Glock 41 Gen4: Always Ready to Compete

Hard-hitting .45 Auto and Minimal Recoil Make the Glock 41 Gen4 a Top Choice for Competitive Shooters

Over and over we circle back to the .45 Auto cartridge when we need to provide the maximum capability in a pistol. Yes, some modern 9×19 and .40 cartridges now provide close to the same delivered energy, but the .45 Auto bullet cannot be denied as the ultimate close-quarters fight-stopper and big-bore match winner. As the Thompson-LaGarde commission concluded, “the only safeguard at close encounters is well-directed rapid fire from nothing less than a .45-caliber weapon.” The .45 AUTO can also be the ultimate competition winner. Case in point: the Glock 41 Gen4, chambered in .45 Auto, is increasingly being used to win action-shooting matches all over the country and world.

The Glock 41 Gen4 is perfectly sized to match the 13+1 rounds of .45 Auto it holds and accurately fires. However, longer and bigger does not mean heavier. The original Glock .45 Auto, the Glock 21, used the same frame and barrel mass as the Glock 20’s 10mm design. To make the Glock 41 Gen4, the Glock 21 frame and barrel were streamlined and lightened, so although the Glock 41 Gen4 has a longer barrel and slide it weighs 2.3 ounces less than the Glock 21 Gen4. And the G41 Gen4 fits easily into holsters made for the Glock 34 and Glock 35 pistols.

Design

The big-bore Glock 41 Gen4 has Glock’s innovative multiple backstrap system, which gives its user a customizable grip right out of the box. The unique backstrap system provides near-custom matching of the shooter’s hand and desired trigger reach to each Gen4 pistol. The system provides five different grip options that come with every Glock Gen4. Every new Gen4 has four backstraps; two with 2mm and 4mm backstraps and two others the same size but with extra-long beavertails.

The longer beavertail backstraps provide increased coverage to protect the web of large hands or the hands of shooters who prefer a high and tight purchase on the grip to reduce muzzle flip and maximize control. That kind of precise control helps to consistently shave tenths of seconds off of target reacquisition during competition. As with all other Gen4 Glocks, the Glock 41 Gen4 has a dual recoil spring assembly for a faster recovery, providing rapid follow-up shots.

Coated with Glock’s surface-hardening finish, the Glock 41 Gen4’s slide sports a 7.68-inch-long sight radius between the pistol’s easy-to-acquire white-dot front and white-outlined rear sights. The Glock 41 Gen4 features an accessory rail under the barrel, and its grips are covered with a wrap-around pattern that offers the shooter very positive control in any condition.

Most importantly, the Glock 41 Gen4 has Glock’s patented Safe Action system, which prevents the weapon from discharging unless the trigger is depressed. Once the trigger is released, the Safe Action automatically re-engages to make the pistol completely safe and incapable of discharging if it is subsequently dropped, hit, or abused.

The Glock 41 Gen4 is a “Practical/Tactical” .45 Auto pistol in the mold of the Glock 34 and Glock 35. The pistol’s size, accuracy, and reliability are making the G41 Gen4 more and more popular in the Custom Defensive Pistol (CDP) division of International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) matches. The IDPA is one of the premier competitive action shooting organizations whose clubs strive to challenge IDPA shooters with realistic and dynamic defensive shooting scenarios. The IDPA rules for CDP pistols specify that they must be .45 Auto pistols weighing no more than 43 ounces and sized to fit into an IDPA gun test box measuring 8.75 by 6 by 1.6 inches.

A Competitive Shooter’s Golden Ticket

I have attended many IDPA matches and have seen quite a few pistols experience stoppages and malfunctions after the match had started and the clock was ticking. But I have yet to see a Glock pistol fail to deliver when needed.

