In most hand gunning circles, Glock doesn’t need much of an introduction. Among shooters, there seems to be a great divide when it comes to Glocks. There are those who will only carry a Glock, and those that will never carry a Glock. I fall in the middle, and today, we’ll review the Glock 29.
I usually carry a Glock 43 daily. Members of my family carry Glocks as well and one of my family members is a law enforcement officer who carries a Glock professionally. When we go to the range, there are always a variety of Glocks in several calibers with us. Clearly, we are not unaccustomed to the Glock family.
The Glock 29, however, came as an unfamiliar gun to me. I had never shot the 10mm cartridge before and when I saw the size of the pistol and the size of the round, I was a bit unnerved. I admit I had visions of massive recoil and control problems and that numb, tingly feeling you get in your forearms after firing some of the magnum calibers on the market. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at some of the Glock 29’s specs to kick things off.
What Makes Up a Glock 29?
Before I get to the actual results and my conclusions about this weapon, let’s look at some of the technical data. The Glock 29 comes in two variations, the Glock 29 Gen4 and the Glock 29 SF. While they are basically the same pistol, there are some slight differences in the dimensions of the two guns. Here is how they stack up in the technical department:
| Glock 29 Gen4 | Glock 29 SF | |
| Length Overall | 6.97” | 6.97” |
| Slide Length | 6.77” | 6.77” |
| Width Overall | 1.38” | 1.38” |
| Slide Width | 1.12” | 1.12” |
| Height (Including Magazine) | 4.53” | 4.53” |
| Trigger Distance | 2.85” | 2.73” |
| Magazine Capacity | 10 rounds | 10 rounds |
| Barrel Length | 3.78” | 3.78” |
| Weight Empty | 26.81 oz | 26.81 oz |
| Weight with Full Magazine | 32.63 oz | 32.80 oz |
At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be any difference in these two guns, but Glock identifies the Glock 29 SF by stamping the SF designation clearly on the slide. If you look closely, the distance from the backstrap to the trigger is 3mm (or about one-eighth of an inch) shorter than the Glock 29. We’ll talk more about how this small difference factors into the equation below.
Unboxing Your Glock
Unboxing a Glock always feels amazing. Glock pistols are not glamorous, nor will they ever win any contests for their beauty. Glocks were designed from the very beginning as working tools, not fashion accessories. Glocks still reflect that design philosophy. Looking at the features that come standard on most Glock designs doubles down on the concept of function over form.
- Glock Safe Action® System – The Glock Safe Action ® System design uses a three-sequence safety. Three things must happen in sequence to put a Glock pistol into a ready to fire condition,
- First, the trigger safety must be engaged. The trigger safety is a level that is integral to the trigger. The trigger safety engages the frame of the pistol if the trigger safety and the trigger are not depressed by the trigger finger at the same time.
- Second, you must pull the trigger back to disengage the firing pin safety. The firing pin safety mechanically blocks the firing pin from moving forward to prevent any kind of accidental discharge.
- The third is the drop safety. The trigger bar usually rests on the safety ramp and engages the rear portion of the firing pin and prevents the firing pin from moving forward, even if you drop the gun. Pulling the trigger back lowers the trigger bar down the safety ramp and releases the firing pin.
- Simple Functionality – Glock pistols contain only 34 individual components. Fewer parts mean fewer possibilities of failure, which equals reliability. Many of the internal and external parts are interchangeable among the different Glock models, which makes manufacturing easier and keeps the price competitive. Fewer parts also mean easier maintenance.
- Design – Glocks are designed to be carried and used. From the clean, smooth exterior of the gun to the way the grip angle and bore axis are aligned to make a Glock pistol fit well in hand and come to a natural point of aim, Glock pistols reflect forethought in design and engineering.
My first thought as I loaded the Glock 29 Gen 4 was that this was going to be a beast of a pistol to handle. The 10mm auto cartridge is massive. It’s also got a reputation for producing punishing recoil in some guns. Given the weight and dimensions of the Glock 29 Gen4, I was expecting the same. However, first impressions are not always accurate.
