Navy Seals and the G19 question

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simonrichter

New member
apparently, the Seals use the G19 as some kind of semi-official (or even official, it seems to have a designation as"Mk 27") handgun. Does anybody know...
1.) why they would go with the 19, not the 17?
2.) do they use a threaded barrel by default?
 
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Glocks only fire when you pull the trigger. I don't know why people think they aren't safe.
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Glocks ALWAYS fire when you pull the trigger. Thus AD/ND rate increases due to 1 less safety measure being available. That doesn't make them unsafe. That makes training for that gun that much more important. When people are used to having a safety they do dumb things like holstering with their finger on the trigger. It's a people problem, not a gun problem. Kinda like gun crimes.....

I don't like Glocks, and I don't own any. Probably never will. But it isn't because they are striker fired or that they don't have a separate safety. They just aren't comfortable in my hand. And yes, I have tried several.
 
Nathan said:
Probably worth asking their AD/ND rate too.
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At the level they train, its probably nil, especially compared to the average civilain that just bought one, has little or no training or expereinece, and only shoots/handles it a couple of times a year. Not that a gun with a manual safety would be any different.

ghbucky said:
Glocks only fire when you pull the trigger. I don't know why people think they aren't safe.
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Anyone with a brain understands that, and I think its more just someone making a jab at somehting they dont like. Its the obligatory Glock hater response. ;)



As far as why they went with the 19 vs the 17, from what Ive read, it had to do with what they thought would conceal better for those times they needed to do that.

Personally, I dont think the 17 is really all that bigger, and just offers more, but thats me. Ive been carrying a 17 daily for about a decade now, and have no troubles hiding it, even in a tee shirt in the summer.
 
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You know those secret squirrel organizations are not always going full agro breech bang and clear, right? I would surmise they spend a fair bit of time blending in and being sneaky and a Glock 19 fits the bill nicely for this.
 
Interesting article. Glocks had better corrosion protection but less reliable, but becoming the new standard??? Ummmmm, not that I think Glocks are unreliable, but did I miss the logic somewhere?
 
Right.

The article doesn't explain in any way whatsoever why they made the decision to switch. Even though the title claims to do that.
 
SEALS are regular military. They use what they're issued. However, when you're carrying everything you own on your person, every bit of excess weight matters. A 19 weighs about 30 grams less than a 17. That's a whole ounce, but even that matters.
There's no such thing as an AD/ND.
"...I don't own any..." Ditto. Grip is too slippery. And they don't do anything my Inglis BHP won't do. Mind you, I'm not carrying the thing up and down mountains or through deserts.
 
Sig Sauer vs. Glock: Why the Navy SEALs Dumped the P226 for the Glock 19
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Unfortunately, that article is riddled with problems. The P226 is not based on the same action as the P210, and the Famous Exploding Beretta story...well, that bears explaining.

The SEALs were given a number of the pistols for testing. They ran them with overpressure ammo, without lubrication or maintenance, and they did it to see what would finally make the gun crap out. The Beretta in question was 3-4 times past its warrantied service life when the locking lug broke.

I learned this from a retired SEAL who helped put a few things into perspective. They actually have a great deal of respect for the Beretta pistols, and they do like doing torture tests.

As for why they're switching to the Glock, it's hard to say. It could be something as mundane as cost per unit, availability of parts, or ease of repair.
 
At the level they train, its probably nil, especially compared to the average civilain that just bought one, has little or no training or expereinece, and only shoots/handles it a couple of times a year.
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Now, balance the "well trained" people who are constantly handling the guns vs the neophyte who rarely does.

The un/undertrained beginner does have a higher likelihood of having an accident each time he handles the gun. The trained shooter has a much, much lower chance of an accident, each time they handle the gun, but they handle the gun possibly thousands of times more often than the beginner.

Add into the mix the inescapable human factor of "familiarity breeds contempt", (which, good training works to minimize, but cannot eliminate 100%) and you might not find the "professionals" ND/AD rate as much lower as you might think.

Nil is always the goal.

There's no such thing as an AD/ND.
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I strongly disagree.

As for why they're switching to the Glock, it's hard to say. It could be something as mundane as cost per unit, availability of parts, or ease of repair.
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That could be the case, or it could be something as simple as a lost Glock does not scream "US GOVT NAVY SEALS" were here....
;)

Remember that the military, even the elite units do not have the same priority choosing weapons that civilians do. What we might choose as the "best choice" might be second, third or even lower on the the govt list below "gets the job done adequately" and other possible mission parameters (which might include cost, or other factors, some of which simply don't apply to civilian use).
 
I've spoken with several SEAL's who all support the decision to go to the Glock 19. With their level of training I doubt there are very many accidental discharges.

I'm under the impression that operators in the shadowy world of their most elite units get to choose pretty much whatever they think they need regardless of expense. The rest of the SEALs use what is issued and available to the team as their budgets are much tighter.
 
T. O'Heir said:
There's no such thing as an AD/ND.
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Of course there is. Any time a firearm discharges when the person in controil of it has not deliberately and intentionally aimed at a target and pulled the trigger, the discharge is either accidental (AD) or negligent (ND). For any specific incident one might debate if the unintended discharge was accidental or negligent, but it had to be one or the other.

My own, personal view is that most unintended discharges are negligent, and that an accidental discharge occurs pretty much only if/when there's a mechanical problem with the firearm.

Would you say that this was neither an AD nor an ND? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUonA66btgI

How about this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuR5A6IcUbg

If those were no ADs nor NDs ... what were they?
 
If you are an agency who has to arm and train a lot of people, you have different needs and worries than a guy who needs to defend his home. I’ve watched six SEALs show up with more ammo than what an infantry battalion gets allotted in a year, and then burn through it in less than a week.

At that level of shooting, you don’t need the best ever. You need adequate at the best price. Honestly, there are hundreds of decent choices that will throw a 9mm bullet at a target adequately over pistol,differences. People may have individual preferences; but cost of the system is the big factor.

As far as SEAL training, I’ve had lots of fun conversations with SEALs who’ve killed real people in real fights and, from my perspective, didn’t have the slightest idea about why they were given any particular weapon to do it. Even for SEALs, it’s mainly just a tool for a lot of them. It works or it doesn’t or you just learn to put up with the eccentricities because that’s what you’ve got.
 
You won't hear them complaining about a particular gun being uncomfortable or the wrong grip angle. They take what they got and master it.
 
SEALS are regular military. They use what they're issued.
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While true, they have a degree more discretion about what they use than other standard infantry units.

There's no such thing as an AD/ND.
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That's probably one of the most foolish things I've ever read on this forum.
 
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