Here are the reasons I like Glocks the best:
1. Among the most reliable, if not THE most. Will eat up any jacketed ammo.
2. Its durability and ruggedness cannot be beat. Freeze it, bury it, pour dirt, sand, salt water, mud, etc....it'll keep functioning...and will never rust on you. All of the metallic parts are tenifer treated, making them nearly diamond tough. And the impact resistant polymer frame is tougher than steel, yet much lighter. The frame is thus impervious to rust and hard impact, and will not be affected by extreme temperatures
3. The low bore axis makes felt recoil less, and reduces muzzle flip. Plus the polymer frame absorbs some recoil. Very controllable pistols.
4. Consistant trigger pulls for each shot. Sure, revolver, and other DAO pistols have this too. But Glocks give you the shortest and easiest DAO trigger stroke. Plus you can install different trigger springs to vary the weight of the trigger pull.
5. The safe action system incorporates 3 safeties that work together. This means that the gun will not go off unless the trigger is intentionally pulled.
6. Simplicity is what makes the Glock an ingenious design. About half the number of parts of most other pistols. Less parts to break. And if you have to replace any parts, it's so easy to do so yourself...anyone with half a brain can do it. Plus no external safeties to fumble with.
HK's, SIGS, Berettas, are also fine choices. Can't go wrong with any of the above. But for those reasons I described above, the Glock is my choice for a defensive sidearm.
Oh, forgot to mention this too...Glocks are plenty accurate for a combat pistol. They may not be match accurate like a custom 1911 race gun, but they will shoot much better than most people are capable of. Plus the polygonal barrel rifling helps with accuracy, and also helps conserve bullet velocity more so than traditional cut rifling.
[This message has been edited by shamster (edited September 14, 1999).]