Reviews Glock Gen 6: Upgrades & Optic Problems David Lane May 1, 2026 Join the Conversation At RECOIL, we review every product fairly and without bias. Making a purchase through one of our links may earn us a small commission, and helps support independent gun reviews. Read our affiliate policy. Find out more about how we test products. Glock has been the gold standard duty pistol for generations. From world champions to tier 1 operators, Glock is the trusted name that everyone defaults to. Now we’re hands-on with the brand-new sixth generation, and, spoiler alert: for the second time in a row Glock can’t figure out how to deliver an optics system worthy of their name. There is a lot to like about the sixth generation of Glock — the grip texture, the palm swells, the more comfortable ergonomics. Setting aside the optics for now, this is my favorite generation of Glock pistol and the only generation that hasn’t met a Dremel within an hour of being in the house. GLOCK INC G17, GEN 6 ORS SPECS: Caliber: 9mm Capacity: 17 Length (Overall): 7.95 inches Barrel Length: 4.5 inches Width: 1.34 inches MSRP: $745 Glock 17 Handgun 17 '''' Ors $620.00 Brownells.com $620.00 Prices accurate at time of publishing. Affiliate disclosure. ACCESSORIES: Vortex Venom Enclosed Red Dot Streamlight TLR-1 Johnny Glock VEX SIX Trigger Xtech Tactical MAG17 magazines Tyrant CNC +6 Baseplates Vortex Venom MOA Enclosed Red Dot Sight $199.99 GunMag Warehouse $199.99 Prices accurate at time of publishing. Affiliate disclosure. SIXTH GENERATION CHANGES Gen 6 is without doubt the most different Glock generation to date, with external and internal changes. Some of these matter a lot more than others. Important changes include: Redesigned grip that offers both a new texture and a new shape featuring small palm swells Extended beavertail Higher trigger guard undercut alleviates the cause of “Glock knuckle” Gas pedal-style thumb rests forward of the takedown lever (if you have the thumbs to make use of them) A completely redesigned optics mounting system that gets rid of the long-hated Glock MOS. Updated recoil spring system Internally there is a fairly long list of small changes, but what they amount to is Glock trying to at least pretend to have tried their best to prevent their product from being illegally modified to accept full-auto conversions. As anyone with two working brain cells to rub together predicted, like the “Gen V” that shortly preceded this release, it took less than a week before people figured out how to defeat Glock’s changes. For the vast majority of people, none of that really matters. The good news is that the changes made don’t actually impact the user in any meaningful way …except for the fact that many parts that have been standardized since Gen 3 now won’t fit Gen 6. (Things that make you go hmm.) Gen 5 and Gen 6 still maintain a lot of compatibility on the outside, such as iron sights, holsters, magazines, and some minor internal parts like the slide release. But what exactly fits and what doesn’t is a mixed bag. Thumb shelf for those that want it. MOS / ORS Glock’s first attempt at an optics system was the MOS, released in 2015. The idea was decent but the execution was lacking. The OEM plates are cheap, prone to being warped or bent straight from manufacturing, and plagued with breakage problems and shearing screws. Breakage like flinging the dot right off your pistol. Upgrading the plates and the fasteners (and upping the end-user aftermarket cost of the pistol) became the standard fix. Gen 6 introduces the Optic Ready System (ORS). It uses a polymer spacer/plate/washer between the optic and Glock’s direct mounting cuts. The system raised concerns from the jump. Why plastic? Why undersized recoil bosses? Why no optic fencing? But they are the multi-billion-dollar company, and surely, surely they wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Cautiously optimistic, a Vortex Venom was carefully installed before heading to the range. Thread locker was used on the screws, a torque wrench ensured they were tightened to spec, and witness marks were applied. ON THE RANGE Shooting the Gen 6 is much like shooting a Gen 5, but better. For me, the ergonomics of Gen 1-5 never worked. No beavertail, Glock knuckle-inducing trigger guard, and a hot spot on my finger from the trigger safety. Gen 6 solves all of these problems. That being said, the Gen 6 still feels like a Glock. The recoil is the same, the vibes are the same; it’s a Glock. Is it kind of boring? Sure, but reliable is boring. Glock claims the sixth generation has an improved trigger, but that seems to be luck of the draw. Fondling other sixth-gen Glocks has shown the trigger to be overall inconsistent — not uncommon with a mass-produced duty gun, but annoying. Some felt substantially better than fifth gen; some felt moderately worse. The Glock 17 bought for this review had a not-great example of the trigger, and it felt like a slight downgrade from Gen 5 in terms of pull, smoothness, and weight. Gen 6 has a new flat-faced trigger shoe that is an upgrade over the classic Glock shoe, but that was the only improvement. Thus, after 350 rounds, the factory trigger was pulled and replaced with a Johnny Glock VEX 6 trigger. While the stock trigger is fine for what it is — a bare stock trigger — the VEX 6 improves everything about it. Shooting a local pistol match, the Gen 6 didn’t surprise me. It wasn’t the most high-speed thing on the range, it didn’t malfunction, and accuracy felt great for a production plastic pistol. It does all the things it needs to do: It’s a