Customer Reviews

The Gun Digest Book of the Glock

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I made the mistake of actually reading the book, rather than skim it or use if for reference. Mr Sweeney is an accomplished gunsmith with years of experience with the 1911 and the Glock. Although he provides a lot of good information on the Glock, it becomes obvious that he truly admires the 1911. Having another, commonly used firearm to use as a reference for comparison is a good thing. But there are many times that the 1911 comes up without benefit to the topic.

The Glock information he provides is great, albeit limited in scope; I learned a lot about magazines, other Glock models, and a holster I'd never heard of; I'm glad I have the book on my shelf for reference. Probably the most practical thing I learned is that all Glock mags of the same caliber will fit and function in other Glocks of the same caliber; consequently it makes good sense to carry a 15 round clip (from a Glock 22) to put in your concealed Glock 27 after the first 10 rounds are gone. Makes more sense than investing in a bunch of mag extensions that yield fewer total rounds.

But the book has some major drawbacks, too. At one point we are led to believe that he will cover trigger pull adjustment in another section, but this is never addressed. The writing is OK, but the editor should find a new line of work. There are contradictions, circular writing, and other mistakes that a good editor would have picked out; it was difficult to read at times. Probably the worst two issues are that it desperately needs to be updated (lots of talk about the old 1994 gun restrictions, copyright 1993) and there is no index. Tough to be a reference book without one.

I haven't read any competing books on the subject, but I can compare it with quality books written on singular subjects. That's how I formulated my rating.

My review on this one is going to be a bit more critical than most. This is probably one of the worst books on Glock pistols that I have read to date. The author is constantly comparing Glocks to 1911's, and other types of pistols. The book is also loaded with plenty of non-Glock images. Mr. Sweeney, I bought this book because I like the Glock, not because I wanted to see plenty of photos of 1911's... ad nauseam. Perhaps Mr. Sweeney should stick to books writing books like his "Gun Digest Book of the 1911", as he has done Glock more than a bit of injustice.


You know, I recently purchased Massad Ayoob's excellent book "The Gun Digest Book of Sig-Sauer". Mr. Sweeney, please take note... Massad's book on the Sig is FILLED with useful information and photos related to his book's title... SIG-SAUER PISTOLS!

Sorry, but I must recommend a pass on Sweeney's "sort of Glock" book!

Hans

This book has a TON of information about the Glock pistols. My only complaint is the author's continuous reference to 1911 pistols. He is an admitted fan who dwells way too much on the 1911 and is continuously comparing it to the Glock. This book would have been better written by someone with a more neutral view. Granted, the author is not continually bashing Glocks (he actually speaks highly of them), but I didn't buy it to read about 1911's.

If you're new to Glocks, as I am, I would still recommend this book to you. As I said, TONS of useful info ...you just need to wade through the 1911 talk to get to it.

This book was greatly disappointing! I've spent weeks drooling over this book thinking it would teach the new Glock owner everything they would need to know. Far from it. It does tell you all the inner workings, great. Covers all the models, great. Even gives you history of Glock, great. Covers Cleaning, maintenance, proper care...WAIT, NO IT DOES NOT. IT TELLS NOTHING OF HOW TO CARE FOR YOU WEAPON! I WANT A REFUND! I wasted $28.00. DON'T BUY THIS BOOK. Look elsewhere. But if you insist on throwing your money away, you can send it to me.

I just bought my first Glock 21 and thought this would be a good book for a glockowner. When I started reading this book, it becomes clear that he is not passionate about the very subject of his own book. He is a gun mag writer and he writes like one too. Anemic. Like he is too worried about what others might think of him if he drinks the glock koolaid. This book is not written by a real glock fan. I own many handguns....I am not a total Glocker.....but man I want somebody that is a total passionate glocker to write a book about them. I want a paasionate glocks-rock kind of author...and he is just not it.

He compares Glocks to his personal love of 1911's. I could careless about 1911's..they are not even in the same class of handguns. This a book about glocks. If you are going to compare guns why the heck not compare glocks to the many other polymer gun out there??? Why Because Glocks are the father of polymer guns. 1911 are in a class of themselves....to me its apples and oranges.

