When the Army solicited guns for consideration for the next military sidearm, Glock submitted the 19 Modular Handgun System (MHS) pistol. Unfortunately, the Army went with Sig’s pistol. When you look at the Glock MHS pistol in detail, we see the following:
- A full size, G17 length grip, on a G19 frame for 9mm, and a .40 version with a G22 length grip on a G23 frame.
- No finger grooves, similar to the Gen 5 and ‘M’ guns. Same texture as the Gen 4 guns.
- 18 round magazines in FDE. Only the 2nd time we’ve seen FDE mags from Glock.
- Ambidextrous thumb safety.
- Ambidextrous slide stop lever – it appears to be the same part as what’s in the Gen 5 pistols.
- Lanyard hole (I bet it’s part of a butt plug).
- Back to two pins (from three) due to a redesign in the locking block, just like the Gen 5 pistols.
- The rounded snout on the slide – just like the 17M and 19M, and the long slides and subcompacts. That’s always made more sense to me than the regular flat nose we typically see. And apparently, just like the Gen 5 and ‘M’ guns, the frame is NOT beveled to match.
- And, for the first time, Glock Cerakoted a slide.
Also, kinda surprised we don’t see the circular cutout at the bottom of the front strap, like we do on the Gen 5 and ‘M’ models and older generation pistols.
For Glock’s response to losing to Sig, see GAO Denies GLOCK, Inc.’s MHS Pistol Protest.