Glock .22 LR Model 44-The Real Glock Deal!

.22 caliber "look alike" or replica guns accomplish three missions. First, they can serve as "understudy" guns if they copy enough features and are sized closely enough to the centerfire original to allow realistic practice with inexpensive and much quieter .22 LR ammo. Second, they can serve as training guns to familiarize new shooters in basic marksmanship. Third, they can serve as defensive arms for those who find centerfire guns kick too much and have too much muzzle blast.

Up until now, all look-alike .22 LR handguns I've tested are produced under license for various manufacturers by the German manufacturer Umarex. They are fine arms, but aren't made by their branded manufacturer, and they often use parts that are vastly different than the guns they replicate. The new .22 LR Glock 44 changes that dynamic.

The Glock 44 (G44) is all Glock and made entirely in the USA. It is essentially the 9mm Glock 19 converted to fire .22 LR ammunition-and it does so quite splendidly. In fact, the G44 is so much a Glock that it uses the actual G19 Gen5 frame as its foundation for the rest of the gun. This means that the standard Glock interchangeable backstrap system can be used to tailor the grip to the owner.

Details

I had not had an opportunity to research the G44 prior to getting an opportunity to handle it in person. Fortunately, Andrew Hyder at Vance Outdoors had time to go over the G44 with me prior to my test. The most revolutionary feature of the G44 that Andrew pointed out is the fact that the G44 can be dry fired with total safety.

Standard arms chambered for any rimfire cartridge-.22 Short, LR, or any of the .17 rimfires-will suffer damage by repeated "dry-firing" of unloaded guns. Due to the rimfire design, the firing pin can strike the steel chamber if it is dry fired. On centerfire guns, the firing pin "strikes" open air in the center of the chamber when dry fired-causing no damage. Glock has addressed this issue through the use of small cutouts in the chamber face. These cutouts allow the G44 firing pin to strike in an indentation in the chamber wall without making contact with metal. This means the G44 owner will have unlimited opportunity to dry fire practice just as they do with the G19. It's an ingenious innovation.

In order to function with a blowback operating system necessitated by the low pressure .22 LR cartridge, Glock uses a steel/polymer hybrid slide, which reduces overall weight significantly. Total unloaded weight is 14.64 ounces, but the overall feel is just like its centerfire brother.

The G44 magazine also looks like a standard G19 magazine, except that the sides are open to allow for the use of loading tabs to compress the follower. Magazine capacity is 10 rounds.

Glock 44 Pistol Specifications

Trigger Time

I tested the G44 with Remington Hi-Speed .22 ammo loaded with solid bullets using five round magazines. Operation of the G44 is exactly the same as the G19, including trigger operation and pull, magazine release, and ambidextrous slide release. Factory sights are standard Glock fully adjustable sights, white dot front, white outline rear. They work great for a .22 like this. I charged the G44 up and sent the target to 21 feet.

My first five shots were a warmup, and produced a well centered group that measured 2.5 inches in diameter. I loaded up another 5, and again sent the target to 21 feet. This time I was very pleased to find that my next five shots produced a 1-inch diameter group.

I then sent the target down to 31 feet. This group measured 1.5 inches, with 4 of the 5 shots landing in a single hole group measuring 1/2 inch in diameter. I was impressed with the G44's performance.

At the end I loaded up a 10-round magazine, and fired them off in rapid fire fashion. All rounds cycled smoothly and the G44 was easily controlled-qualifying it for use as a defensive pistol.

In Summation

The Glock 44 clearly accomplishes all three aforementioned missions of a .22 LR copy of a centerfire design. Building it on the G19 frame makes the G44 ideally sized for home defense, concealed carry, trail, and recreational use.

The G44 is currently available at Vance Outdoors. I highly recommend it.