Compensating?

[Paymeister]

No, not me personally.

My wife has decided on the Glock 19. Bravo for her for 1) enjoying shooting, 2) getting the range time in to try various options, and 3) choosing a good quality handgun. And this time I'll save up and pay cash (I did teach her how to shoot).

It appears that Glock offers a compensated version. What are your thoughts on that type, compared with the non-compensated model?

Night sights (probably the ones with fiberoptics) are on the list already. Other suggestions are welcome.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[OPFOR]

A big thumbs down on compensated guns for self defense. The 19 is a pretty mild shooter as is, and shouldn't really require any compensation to make it controllable. Spend the money on a day of training with a reputable trainer on the basics of handgun manipulation, and your wife should have no problems.

Night sights are another matter - they can have a place in an SD gun, but I don't think they are absolutely necessary. I have them on all of mine, if that tells you where I stand, but I wouldn't lose too much sleep if they didn't. I don't know about any fiber optic night sights - the most common material used is tritium (fiber optic "plastic" isn't self illumintating, if I'm not mistaken).

Congrats on a sensible wife and a fine SD handgun!

[Rob72]

Agreed. Shooting from retention can be a booger with comped guns- especially for ladies.

Aftermarket sights are a must. I'm not real big on night sights, but I use the XS dot, and have used Trijicons and Meprolights, and all are good products.

[gotammo]

compensated, ported guns may cause problems in low light as the muzzle flash may be undesirable and causing greater loss of night vision.

[rscalzo]

My Glock 23C has never been a problem during low light drills. In fact I never even notice any flash from the ports. As far as a price difference, it was only a matter of a few dollars (at least through the LE Purchase Program). It made a big difference between the 21 and 21C. It comes into the nice to have, but certainly not required.

[OPFOR]

It's never been a noise/flash thing for me, but rather a "hot gasses just got blasted into my face when I shot from retention" thing. Porting has its place, but on a 9mm SD pistol is not that place, IMO.

[Supertac45]

Noise and flash increase are 2 main reasons I don't like comps. Night sites are a must I believe.

[rscalzo]

It's never been a noise/flash thing for me, but rather a "hot gasses just got blasted into my face when I shot from retention" thing.

I think the reason it was never a problem for me was that all of my retention training was from the waist level slightly forward.

Night sights are a valuable addition. Well worth the cost. They would have been worth their weight in gold when I had an incident in a darken basement years back long before night sights were a common option.

[HK Dan]

Okay...shooting from retention you have to cant the gun to the outside or the slide will bruise you. Tilting the gun out solves the gas problem. I've never been bothered by the flash in low light shooting either. With that said, I wouldn't pay any more for the "C" model, especially in 9mm. If you like the idea and you think it will make you shoot better--do it. If not, skip it. Don't expect it to eliminate recoil.

Expect a bit more noise from the "C" model.

Night sights--not without value, but not what I would term "necessary equipment" either. I do have them on all of my carry guns, but I'd carry them if they didn't have night sights too. I wouldn't shoot if I couldn't ID the target. That means having enough light already, having a flashlight, or being so close I can ID a threat in the dark. Night sights wouldn't help me in any of those situations.

What they will do is replace the cheap plastic sights (fixed) that come with new GLOCKs. That's enough for me!

HK Dan

[1911NM]

Never had considered a comp'ed gun for anything other than competition. Did replace my Kimber's sights with TruGlo's Tritium Fiber Optic however. Love having the fiber optic with a night sight glow. Only drawback to them, IMHO, is when shooting competition, I have to clean the front sight between stages as fouling reduces the amount of light they attract and radiate. BTW, I daily carry my competition gun, and compete with my daily carry. Closest I have found to a "one gun for everything". Good luck, good shooting, and have fun.

[rocky]

I have never used a comp'ed gun, but feel night sights are a nice addition if not totally needed.

[broknindarkagain]

compensated, ported guns may cause problems in low light as the muzzle flash may be undesirable and causing greater loss of night vision.

BINGO

[fatboy97]

I really enjoy shooting my 23C and have heard about the issue when drawing and shooting in close quarters, and the flash issue. I think there are ways of practicing without the close quarters shoot being an issue, but I can see some people might not want to change the way they practice. And as far as the flash issue, unless it's totally dark you will not have an issue with the flash, and if it is totally dark you are going to see the flash, almost the same way you see the flash from the front of a non-comp barrel. This is just my 2 cents.

But if this is all a concern you can always buy a factory or after market non-comp barrel to drop in when you are carrying it.

[maclean3]

Congratulations to your wife for finding a suitable carry weapon she's comfortable with. She's well on her way now.

I carry an OD green G19 with Truglo tritium fiber optic (TFO) night sights myself, loaded with 115gr. Cor-bon DPX - expensive ammo but worth the cost based on the research I've done. Like most others, I think compensated barrels on defensive handguns cause more problems than they solve.

The only downside to fiber optic sights is the fiber rods can crack along their length if they come in contact with solvents. It's the same reason plexi-glass and Windex don't play well together. Keep the solvents away from your sights when cleaning your gun's slide and you should be fine.

Good luck with the Glock! Let us know when your wife gets her first range trip with her new gun, I like to read her range report if she's registered here ... if she isn't, she should be.
Jack

[SIXTO]

Heres my thoughts on "C" guns; It isnt so much the flash or the gasses.... yes both are issues, and both can be worked around. But Why?
If you think you would benefit from a "C" gun (non competitive shooting) you dont shoot well enough to see the difference. For the average shooter, myself included, a "C" gun just complicates the training.