When the Glock 19X came out, I was perplexed. What was the point? Okay, it was part of the MHS handgun contest, and Glock was just releasing it to the market. Okay, whatever. Then they released the Glock 45, and again I was perplexed. What was the point of a gun with a full-length grip and a compact slide? I’d prefer the reverse! This type of firearm often got “X” as a moniker.
A long grip makes it less concealable, and a short barrel doesn’t seem to offer many benefits. Glock wasn’t the only one doing this. The P320 had the Carry model, and the P365X existed. Arex Delta has a similar model.
Digging In to the X Series
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The HK P30 series was basically a short slide on a long grip forever. Hell, the Walther PPK/S might have been the first to mate a compact slide with a full-sized grip module. They did it to fight gun control and silly import laws, but they did it. I largely ignored this phenomenon, never setting out to figure out the “why.”
Then I shot the Staccato HD P4. The P4 mixes a full-length grip with a slightly shorter slide and barrel. Something about it made me shoot faster; I could track the sights better, make more hits, and I chalked it up to the fact that this was a $2,500 2011.
Then I finally shot a Glock 45 Gen 6, and it felt similar. Finally, I recently finished up a review on a firearm that’s yet to be announced that used the same configuration.
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These X series guns, or crossovers, or whatever you call them, have some magic dust that makes them work well for me.
Sight Radius In The Age Of Red Dots
Sight radius was often a reason to deal with a longer slide. It can certainly help you shoot straighter, but in the age of optics, your irons are a secondary, and sight radius doesn’t matter with an optic. This takes away some of the benefit of that longer slide.
Recoil and Slide Mass
I shot an X Series type design side by side with a full-size model. I was trying to figure out why this size was working oh-so-well for me. What I noticed is that while the gun with the larger slide had a softer recoil impulse, the smaller slide seemed to track flatter.
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I’m an idiot with a keyboard, but it seems to me that the slide returns faster, which makes sense since it’s shorter, but it also seems to have less wobble. The slide weighs less; therefore, there is less reciprocating mass. Less slide slamming rearward and forward.
Mix that with the control a full-sized grip gives you, and you have a slide that seems to move faster with less back-and-forth movement. It’s snappier in your hand, but there is less wobble. The red dot snaps right back to the point of aim.
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This was the magic dust that seems to make it easier for me to shoot these X Series-style guns. I can shoot them faster with sight confirmation. They seem to reset so quickly and surely that I can’t help but shoot faster with greater overall confidence in where my shots are going to land.
Beyond Shooting
I could see an elite-level shooter finding these guns faster to draw. They leave the holster and can be turned upward theoretically faster. I’m not a good enough shooter to notice that slight difference, but I can see the argument.
The longer grip provides a few extra rounds of ammo without a gap between the end of the magazine and the bottom of the grip. That’s a minimal difference in ammo capacity, but it should be noted.
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I also find my pinky is often in the way when I reload a Glock 19. That’s not the case with an X Series or crossover gun. Again, minimal and not applicable to all shooters.
The shorter slide probably makes carrying the gun a bit easier for police officers, military, and security forces. Being able to sit without the holster poking into the seat would feel nice.
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If you wanted to add a muzzle device, namely a comp, you could still get the full-size grip with a gun no larger than a Glock 17. I can see some value in keeping the gun somewhat within size constraints without giving up grip space.
Well Balanced
The X style of firearm tends to be well-balanced. A loaded magazine with a flashlight up front on a compact slide creates a gun that just feels right. Feel isn’t always critical when it comes to performance, but you know, it feels nice.
While I didn’t get the idea originally, after shooting a few designs that incorporate a short slide with a long grip, I get it. It tracks extremely well and seems to shoot flatter. I’ll take that, especially in the age of red dots.
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