Range Time
Glocks always feel good when I pick them up. The grip angle and the grip dimensions just seem to fit me. Even a brand new, unfired gun feels like I have been handling it for years. The Glock 29 Gen4 was no exception.
I did find that I had problems indexing my little finger. There was no place for it to fit on the grip. That caused a bit more apprehension, given the reputation of the 10mm auto round. I field stripped the pistol out of the box, reassembled it, loaded the magazines, and was soon ready to send some shots downrange.
I had to change the sequence of my usual 250 round range test. Several factors were behind this change.
- One hundred rounds of mixed factory ammunition – I typically fire a mixed bag of different and random factory ammunition that I have laying around my safe. The problem this time is I didn’t have any random extra 10 mm ammunition, so these initial 100 rounds were all factory ball ammunition.
- One hundred rounds of me reloads – Again, I don’t normally shoot or reload 10mm auto ammunition, so I didn’t have any reloads available to test. The lack of reloads shortened my range test.
- Twenty-five rounds of self-defense ammunition – I advocated putting in some training time with the ammunition you intend to carry as your normal load in your concealed carry pistol. In this case, it was a commercially available hydro-shock load. The test was shortened to 20 rounds to fit the way the ammunition is boxed and sold.
In the end, my range test was considerably shorter than usual. Through it, I learned that the 10mm auto cartridge is not an economical cartridge to take to the range and shoot.
My Evaluation
To my surprise, the Glock 29 Gen4 was amazingly easy to shoot. The recoil was not as punishing as I expected. It did pack a bit of a punch, but with proper technique and grip, it is manageable and did not leave me with any after-effects in my hand or arm.
Even with the lightweight and small frame, I was able to bring the Glock 29 back onto target. There was some learning needed and range time with the Glock 29 certainly would improve my ability to manage the recoil and small muzzle flip.
The last ten rounds I put through the pistol were a magazine dump to see how fast I could run the Glock 29 Gen 4 and keep it reasonably on target. I shot at 15 yards at a standard silhouette target. I was able to put 6 of the ten rounds into the eight ring, three stayed in the seven ring, and one flyer punched off target.
I am convinced that the pistol will shoot much better than I can, and I attribute the flyer to fatigue. While manageable, this is still a lot of power in a little gun, and I was beginning to feel the effects of working the Glock 29 Gen 4.
The Final Verdict
I like Glocks. I won’t try to hide that fact. I found after shooting the Glock 29 Gen4 that I liked it as well as any other Glock I have shot. My takeaways from this test are as follows:
- The Glock 29 Gen4 functioned exactly as I expected. I suffered no failure to fires, no ejection issues, no stoppages, and no failure to feed. I ran ball, jacketed hollow points and ballistic tipped bullets through this pistol with no problems at all.
- I don’t have overly large hands and I did have some difficulty in getting a proper finger placement on the trigger. The grip on the Glock 29 Gen4 must be larger to manage the double-stack magazine. I suspect that the shorter trigger distance on the Glock SF might have made a difference. However, after shooting the Glock 29 Gen4 through several magazines, I had adjusted to the longer trigger length and was comfortable with my grip and the gun.
- The fit and finish of the Glock 29 Gen4 were up to the usual high standards of Glock’s reputation. The design is, in my estimation, quite nice. Glocks aren’t a trophy case gun. The design, in its own simple and practical way, is elegant and appealing.
- The Glock 29 Gen4 is a shootable gun even with such a large caliber cartridge. After the first few shots, the intimidation factor was negligible. The 10mm auto is a large and powerful round, but the overall design of the Glock 29 Gen4 minimizes the way the recoil is transferred to the arm and hand, making it controllable.
If you are a fan of big, powerful handgun cartridges and prefer to conceal carry a pistol chambered for one of these powerful bullets, you should consider the Glock 29 Gen4 or Glock 29 SF. You won’t find a smaller pistol chambered in a bigger round that is functional as an everyday concealed carry pistol. If you are looking for something that is a bit lighter in terms of caliber, check out something like the Glock 19 or Glock 30. All in all, Glock is a fantastic brand, and I would recommend this weapon for concealed carry.
