GLOCKs vs. Peacemakers

When I began to think of ways for me, someone who views most firearms from a historical perspective, to approach the subject of Glocks, I kind of shorted out. But, my brain went to work on it eventually.

“Let’s see,” I thought, “the angle could be ‘The Glock in History.’ Nah, that one doesn’t wash — some of my underwear are older than the Glock story.”

How about, “Customizing Your Glock.” Nope.

“Custom Grips For Glocks?” Idiotic.

“Converting Your Glock.” To what?

“Glock Leather.” Get real. Duke, you’ve been a gunwriter too long.

Then, with a sudden wave of emotion it hit me: compare Glocks to Colt Peacemakers. I bet a bunch of you are thinking. “Oh brother, Venturino’s been inhaling too much black powder smoke. Glocks and Peacemakers in the same sentence? That’s silly.”

Silly?

But only if you think of the matter purely from the perspective of today. Glock is state of the art, made from the most modern materials, designed and intended solely for one purpose — combat. Colt Peacemakers are antiques dating from 1873. They’re pretty but of interest only to cowboy shooters TV western fans. Right?

But imagine yourself waking up one morning circa 1875/1880 and needing a state of the art handgun produced of the finest materials available and you need to defend your life with it. What handgun is the sidearm of the U.S. Cavalry? By 1874, Custer’s 7th had been fully equipped with the Colt Single Action Army. By the mid-1870s, what handgun did the newly reformed Texas Rangers buy out of their own pockets because they were so effective for men going in harm’s way? Colt Peacemakers, at the cutting edge of technology. Technology circa 1870s, that is.

Here’s the bottom line on my rationale for a Glock/Peacemaker comparison. Each handgun, in its heyday, was the standard by which all others of that era were judged. I’ve seen gunstore owners demonstrate a Glock pistol’s toughness by tossing it on the floor in front of customers. The Colt Peacemaker was developed primarily for military horseback use because of its sturdy build. It was the first cartridge firing, solid frame revolver with a topstrap over the cylinder and has a total of only three moving parts in its internals: trigger, bolt and hand to revolve the cylinder.

An old-time Montana cowboy named Chauncey Miller once told me this, “Sometimes a bad horse would blow up and send my Colt doing fart-knockers across the prairie. I’d just blow the dust off of it and shove it back in the holster. It was the only handgun you could trust that way.” At his death at age 89 he still had that nickel-plated, ivory-gripped .44-40.

Apples and Oranges?

Ask any cop who carries a Glock every day what he likes best about it, and the chances are he’ll say its lightweight is extremely appreciated. Most Glocks weigh between 20 and 30 ounces empty; considerably more if toting a 15-round magazine. Before the Colt Peacemaker came along many of that era’s handguns were called “horse pistols” because they were intended to be carried in saddle holsters and not on the person. With either 4 3⁄4″ or 5 1⁄2″ barrel lengths the Colt SAA in either .44 or .45 caliber weighed midway between 30 and 40 ounces. Packing one in a belt holster wasn’t considered a great burden. Carrying two wasn’t either.

Then there’s that strange word ergonomics. My dictionary doesn’t even list it but someone told me it has something to do with how things fit humans who use them. In its era the Colt Peacemaker was said to have the most comfortable and universal grip of any handgun. Its rounded shape allowed the gun to roll during recoil so that it didn’t hurt the hand, and it was easily used by most everyone despite hand size. Many police firearms instructors have told me the Glock grip fits most recruits’ hands well, even ladies with their smaller mitts. I’ve never heard anyone complain that a Glock grip “bit” them during recoil.

Here’s another factor that might relate to that ergonomics word, if I just knew for sure what it meant. It has to do with learning to shoot both Glocks and Peacemakers. A Peacemaker is simple. You cock the hammer and pull the trigger. That process can be speeded-up considerably by using two hands to fire the gun: one cocking the hammer and the other pulling the trigger. Glocks are likewise simple. Insert a loaded magazine, pull the slide back and release it and go to pulling the trigger. The slide will lock back after the last round is fired indicating to all but the most dense the gun is empty.

I’m being serious here for a minute. Not long after Montana began issuing concealed weapons permits my wife got one, but at that time there was no provision for training. Therefore, she would not carry a handgun concealed until she received some instruction. We laid plans to attend Thunder Ranch’s concealed carry class, and I asked Clint what sort of handgun he thought I should buy for her to use in the class.

Clint said not to buy anything, but to let her try an assortment at the class and then buy what she wanted. We did, and to my utter surprise she picked a Glock 22 in .40 S&W. Later she also picked up a Glock 23. And, that’s how they came to be part of our household. Incidentally, before that class she had never fired a round from an autoloading pistol. In the space of a five day class she got pretty darn good with that Glock.

Firepower is another factor to consider when comparing Peacemakers and Glocks. I can hear some of you saying “Get real! How can you compare the five or six rounds in a Colt SAA with the 10 to 15 of a Glock?” That’s perfectly correct. But remember in order to have any excuse at all for this article to exist we’re looking at each type of handgun from the perspective of its own era.

