Glock 26 Gen 4 Review – The Original Concealed Carry Pistol

Ahh, the baby Glock. Looking for a concealed carry pistol? This specific Glock is one of my favorite pistols for concealed carry.

An older guy that I work with recommended it to me, and said he remembered how anticipated they were when they first came out. After he told me about it, I had to go check it out for myself, and it’s easy to see what the hype is all about. It really does offer all the pros of a Glock, in a shrunken down frame.

In this article, we will review the original baby Glock. This subcompact pistol from Glock is extremely short and easy to conceal, but also offers most of the pros and cons you’ve come to love from a Glock.

As has been written about before, 9mm is a great caliber for carrying. It packs a punch, but is still a smaller round. This means that you are able to fit more in the same size magazine as opposed to larger pistols.

Continue reading for our full review of the Glock 26 Gen 4.

If you’ve ever seen this pistol before, you’ll know right off the bat that its meant for concealed carry, as it is very short.

Let’s talk about some of the measurable statistics of the pistol. This will paint the picture for some of the rest of the features of the pistol.

For starters, the pistol measures 6.41 inches long, 4.17 inches tall, and 1.18 inches wide. It has a 3.42 inch barrel, and it weighs 21.71 ounces when it’s not loaded. The standard magazine capacity is 10+1, but various extended magazines are available.

As you can see, this is a very small and light pistol. For that reason, it is excellent for concealed carry.

However, there are some cons associated with it that we will talk about momentarily.

Other than the durability and reliability that you expect from a Glock, this pistol also has all of the features of a Gen 4, while not everyone loves these.

In terms of grip, the Glock 26 Gen 4 has the thumb indentation in the grip, and it has the rough textured finish. In addition, it also has modular back straps. All of these features of the pistol allow for improved grip. Not everyone loves the Gen 4 grip features, but in our opinion, it helped improve the grip of the pistol.

However, the extremely short size of the pistol is pretty difficult to grip. While the rough textured finish and the modular back strap helps, the fact that it is still so small in size is still difficult.

Another pro of this pistol is how easy it is to maintain.

The ease of maintenance is one of our favorite things about this pistol. As to be expected with Glocks, this pistol is very easy to take down. While we always recommend cleaning your pistol each time you shoot it, Glocks don’t necessarily need it.

As with most Glocks, this pistol has one external safety, as it has a trigger safety. However, what many people don’t understand about Glocks is that they have multiple internal safeties.

This prevents then from firing if they are accidentally dropped, or if they are in your glove compartment and you get in a wreck, or any other freak accident.

Glocks are somewhat misunderstood when it comes to safety. Those that aren’t familiar with pistols will say that they aren’t safe, but anyone who has a basic understanding of the safe handling of firearms will tell you that these pistols are definitely safe.

If there is one aspect of Glocks that isn’t debatable, it is their reliability. It is extremely well known that Glocks will last for tens of thousands of rounds. There’s a reason that they are used by so many police departments and militaries around the world.

Due to how few internal parts there are inside a Glock, there is very little that can break inside the pistol. As such, their reliability is probably their biggest pro. When you buy a Glock, it will last for years to come. This is a fact.

This is the biggest con of the Glock 26 Gen 4, in our opinion. Due to how small it is, it is very hard to grip and shoot. We found that after each shot, we pretty much had to reset our grip.

This is to be expected from a small pistol that is meant for concealed carry, but it is extremely apparent in the Glock 26. In some of Glock’s newer carry pistols, such as the Glock 43, it is thinner, but taller. They are slightly easier to grip as a result. However, the Glock 26 has an advantage over the 43 in that it has a much higher magazine capacity.

Due to this limited shootability, we would pretty much recommend only using this pistol for concealed carry and home defense. If you’re looking for a range gun, we would recommend checking out a different Glock.

Another huge pro of Glocks is the aftermarket parts market. There are thousands upon thousands of parts available out there. You will be able to replace any of the internals, and almost anything external to the pistol as well.

One of your first upgrades should be a pair of night sights, such as these night sights from Trijicon​:

If you’re feeling more into it, you could also look into replacing the slide. Upgraded slides reduce the weight, and also add to the look of the pistol. However, no matter what your plans are for the pistol, there will be aftermarket parts available.

Hopefully our Glock 26 Gen 4 review has shown you a little bit about this pistol. Essentially, it is a short pistol that is great for concealed carry, but we would try our best to limit it to that.

Rest assured, this is a very high quality pistol. There’s a reason that is one of the most popular concealed carry pistols. Glock has become synonymous with high quality, and the Glock 26 Gen 4 is no different.