The gun for this review was provided by the Kentucky Gun Company.
I finally got my hands on the much heralded GLOCK G40 MOS, the six-inch, optics-ready 10mm juggernaught. I shot its older, littler brother the G20 as my first entry in my truck pistol series – and found it wanting. As I said in that post, I want to love GLOCK pistols. I generally find them just okay for the job. I keep trying GLOCKs in the hopes that I may one day find one I can shoot well. I may have found it . . .
GLOCK’s website lauds the G40 MOS as “the ultimate choice in semi-automatic gaming pistol.” When RF handed me case I looked at the box and thought, “Well, they sure aren’t wasting money on packaging.” Gaston’s mob stuffs the 28 oz. long slide powerhouse into the same cheap, bursting-at-the-seams plastic case they use for all their handguns. Opening it revealed a jumbled mass of backstraps, mounts and screws, arranged with all the organization and presentation excellence my three-year-old would muster.
The firearms farrago included a pack of base plates. Like the FNX-45 Tactical, the G40 MOS (Modular Optic System) model lets owners mount a range of pistol optics (think pistol red dot sights like a Trijicon RMR, Leupold Delta Point, Meopta MeoRed, etc.) on the slide with no more trouble than tightening a few screws. So I added Trijicon’s ever popular RMR, a combination featured in GLOCK’s product literature. Unlike the FNX-45 Tactical’s or the S&W CORE series, the G40 MOS’ factory front and rear sights weren’t raised. They didn’t co-witness the RMR’s dot with the stock sights. Close, but not quite perfection.
RMR on MOS, I was ready to shoot. One problem: the three magazines supplied were conspicuously empty, and proved to be surprisingly difficult to fill. In a tragic reversal from my STI Nitro 10 review, I had plenty of magazines and no ammo. Cheap 10mm ammo wasn’t to be found, so I shelled out the cash for 200 rounds of the better to very good stuff. My supply included HPR, two different Hornady loads, and some DoubleTap ammo. Lesson learned, again, for the third time: if I choose a 10mm for my perfect truck pistol, I’m reloading my own.
To the range!
The only GLOCKs that fit my hands well are the full-frame models, and this one was no different. The gun still doesn’t point naturally for me, but man, the G40 MOS’ grip feels good. One-handed, I get a strong grip all the way around the gun. The raised dots, the material itself and the finger grooves gave me a solid lock on the frame. This and a good rest made zeroing the RMR a breeze; I got ‘er done in six rounds.
Because the gun felt so good in my hand, I put a few magazines down range one-handed. At 15 yards, right or left handed, this G40 MOS is the best shooting of the higher powered pistols I’ve ever shot. Shooting right handed, one shot per second at 15 yards on a 5 ½” plate? Easy. And that’s with a 10mm handgun. I don’t shoot this well one-handed with my Wilson Combat WC92FS in 9mm.
Backing up to 25 yards, the problem I suspected would occur when I zeroed the gun revealed itself in full force. The dot was too big to be accurate. Fast, yes. Accurate, no. The dot size on the RMR obliterated the 5½-inch target at the 25 yard line. As this was the minimum distance I’d be shooting at, I reluctantly removed the RMR – and was instantly rewarded for doing so.
GLOCK haters of the world note the 2” groups at 25 yards I shot with the G40 MOS resting against a makeshift bean bag on a stump. From the kneel, I was shooting regular 3- to 3.5″ groups with anything I fed it. Don’t get me wrong. The 10mm GLOCK still didn’t point naturally. If I was to shoot and just guess at the accuracy of the round, I would have said 5”. I was fighting the gun, and I felt like it was all over the place. But it wasn’t. Those little paper holes don’t lie.
AT 25 yards, the most accurate round, for once, was not the Double Tap. That 200gr FMJ Flat Point round shot a 2¼” group, plenty good for any game in the Texas Hill country out to 50 yards, maybe more. The Hornady 180gr XTP round shot a 2½” group and Hornady 175gr Critical Duty round scored a 2¾” group. The best of the bunch: a 2″ group using HPR’s 180gr JHP. Of all of those, I’d stick with the Double Tap flat point round for hunting, purely for penetration. But as none of these groups were shot from a bench, any of those rounds are good enough for hunting.