Excellent! As a beginner, I knew little about guns in general and glocks in particular except that you cannot find a more reliable semiautomatic pistol. Well this book is definitely THE book to update your information on the GLOCK. It gives the history of the weapon and design changes. It is very good read and very informative. Additionally, it also includes information on customization.
I can confidently say that this book has increased my knowledge of the glock and increased my appreciation of it.

Definitely good value for money.

I bought this 2nd edition of the Gun Digest Book of the Glock, published in 2008 thinking it would be a new and different edition. Unfortunately the 2008 2nd edition is exactly the same book as the 2003 1st edition except for the cover. The 2nd edition contains the same text, the same black and white photos, the same identical chapters as the earlier 1st edition. There is nothing new in this book.
It's a fine book with lots of useful information, but re-packaging an older edition without any updates in it is a bit deceiving. If you have the original edition, forget this one. It's the same book.

I got this book & his book on the AR15 as a package deal, and must say they are the horrible!
Though there is some info about the glock pistol, the other two thirds of the book is full of info on other guns & his boast's of what a great shooter he is. If you cut out all his self promoting & 1911, browing hipower & other gun info the book would be about 100 pages long & a decent read. There is also a lot of off track story telling & circle talk that make you forget about what the topic was to begin with.

The people who gave this book 5 stars must be realatives, or fans of his.
I had a hard time giving it 2 stars, but if your skip all the B.S. there was some info about the glock in there.

If your are looknig for a book about glock's you like me will end up looking somewhere else

I have the 2nd Edition. I found most of the critical reviews accurate. The book is not well-written, it is poorly organized, and the editing is atrocious. I must have counted 30-40 typos.

This book is ostensibly about the Glock pistol but you almost wouldn't know it there is so much off-topic discussion of 1911 pistols. And yet oddly enough there is only the shortest chapter toward the end on the actual pistols which are in competition with the Glock--the Springfield XD, S&W M&P, etc. That chapter seems like an afterthought. The information on competition was tedious as was the info on holsters. Neither was terribly relevant to the topic in my opinion. And the competition stuff didn't start and stop in a single chapter, Sweeney blathers on about IPSC all through the book. Yet again, oddly, he barely scratches the surface in comments about self-defense. Wouldn't you think that if you were going to talk about uses for the Glock pistol at all that self-defense might get more than a line or two?

I did get some good information from this book and it is not so expensive that I feel ripped off. I like to read gun books and a good bit of the book was interesting. But by the end I couldn't wait for it to be over--this from a Glock lover and a voracious reader. Take it for what it's worth.

This book compares very poorly with the Ptooma book, which I cannot recommend highly enough. If you are considering one or the other don't hesitate, the Ptooma book is a far more useful book and will serve you far better than this book. Let me wrap this review with a quote from Sweeney's foreword to his own book:

"Glocks. I don't love 'em, and I don't hate 'em."

That's how I feel about your book, too, Pat.

Previous reviews appear to be concerned with the first edition of this book. Despite this, the criticisms presented by those reviews are valid for the second edition. A significant portion of the book concerns the 1911 Government Model in its various incarnations. While I can appreciate the comparisons between the Glock and the 1911--I also have a fondness for the 1911--there really is too much time spent in this area. Another point to make is how much of the book is devoted to various competitions. Many books concerning firearms tend to lean heavily toward promoting shooting competitions. Nothing wrong with this if that is your interest, however, if competition sports is not your particular interest (it's not mine), another significant portion of this book will be wasted on you.

Glocks are simple, straightforward firearms that don't allow for much in the way of modification or gunsmithing improvements. If you write a book about them, I suppose you have to digress into other areas of general firearms interests. Otherwise, the book would be rather short. There's not much you can say after saying that Glocks work great right out of the box, seldom stop working no matter how they are abused, generally are easy to shoot well with minimum training and they have been a phenomenon in their acceptance by shooters worldwide. Oh, yeah...you could say they are kind of ugly. That's about the only real criticism you can come up with for the Glock.

I like the book although I admit that I did skip over some sections and I only skimmed through others.