A Chip Off The Ol’ Glock: A Glock 44 Review
Glock pistols have, in many ways, become the de facto standard in America. They’re used by law enforcement agencies all across the country and are also used by many different military units. The compact 9mm Glock 19 is my “go to” recommendation for a concealed carry pistol, and you can find accessories for that gun in just about every gun store in America. However, it’s a 9mm pistol, and sadly, 9mm just isn’t as inexpensive as it used to be. Having a 22LR pistol that mimics the features and size of a larger gun is a very good idea, which is where we’ll begin our Glock 44 review.
Let’s Begin Our Glock 44 Review
The Glock 44 sure looks like a Glock 19, except for the slide and magazine
A 5th generation Glock 19 is just over 7.3 inches long, 1.26 inches wide, 5.04 inches high and weighs 21.16 ounces without the magazine. The Glock 44 is 7.28 inches long, 1.26 inches wide, 5.04 inches high and weighs 12.6 ounces without a magazine. Glock says the trigger pull of the 44 is slightly less than the 19, 5.8 pounds versus 6.2 pounds. However, the trigger on our test pistol felt pretty much the same as other Glock pistols, with a similar reset and amount of effort to make it go bang.
Speaking of making it go bang, every Glock pistol sold in America except the 44 uses a tilting barrel, locked-breech action to cycle the pistol and chamber the next round. After the gun is fired, the slide and barrel are briefly locked together while the bullet leaves the barrel. The slide then starts to move backwards due to the pressure of the expanding gasses inside the chamber and barrel. This ejects the spent cartridge and resets the action. The barrel tilts down as it unlocks, loads a new round into the chamber, whereupon the slide moves forward, sealing the chamber and resetting the gun for the next shot.
The Glock 44, however, uses what is called a straight blowback action. The action still relies on expanding gasses to reset the gun for the next shot and the slide still moves to eject the spent cartridge and load a new round. However, the barrel itself stays in place while this is happening. Centerfire locked breech pistols use the combined mass of the barrel and slide to hold everything in place while the bullet is leaving the gun. Because the Glock 44 shoots the far less powerful 22LR round, though, the mass of the slide itself is enough to hold things up and let the round leave the gun before the process starts again.
Red Dot? NOT!
The action isn’t the only thing that sets the 44 apart from other Glocks. Glock is heavily invested in pistols that are ready for red dot optics right out of the box. However, you need to mount those optics on the slide. Because the 44 shoots 22 long rifle (yes, that’s confusing to me as well), any additional mass added to the slide can slow it down and cause the gun to malfunction. The 44 is also a single-stack magazine that holds 10 rounds of 22, much less than the 15 rounds 9mm inside a Glock 19
Glock 44 Is A Cheaper Training Option
When we said “no recoil,” we meant it
Now let’s continue our Glock 44 review by looking at how well the pistol works for people who don’t already own a Glock 19 or a similar-sized Glock pistol. Despite all our best efforts here at Ammoman, the price of ammunition has been going up and up. 22LR, however, is still much less expensive than 9mm, so the Glock 44 is an excellent training pistol for anyone who owns a compact 9mm pistol, Glock or not. You can work on things like trigger control, sight alignment, target transitions and even draw stroke (pretty much everything except recoil management) with a 22, saving you money with every shot.
Any Glock 44 review isn’t complete without a trip to the range, so we up the pistol through its paces. First off, the recoil of this gun isn’t “mild” or “manageable” or any other cliché that we gunwriters tend to use. Instead, the recoil of this gun essentially doesn’t exist. Even a modest grip on the pistol brought the sights back on-target after each shot, and running the gun at speed took no effort at all. The sights on the Glock 44 are the same dot and bucket on all Glock pistols and are adjustable for height and elevation.
Testing The Glock 44 On The Range
There are a wide variety of choices when it comes to 22LR ammunition, and the Glock 44 had no issues with any of the 250 rounds of ammo we shot through the gun. In addition to this, we used three specific types of ammo to see how this gun works in real life. We shot ten rounds through each gun to test their velocity, then shot four 5 round groups at 25 yards and measured the results using the Ammoman Shot Group Analyzer. And yes, it does look like the sights are set a bit left on our gun.
Federal Auto Match
Average Velocity: 964 fps
Maximum Velocity: 1007 fps
Minimum Velocity: 902 fps
Average Muzzle Energy: 83 ft/lbs
Average Group Size: 2.20 inches
Federal Auto Match is a hidden gem in the 22 ammunition world. Accurate and reliable, it can be found in bulk packs which make shooting a 22 even less expensive.
CCI Mini Mag Target
Average Velocity: 941 fps
Maximum Velocity: 972 fps
Minimum Velocity: 906 fps
Average Muzzle Energy: 79 ft/lbs
Average Group Size: 1.95 inches
Mini-Mags are a known and proven commodity, and turned out some very nice results. It’s really hard to say anything bad about this round, so I won’t.
Federal Punch
Average Velocity: 1200 fps
Maximum Velocity: 1222 fps
Minimum Velocity: 1177 fps
Average Muzzle Energy: 93 ft/lbs
Average Group Size: 2.65 inches
This ammo performed very well in our 22LR self defense test. It may not be the most accurate of the rounds we tested, but it delivered results when it hit the target.
Glock 44 Review: Final Thoughts
A smile broke out on my face the first time I shot this gun, and I literally laughed out loud. The gun was that much fun to shoot. We forget sometimes that not everyone treats guns as serious business. In fact, for most people, safely enjoying a day at the range is fun, and the Glock 44 is perfectly suited for those endeavors.
However, as we saw in our 22 self defense test, the Glock 44 is a decent choice for a defensive firearm. Is it the best choice? No. Is it up to the task if you are unable to shoot a full size, centerfire pistol? Absolutely.
And even if you carry a centerfire gun, the Glock 44 is an excellent training tool. Use it to train specific portions of your practice session, and you’ll save money with every round you send downrange. Glock has a winner on their hands with this gun. It’s fun to shoot right out of the box, and it also opens doors for people who want to live an armed and safe lifestyle.
