What about older Glocks ?

[cobrad]

Looking at a 23 or a 27, and see a number of older, gen 1 or 2, offered on the online sites. Is there any advantage to the gen 3's ?

[K.K]

Nope..unless you need finger grooves and 10 round mags, and can live without a tactical rail underneath.  You can get good deals on older ones, too.

[cobrad]

I'm debating an older model then dropping in an after market barrel and tritium sights. I prefer to reload and have read the factory barrels don't offer full cartridge support. Thanks.

[tigmaned]

does any one out there know what year they started putting the finger grooves in the frame? i am looking for one made before 2000 for Maryland state gun laws.

[HiPressure]

Cobrad,
The factory Glock barrels are machined with the chamber dimensioned towards the "loose" side to aid reliability. As with any mass-produced machinery, some are "looser" than others which really only matter if you want to reload your cases. The aftermarket barrels' big advantage usually lies in having conventional rifling instead of the polygonal used by Glock, thus allowing practice with reloads using cheaper lead bullets, as well as having a tighter chamber. This makes for the chance of having a more accurate pistol, but I have stuck with the OEM barrel in my Glocks because I feel that absolute reliability is better than shooting target groups 1" smaller. Just my 2 cents.
HP