TACTICAL GLASS BREAKER REVIEW
The Force One Tactical "Tactical Glass Braker" (fx-wb2) was a first for me. I've had many a light mounted underneath my Glock 19, but this was the first spring-loaded glass punch I've owned. There's no doubt that such a device serves a specialized function that many of us won't need -- but there are those operating in jobs who encounter auto glass or other panes who'll quickly see the benefit in such a tool.
The Glass Breaker slides onto the Glock accessory rail and clips firmly in place using a spring-loaded retaining knob. Once in place, the user is free to pull back the twin charging handles to load the Breaker. I tried pulling the handles back while the unit was just in my hand, and found it difficult to get the proper leverage. Once the device is on the gun, however, this becomes easy to do. The levers slide back and then the user tilts the lever into the provided grove, setting the spring.
At the front of the Glass Breaker is a plastic foot-switch. This foot is placed on the target medium and the entire gun is shoved forward. Pressure on the foot switch slides the cocking levers out of the groove and sends the spring-loaded carbide tip slamming forward with great force. |
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It goes without saying that you can break glass with this. I did -- though I had to move fast and couldn't take a picture of the results, for reasons I'd rather not discuss. I was curious, however, just how much "punch" this spring-loaded... punch... actually holds. So I went to a less fragile medium: a cinder block.
Choosing a section of cinder block wall, I loaded the Glass Breaker and moved it into place. Then I pushed the (empty) gun forward...
THOCK! A neat hole was driven at least an eighth of an inch into the cinder block. I did it again, just to be sure the unit still worked, and it THOCKED out a new hole without even trying. I resisted the urge to keep making holes, but it was actually a lot of fun.
It goes without saying that having this unit on a loaded firearm presents some safety issues. Frankly it's preferable not to monkey about with something like this unless the firearm is unloaded or at least not charged, but I'll leave those decisions to the individual shooter. I would hope you'd see that it's possible to pull the cocking knobs back without placing your hand or fingers in front of the barrel of the weapon! |
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The presence of the Glass Breaker unit makes no difference to the operation of the firearm; I shot my Glock 19 with the unit in place and had no issues what so ever. It's heavier than a flashlight module (or at least the ones I own) and you'll notice the difference, but it's not so great as to be a problem. Some might even like the weight up front, though the kick of the Glock in 9mm is not such that it should matter one way or another.
For those who worry about the ability to shatter safety glass and other media while armed and on the clock (or otherwise), the Force One Tactical Glass Breaker lets you keep the tool on your gun where it will be with you at all times. Resist the urge to break things that don't belong to you.
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When I trained with Progressive Force Concepts for the first time, the instructors stressed using identical techniques for operating firearms, so that those techniques can become habit. Translating techniques from rifle (such as an AR15) to pistol (such as a Glock) can sometimes provide some interesting challenges. In the case of the AR15, for example, the plunger used to charge the weapon forces the user to adopt a relatively fine-motor clawing posture to pull back the handle. Tactical charging handles are available that add a large lever to the side of the plunger, making it easier to slap the charging handle back with a gross-motor paw.
This is the idea behind the Glock Charging Handle (fx-fch) offered by Force One Tactical. The unit consists of a replacement back plate for the slide, to which a mount is mated for the cocking knob. The knob itself can be quickly moved from one side to the other by yanking it out and reinserting it. |
What the Charging Handle does is provide leverage. It adds a single piece of rounded metal to end of the pistol, on whichever side you choose. Using this handle you can slap the side back with the side of your hand or, in an emergency, use any protrusion to catch the handle and push the slide back. I tried cocking the Glock on my open pocket, for example, and this worked easily and well.
I had two concerns as soon as I put my eyes on the handle. The first was that it might come flying free during shooting, as the slide reciprocated. I put a few hundred rounds through my Glock with the handle in place, but did not succeed in dislodging the knob. I had a couple of soft-primer strikes with the knob in place, but I don't believe this can be attributed to the presence of the charging handle itself; I think it was because, frankly, my Glock is my class gun and it has thousands of rounds through it. It's, well, dirty as sin.
My other concern was that holstering the Glock with the knob jutting into my side would be uncomfortable. In actual practice, I didn't find it so, given where I normally carry my gun -- behind my right hip, where the knob only made contact with my back when I was really contorting myself in place in my chair. One could place the knob on the other side of the gun if desired, of course. It could still be charged on the right-side pocket if the gun were first flipped over.
Installation of the replacement back plate for the slide prompted me to look, and fail to find, my Glock Armorers tool -- so I used a pen to hold down the retainer and slide that pesky factory plate out. That same pen served me well in depressing the spring-loaded components to get the new back plate on. Changing the part took seconds, once I found the pen. |
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There are a lot of accessories on the market, especially for Glock pistols, that seem like solutions in desperate search for problems. In this case, the Charging Handle serves a specific need and solves a specific tactical issue. Whether you feel the potential problem is significant enough to warrant installing this item is of course up to you, but it's worth consideration. This would be especially true for a shooter who lacks use of one arm, for whom I would highly recommend this product.
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