REVIEW: GLOCK 30 Gen5

On The Range

I tested accuracy from 25 yards with a Caldwell Matrix rest on a concrete bench, measuring both the whole 5-shot group and the best three hits therein. The first measurement shows what it can do for experienced human hands under ideal conditions and the second approximates what it would do for all five from a machine rest. The late Charles Petty and I validated this twenty-some years ago for American Handgunner magazine and it’s a whole lot easier for our readers to shoot on their own and compare their results with ours.

My first GLOCK 30 twice gave me 5-shot groups of 7/8″. I can’t do this on demand but with the best ammo I suspect the guns can. The first five shots from the 30.5 out of the box were with Remington 185-grain JHP. They punched four holes in 1.45″ when I honked the fifth shot and spread the group to 2.65″ but the best three were in 1″ even. “Best threes” were 0.85″ (2.20″ for all five) with my preferred carry load for a lightweight .45, Winchester 230-grain Ranger-T and another 1″ even for best three with Wilson Combat 200-grain JHP. Winchester flat point 230-grain ball also gave exactly an inch for best three — I don’t remember this ever happening three times in a row before! — and 3.39″ total. Suffice it to say the 30.5 lived up to my accuracy expectations.

Recoil was soft for a .45 ACP, which has been true of the G30 series since its introduction, although the light-slide 30S can get a little snappy. Only one of our testers felt a finger pinch between the 10-round mag and the butt during firing. Our test team had an unusual composition this time around: Master Instructor Herman Gunter III brought three of his grandchildren to the range for one day of the test. Brooke is 14, Benjamin is 12, and Daniel but 10 years old. Young kids with full power .45s worry you? Not if their dad and their grandpa have trained them right.

The only problem they had was depressing the slide release lever (it was unusually stiff on our test gun) so they simply completed their reloads with a slide tug. None of them had a problem with the recoil and Brooke noted that it kicked less in her hand than an expensive lightweight Commander format .45 she shot the same day.

To show how controllable a G30 can be with full power hardball, Benjamin was also recovering from a limb injury on his support hand side. At four yards aiming at a ¾” black paster, he grouped his shots so tightly the paster was shot away. “What do I shoot now?” he asked, finger safely off the trigger. “Shoot the hole,” answered his grandpa — so the boy did.