Like most top-tier competitive shooters, Deon Martin participated in many different kinds of competitions with a wide variety of pistols before he chose his favorite, the Glock 41 Gen4. Part of the exceptional handiness of the G41 Gen4 for Martin comes from the pistol’s interchangeable backstraps. Martin said, “I use the medium backstrap with the long beavertail because it allows me to keep my hands very aggressively high on the frame. I have been waiting for years for these backstraps with the longer beavertails because, with my big hands and high grip, if I didn’t have that extra-length beavertail I would get cut whenever I shoot.”

I spoke with Martin at the annual Pro-Am Championship at the Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof, Florida, where he was not only coaching the great students of the University of Florida Practical Pistol Team but participating as an individual competitor as well. After shooting the nine stages with his Glock 41 Gen4, he discussed why he prefers using the .45 Auto (with a power factor of 167) even though it is a heavier bullet with a reputation for being tough to tame. Martin noted, “For over 105 years, the .45 Autos have ruled the roost, with John Browning’s design just waiting for someone to build a better mousetrap. Glock has done that with the G41.” Martin continued, “Shooting the Glock 41 Gen4 is a lot like shooting the 9×19 Glock 34 Gen4. I don’t know how Glock did it, but the recoil is very similar, although there is a lot more impulse with the .45 Auto.

I can hardly feel the difference between shooting the Glock 41 Gen4 and the Glock 34, or even the .40-caliber Glock 35. It just does not feel like you are shooting a .45 Auto! It truly is different.” Martin competes with his Glock 41 Gen4 in a wide variety of action-shooting venues, including USPSA and IDPA matches and championships. He has also served as a full-time law enforcement officer, so he has a full appreciation of both the practical and tactical usefulness of the Glock 41 Gen4. As a result, Martin is able to evaluate the pistol’s user-friendliness, accuracy, and hard-hitting reliability both for matches and for service use. Martin noted that the Glock 41 Gen4 “is going to be very popular with tactical and special units of the military and law enforcement. After 24 years of being a cop, this is the gun I wish I had when I was on the street.”

Another competitive shooter who likes the Glock 41 Gen4 is South Florida’s Randy Rogers. In his lifetime, Rogers has been a sworn deputy in Oklahoma and, since 1980, has competed in many different action shooting venues such as the Glock Sport Shooting Foundation (GSSF), IPSC, Bianchi Cup, Steel Challenge, and IDPA competitions. Rogers dropped out of shooting for a few years, but when he decided to start competing again he had to pick out a new pistol to use. Rogers said he quickly noted how often Glock shooters were winning matches. He said, “I went to matches and saw what the winners who were posting the highest scores were using. Glock users were beating everybody.

Between the advantages of the reliability, accuracy, and saving time by shooting off the reset, I chose Glock and retired the rest of my pistols.” Why a Glock 41 Gen4? Rogers answered, “I chose the G41 Gen4 specifically to shoot IDPA. As a matter of fact, the Glock fits in the same holsters as the Glock 34. My regular Kydex holster for my Glock 34 fits my Glock 41 Gen4 perfectly, so when I bought the pistol I didn’t have to go out and buy all new gear. One thing I really like about the Glock 41 Gen4 is it fits me well, so when I have to reload during competition I don’t have to change my grip or reposition my hand. I just lower my thumb and touch the reversible magazine catch.” Rogers continued, “The Glock 41 Gen4 is a great addition to the GLOCK line. It reminds me of my 9×19 Glock 34, because it handles the same and is quick to get back on target, but it shoots the.45 Auto.” When asked for his number-one reason for using a Glock, Rogers quickly answered, “The Glock is an easy gun to operate and completely uncomplicated, so it is totally reliable and accurate.”

After shooting 1911s for years, IDPA shooter and former Vice President of the Florida Keys Shooting Club, Andy Newton noted that the Glock 41 Gen4 was “reliable, accurate, well balanced and very easy to control.”

The Glock 41 Gen4 is the solution to a 100-year-old problem of how to tame the .45 Auto. When very experienced shooters like Martin, Rogers, and Newton, who have sent hundreds of thousands of bullets downrange and can separate fact from fiction, are willing to place cash on a countertop to buy and use a Glock 41 Gen4 to win matches, that is the best testimony of all.