Ever wonder why Pennsylvania long rifles had such long barrels? It’s a lot easier to aim precisely when you have more than three feet of distance between your sights. The same principle applies here. That G40 MOS’ 6-inch barrel buys you a lot of real estate between the sights. In fact, the G40 MOS has a full 8.9″ overall length – more than two inches longer than the G20. That’s a lot of sight radius. Plus, all that weight up front soaks up recoil in an otherwise not-so-heavy gun.
Good Lord I’m going to get some hate for this, but the G40’s trigger ain’t that bad at all. Their website says that it’s a 5.5 lb trigger pull weight. It’s every bit of that but it’s a smooth pull with very little grit and none of the stacking or squishyness I’ve come to expect from GLOCKs. The reset is one of the best I’ve ever fired in any semi-auto pistol, including many 1911s. Short, crisp, very solid and right there. I’m sure that went a long way to the ease of the one-handed shooting I noted before. Whoever at GLOCK worked on the reset, please call FN and show them how to do it.
At 50 yards, shooting off a bag on my truck’s hood, I didn’t do so well. I shot the G40 MOS on two different days, and this was the second day. The best I could muster: 50 percent on a 6” target. That’s not good, but considering how well it did at 25 yards, I’m guessing it was user error. My better groups were sub 3” at 25 yards, so I would have thought more would be in the target zone at 50 yards. What can I say, some days the bear eats you.
What disqualified the FNX-Tactical from the truck gun contest – my search for a gun that can ethically harvest game and will work for concealed carry around town – is also a problem for the G40. On a 1911, a 6” slide looks long. On this GLOCK, it looks like a harpoon over the trigger guard. The large frame is already hard to conceal; that runway-length slide makes it almost impossible. Almost.
I do a bit of leatherwork and I mocked up a few holsters for the G40 MOS. With a light jacket and the right cant, the 10mm GLOCK is reasonably concealable. But – hidden like that, I’d never be able to draw it when seated. And not quickly from any position. That doesn’t detract from how well the gun performed, but it does put it does make it questionable as a truck gun contestant.
I still think every American should own a Toyota Corrola and a G19 at least once in their life, just to see that “good enough” really is pretty good. But the G40 MOS shoots like a different beast altogether. It’s the first GLOCK I’ve shot particularly well. If I can figure out a way to holster it, it will have taken the STI Nitro 10’s place as front runner as my co-pilot.
Specifications – Glock 40 Gen4 MOS
Caliber: 10mm auto
Operation: Double-action
Magazine: 15 rds.
Weight: 28.15 oz. (empty)
Barrel Length: 6”
Overall Length: 9.49″
Sights: Fixed 3-dot
MSRP: $799
Ratings (out of five stars):
Style * * *
I don’t like the way GLOCKs look and this one is no different. I don’t know whether to take a star off or add one for the plank-like slide.
Customization * * * *
The gun includes backstraps and the optics mount, which is great. The lack of an option for night sights that would co-witness and a threaded barrel (why not add another ½” at this point) would give it a five-star rating.
Reliability * * * * *
It’s probably unfair to give the gun any kind of reliability rating with only 200 rounds through it. But I had zero malfunctions of any kind while firing in any position with any ammunition I used.
Accuracy * * * *
Once the RMR was removed, very good. And plenty good enough for hunting in the thickets. The trigger reset is exceptional.
Overall * * * *
If you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive hunting gun, it would be hard to go wrong with the G40. Taking anything up to black bear, I’d be confident with this gun out to 50 yards with any of the rounds I shot. The ability to carry a lightweight polymer frame pistol and still put 15 rounds of 10mm down into the breadbasket at reasonable handgun hunting distance makes this a powerful tool indeed. GLOCK nailed this one.
The gun for this review was provided by the Kentucky Gun Company.