgraded two parts on my Glock: the sights, and the recoil spring. The stock sights on a Glock are absolute crap. I run with the Ameriglo sights red fiber optic front, and all black rear. When I go to my local range I have no issues pushing my target out to 25 yards and keeping a 5″ group (regardless of ammunition used). I’m more than confident in the Glock 19 and 17 to be accurate out to 25 yards, and being able to easily suppress targets out to 50 yards. Take a look at what a veteran Navy SEAL can do with his Glock 19.
Lastly, the customizations that are able to be done with the Glock handguns make them a great option (every shooter has different preferences). The compact Glock 19 makes an ideal concealed carry gun, but it’s large enough to push into a ‘duty’ gun role. By making some simple adjustments to the Glock 19 the shooter will have an extremely reliable and accurate platform that they can stake their life on. Again, since this article is about why the SEALs have adopted the Glock 19 platform let’s take another look at why veteran Navy SEAL Kyle Defoor chooses the Glock.
Featured image courtesy of socom.mil