The Study Continues

Prior to the introduction of the Colt SAA late in 1873, other handguns had certainly been made for metallic cartridges. Smith & Wesson had their Model #3 top break beginning in 1870, and Colt had their cartridge conversions in 1871 and even the short-lived Model 1872. Still it’s safe to say the preponderance of repeating handguns prior to 1873 had been percussion revolvers. Those were loaded by two methods. With one the user could stoke them with commercially made paper cartridges containing both powder and ball, or the other was to pour in the powder from a proper flask and seat the ball separately. With either method the percussion cap had to be affixed manually. It was a time consuming process, and was the reason actual fighting men of that time liked to carry two sixguns.

Imagine then how glad those very same fighting men must have been when handguns came about wherein the empty metallic cartridges could be shucked out of the chambers and new, completely self-contained rounds dropped right in. That reduced the time needed to reload a sixgun from minutes to seconds; not to mention the paraphernalia required to accomplish the reload.

Now fast forward to Glocks. Certainly there were high capacity autoloaders prior to the Glock. The Browning Hi-Power from the 1930s comes to mind. But magazine capacity became the watchword connected to the Glock handgun. Before the Clinton Administration’s magazine capacity restriction, Glocks regularly came with 15-round magazines. Then for 10 years they were restricted to 10 rounds. Now 15-rounders are legal to buy again. I have absolutely no concrete proof of such but many gun dealers told me that when magazines became limited to 10 rounds, their Glock sales dropped off. Like I said, firepower was a concept associated with Glocks.

Safeties

At this point let’s look at a factor that has been very controversial about both Glocks and Peacemakers -their safeties – or as some contend, their lack of safeties. Almost as soon as the Colt SAA was introduced people began to accidentally shoot themselves with them. As first developed, the Colt was intended to be loaded with six cartridges with the hammer stowed in its safety notch. That kept the firing pin raised just out of touch with the primer. The safety notch is a mere groove on the hammer that the trigger rests in. Not too much of a blow is required to break it allowing the firing pin to then strike the primer and fire the Peacemaker.

Multitudes of old Colt SAAs are floating around in just that condition. Furthermore if the hammer of a traditionally-styled single action is inadvertently rested all the way down on a live cartridge, a very mild blow even with a piece of soft wood will cause the gun to fire. I know, I’ve done it as a demonstration for new single action shooters many times. And it might interest you to know that in 1874 during the 7th Cavalry’s Black Hills Expedition one of Custer’s troopers managed to kill himself with his new Colt in one or the other of the above manners.

Hence the quick development of the “five beans in the wheel” concept, where experienced Colt users loaded five rounds for carry and put the hammer down on the empty sixth chamber. That was generally accepted as the approved manner for general carry, but if problems were anticipated it was but a slight bother to load up that last chamber.

Many critics of the Glock consider it unsafe because the only safety is that lever in the middle of the trigger. It must be depressed or the Glock will not fire, but an ordinary press of the trigger depresses it simultaneously with the trigger pull. Glock detractors say it is easy for that lever to get depressed accidentally such as when someone sits down in a chair and the arm rest hits the trigger. Certainly that can happen, but as with the Colt Peacemaker there are preventive measures. Namely carry the Glock in a holster than covers the trigger guard so nothing can get in there to depress the safety lever.

A few years ago when visiting New Zealand an avid civilian shooter there told me there was a move afoot in the country to have Glocks banned nationwide. The reason was several police officers had had accidental discharges with their Glocks. I’m no rabid fan of Glocks nor an expert on pistol carrying, but I told him it seemed to me the problem stemmed more from poor training than an inherent problem with Glock design.

Reliability Issues

Reliability is another factor shared by both Glocks and Peacemakers. Many firearms instructors have told me that Glocks work — period. If they don’t the problem is usually with ammunition. The same is true of the Colt SAA. Every part inside that revolver can break and you can still make it fire. In a real pinch the cylinder can be rotated by hand and held in place while the hammer is tapped with a piece of wood. Is that practical? No, but it can be done. Besides the Colt SAA is so simple just about anyone can replace parts in the field.

That’s not the same as saying just anyone can tune them up — just that most anyone can get one up and running again with a few spare parts. The Colt SAA has a reputation for parts being fragile. I think that’s a firearms urban legend! I’ve owned scores of them, fired hundreds more, and can count the ones that have broken down on the fingers of one hand.

Here’s one last point. If anyone thinks their Glock outclasses a Colt Peacemaker in the power department, they had better think again. The .40 S&W cartridge and the .38 WCF (.38-40) are absolutely ballistic twins. Both push 180 grain bullets out at about 900 fps. With blackpowder the .38 WCF can beat that by a bit.

As for .45s, Glock has the .45 ACP and their new .45 GAP. Colts were made for .45 Colt and .45 S&W cartridges. Not much difference in any of them — ballistically. Then there’s the 9mm — the Colt SAA doesn’t have anything to compare to that one. Yeah buddy! Thank heavens for that.

Glock = Flat Tire

Where you can’t compare a Glock and a Peacemaker is in beauty. Glocks have the aesthetics of a flat tire. Back in the early 1990s the local Police Chief brought his brand new Glock out to show me. He said that by the look on my face you would have thought he had stuck something dirty in my hand. I can respect and appreciate Glocks for their function and durability. But; I would spend my money on one no more than I would have asked a homely girl for a date. If I buy a handgun its going to have smooth lines, carry custom grips, a nice polish and hopefully some portion or the other of it will be beautifully color case hardened. On the other hand my wife bought a Glock and married me, so there’s no accounting for taste!

Get More Revolver Content Every Week!

Sign up for the Wheelgun Wednesday newsletter here: