My Glock 23 Gets a Trigger Job

John B. Snow Avatar

By John B. Snow

Posted on Apr 1, 2011 7:39 PM EDT

I got this Glock 23 nearly the day it came out back in the 80s. It seemed like an ideal carry gun. I loved the ballistics of the then-new .40 S&W. It conceals really well and has a potent 13+1 capacity. When it came time to buy I was debating between it and a Colt Commander and as much as I like .45s (which I also carry from time to time) I can't say I made a mistake. (For a full account of my history with this 23, go to Glock 23: My longtime pal gets a trigger job--finally).

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Even though I'm a trigger snob and I've carried this gun for more than 20 years, I never thought to upgrade the factory trigger, which I always felt was good enough. A friend of mine who's a Glock armorer for various police departments in Montana, and who also carries a 23, dry-fired my pistol once and said he was going to fix the trigger whether I liked it or not. He installed a 3.5-pound trigger from Ghost Rocket, which is available from Brownells.com. The sweet trigger pull and short trigger reset have made my 23 into a new gun.
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When I first bought the gun, the only work I had done on it was to send the slide off to Wayne Novak so he could install a pair of low-profile sights to replace the original factory sights, which sat like Lego blocks on the slide. These sights have two-tone tritium inserts (orange and green) but faded so long ago that I can't remember which color is on the front and which is on the rear. I keep meaning to replace the sights but I doubt I'll ever get around to it.
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I've used a number of holsters over the years but this inside-the-waist model from Milt Sparks is my favorite. It's snug and secure, comfortable, form-fits the pistol and allows for easy one-handed reholstering.
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These days I keep my Glock 23 loaded with 180-grain TAP ammo from Hornady. When I first purchased the gun I had a large supply of the dreaded Winchester Black Talon ammo, which is one of the more amusing (or sad, depending on your perspective) cases of PR backlash from the anti-gun crowd. I still have some of that ammo but don't use it in the gun after a conversation with a friend who's a lawyer and avid shooter. His point was that should I need to shoot someone, the liability of using the "banned" Black Talon ammo would put me at a huge potential disadvantage in front of a jury. Yes, it is a silly point but that doesn't mean it isn't valid. So I switched brands. I've also carried it with other Winchester loads and some Federal ammunition. My 23 isn't pretty but it has never had a malfunction, misfeed or jam in more than 20 years of use.

I got this Glock 23 nearly the day it came out back in the 80s and it has stood the test of time.