The Glock 22 (along with its siblings, the compact G23 and subcompact G27) are Glock’s .40 Auto pistols and have been incredibly popular with law enforcement across the US for decades. They offer up pistols chambered in the larger LE-focused cartridge while being identical in size to the 9mm G17, Glock 19, and G26 pistol lineup.
Way back in the parachute-panted, drum-and-bass-filled Nineties, the 9mm was getting pushback from LE agencies across the country due to concerns about penetration and stopping power stemming from performance shortcomings in the 1986 Miami shootout. When agents were less than keen on the pivot to the 10mm Auto, S&W and Winchester cooked up the .40 S&W Auto, leading to the 10mm and Georg Luger’s 9mm cartridge getting dropped like a bad habit — replaced, practically overnight, by the new gee-whiz LE wonder cartridge, the .40 S&W.
Glock brought the Glock 22 to market along with the G23 in 1990, and the rest, as they say, is history.
When the fine folks at Guns.com offered up a used LE G22 Glock pistol for me to put through its paces, I was more than happy to share my take on the original .40 Auto Glock.