Glock. NEW NAME, NEW LOOK, SAME PROBLEM The wheels came off not on the range, but at the workbench. Doing a final series of inspections and cleaning to see how the Gen 6 is faring after 1,000 rounds of fire, the optic twisted noticeably in my hand. Witness marks on the screws appeared unmoved, and checking the torque, it was still at 18 inch-pounds. I removed the optic and remounted it just in case to check. After torquing it again, the optic feels solid. A quick range trip to throw a couple hundred down in practice, and the optic can now shift again. Witness marks were maintained, torque was maintained, but the optic again can shift. Both times the screws were installed using thread locker, both times they were properly torqued, both times they were witness marked. Losing zero is bad enough, but losing zero with almost no external sign is much, much worse. At least with MOS, you knew when it failed because your optic went flying. People concerned that this would happen started planning to manufacture metal plates almost the same day that Gen 6 was announced. Now that Gen 6 is here and people are seeing the problem firsthand, it seems like those aftermarket plates will be the way to go. Or not, because the problem is weird? Time will tell. Glock ignored the problems with MOS — why should anyone have any expectations that Glock will do anything different with the Gen 6? WORTH THE UPGRADE? The internal base of the Gen 6 is great — there’s a reason this now-middle-aged striker system has become standard. So, other than the optic system failures, the Gen 6 is a good pistol. Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? Those stuck in the 20th century with iron sights will like the ergonomic upgrades and likely will suffer no problems. However, until the optic issues are reliably solved, the Gen 6 gets a hard pass. For the sake of discussion, let’s pretend the ORS works perfectly, what then? If you already have an older generation Glock and are happy with it, upgrading to Gen 6 ORS probably doesn’t net you a lot of benefits. Especially if you’ve already improved your older-generation Glock a little with an aftermarket slide or non-Glock MOS plate, stippling the grip, or swapping the trigger. If you’re not already invested in a Gen 3-5, then the Gen 6 is the clear winner because it’s a great step forward in ergonomics and feel. At that point, the main reason to choose something else is for the extremely robust aftermarket that is mostly based on Gen 3. For a tinkerer/customizer, one of the best things about Glock is that it provides a platform for other brands to build on. But if that’s your goal, it’s probably better to go with a non-Glock Glock a la Ruger RXM or PSA Dagger instead. At least you can buy several for the price of one. JOHNNY GLOCKS VEX 6 The OEM Gen 6 trigger is pretty solid for a factory Glock trigger and a major upgrade over Gen 3, but only a minor upgrade (if that) over Gen 5. Sadly, the Gen 6 OEM trigger is not as good as the Gen 5 Glock Performance Trigger, but it’s at least closer. The Gen 6 flat-faced trigger shoe is a big deal to some people, but for me, it only mattered in that it didn’t leave a hot spot on the pad of my finger after an extended range day. Gen 6 is different enough that much of the aftermarket built up for Gen 3-5 simply won’t work with Gen 6, but that didn’t stop Johnny Glocks from jumping on adapting their triggers to work with Gen 6. Released only about a month after Gen 6 hit the market, Johnny Glocks VEX 6 was available within a couple of days of when my Gen 6 G17 arrived. Perfect timing. Installing the VEX 6 is nearly the exact same as any other Glock trigger. If you can detail strip a Glock, you can install the VEX 6 with ease. Offered in two flavors, Defensive and Competitive, the VEX 6 cuts weight off the trigger pull and makes it a lot less mushy than the OEM. While the factory trigger is decent, VEX 6 is a nice improvement. LOOSE ROUNDS Glock’s failures with the MOS system were partly forgivable since optics were still non-standard in 2015, and it was an impressively progressive step for them at the time. But for Glock to launch a new generation of essentially their only product, with a ground-up rebuild of the optic mounting system, only to come out with something so fundamentally flawed as this, is nothing short of embarrassing. We now stand a few months after the release of the Gen 6, and it’s obvious that our plate problem isn’t exclusive to us. Many others are having the same issue, but there are also people who aren’t. There doesn’t seem to be any discernible pattern to the successes and failures. The fact that this might all come down to random luck between the plastic plate, optic, and mounting only makes it more frustrating. Everything else about the Gen 6, gold stars. We’ll revisit the Gen 6 ORS with a new aftermarket optic plate. Until then, this gun is going on the shelf of shame to be ignored. Why you can trust RECOIL Since our founding in 2012, RECOIL remains the premier firearms lifestyle publication for the modern shooting enthusiast. We deliver cutting-edge coverage of guns, gear, accessories and technology. We go beyond basic reviews, providing no B.S. buyer’s guides, hands-on testing and expert analysis on everything from firearms and survival equipment to watches and vehicles. Our reviewers are the backbone of our operation and come from diverse shooting backgrounds: Former law enforcement, military veterans, competitive shooters, seasoned hunters and plain old firearms enthusiasts. 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