Glock 23 vs. 32?

GlockPower

New member
Which would you guys prefer? The 23 (.40S&W) or the 32 (.357SIG)?

I like the size of the compacts, so thats why I'm not looking at the 22...
 
Well, you can look at this from the standpoint of the interchangable barrels. Once you have the 23, you can change it into the 32 at any time. I have firsthand experience with this "drop-in" barrel thing and I was unimpressed. When my shootin' buddy (and brother-in-law) converted his G23 over to .357, he suffered a drastic accuracy loss and some rather dangerous cartridge setback. As far as I know, his .357 barrel just sits in the safe now. Methinks a fitted barrel would be much better than a drop-in.

Anyhoo, the choice is yours. Get either one with a spare (fitted) tube and you'll have both. I highly recommend Wolff's full-length guide rod. Your recoil spring will no longer be "captive" but that's no big deal and disassembly is really no more involved, just a little care is needed so you don't shoot the spring or rod across the room. It tightened my groups up dramatically. About thirty bucks. Well spent.

Callahan
 
It isn't really a question of what we prefer, but what you prefer.

Do you like the .40cal or .357Sig caliber? Whichever one you believe to be the best, most accurate manstopper is the one you should get.

You will find believers in both camps here.

If you don't care, then consider the cost of the gun (I think G23s are cheaper), cost of ammo .40cal is somewhat cheaper, as well as you can interchange barrels between the two.

I like .357sig better, but I prefer to start with a .40cal and interchange the barrel for versatility.
 
I like the size of the compacts
If it is the size you like, I would suggest two more alternatives: the 29 (10 mm) and 30 (.45 ACP). Even though Glock bills them as sub-compacts, they are about the same size as the compacts (19/23/32). To my hand (highly subjective), they feel even better than the compacts.

To be honest, if high caps were available and affordable, I would probably look at the 23 or 32, but thanks to Clinton, I'm limited to ten rounds so why not carry the original .40 (and gain a couple hundred feet per second) or what is probably the all time best combat round ever, the .45 ACP.

(Please let's not turn this into a "calibre war." There are already to many of them. Just accept the above remarks as one man's opinion.)
 
Inspector Callahan,

You wrote:

I have firsthand experience with this "drop-in" barrel thing and I was unimpressed. When my shootin' buddy (and brother-in-law) converted his G23 over to .357, he suffered a drastic accuracy loss and some rather dangerous cartridge setback. As far as I know, his .357 barrel just sits in the safe now. Methinks a fitted barrel would be much better than a drop-in.

This does sound like a factory Glock 32 barrel, which wouldn't cause such problems.
 
I had to make the same decision about a year and a half ago. Being that my dad already had the reloading dies for the .40s&w and the .357sig looked much more involved/time consuming to reload, I went with the .40s&w. The G23 and G32 are both great. If you plan on doing any competitive shooting, you may want to see if the .357sig is able to be entered in as many events as the .40s&w - I think that I heard somewhere that the .357sig may not qualify as a "major" caliber in some competitions, but I could be wrong. Good luck.
 
If you are buying a new Glock, the only differences between the model 23 and 32 are:

1. the barrel
2. the 32 magazines say "357" and hold only 9 .40 rounds.
3. the slide says "357" instead of .40.

If you buy either the Glock 23 or 32, and you want to shoot the other caliber, I suggest purchasing an original factory GLOCK barrel from some place like http://www.glockmeister.com . This drops in with no other changes. This change would make a Glock 32 with a factory 23 barrel identical to a model 23 you'd buy.

As for the choice between .40 and .357SIG, go search TFL for old threads - it has been debated many times before. .40SW is cheaper to shoot so that's the one I shoot more often. .357SIG is a hoot, though. I "carry" .40SW because I get to practice with it more.

I ended up buying the Glock 32 and then buying a factory Glock 23 barrel. The only reason I did it this way was that a Glock 23 barrel cost $20 less than the Glock 32 barrel, since I guess most people want to shoot .357SIG in their model 23, as opposed to the opposite situation.

-z
 
One final remark. In both the Glock 23 and 32, I suggest replacing the stock 18# spring with a 22# spring from Wolff (http://www.gunsprings.com ) or ISMI (http://www.ismi-springs.com ????).

Glock specifies the same spring weight for the Glock 32 and 23 as the Glock 19! You can reduce frame battering and felt recoil by using a heavier spring. 22# seems to work well for .40 and .357SIG.

I have had good luck with the Wolff uncaptured guiderod and spring. Wolff springs are the regular round wire-type and should be replaced every 2-5,000 rounds.

ISMI springs are the wound flat springs like the stock Glock spring. They should last 10,000's of rounds. The ISMI springs have a smaller inner diameter than the Wolff springs, but they are the same dimensions as the factory spring. As a result, you can install an ISMI spring on the factory plastic guiderod. IMSI also sells a captured and uncaptured guiderod.

I had bad luck with the captured guiderod assembly because the capture screw would hang up on the frame and prevent the slide from going into "full" battery. ISMI replaced it with a uncaptured rod which seems to work well.

Nowadays, on my Glock 23/32, I just use a 22# ISMI flat springs on the stock Glock guiderod.

My Glock 19 uses the stock recoil spring assembly, unless I want to experiment with spring weights, in which case I use a Wolff non-captured rod and Wolff springs.

-z
 
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