Rumors of why GLOCK lost out on the MHS contract to SIG have been circling the interwebs since SIG’s announcement. “No manual safety” was a popular guess, even after the .gov stated that the choice was primarily due to SIG’s proposal coming in about $100MM less expensive than GLOCK’s. Well, GLOCK recently released these photos of its MHS submission, which should lay the thumb safety rumor to bed…
The company submitted a GLOCK 19 MHS and a GLOCK 23 MHS, in 9×19 and .40 S&W, respectively. Interestingly enough, they actually appear to be hybrids of GLOCK’s compact (e.g. G19) slide and full-size (e.g. G17) frame. In the MHS-mandated non-reflective, neutral color, of course.
That frame appears to be a Gen4 frame with some modifications: no finger grooves, a lanyard loop, a flange that extends over the front of the magazine baseplate, and a shorter dust cover to match the length of the compact slide. And, yes, an ambidextrous manual safety and ambi slide stop.
Magazines are FDE versions of G17 mags, including some with what are likely +2 round capacity extensions (not pictured).
Word on the street is that GLOCK will not be offering these for sale to civilians or to government agencies. Which surprises me, honestly, as I’m sure they could sell the heck out of ’em. I sure jumped on the chance to get a rare CZ P-09 MHS.