What the AA19 Does Better than the Glock 19
Glock Perfection might be the worst marketing Glock could use. Glocks are great guns, easily some of the simplest, most reliable firearms on the market. The problem is people love to tinker, so jokes about ‘Glock’ perfection are often made after someone slams a few hundred bucks in upgrades onto their Glock pistol. On top of that, the market for Gucci Glocks has grown. Why buy and a gun and do the upgrades yourself when someone else will do it for you? That’s exactly what Adam Arms did with the AA19, their Glock 19 clone.
I know what you’re thinking. Adam Arms is a AR 15 company. Yep, very true, they make some fantastic piston guns, and that’s more or less their bread and butter. Well, until now. Calling the AA19 a Glock 19 clone is underselling it since Adam Arms went a fair bit further than just making a clone. They started from the ground up to produce an extremely high-quality handgun that can trace its lineage to the Glock 19.
It’s like saying I’m a clone of my grandfather. We might share a common gene pool, but there are significant differences worth noting. Those differences are what we are going to talk about today.
How does the AA19 differ from the standard Glock 19?
Well, let’s find out.
The AA19 Trigger
“Just okay” perfectly describes your basic Glock trigger. It’s nothing fancy, but it works. Lots of people hate the sharp nature of the trigger and the safety dingus, and after a high round count day, I see why. The Glock trigger has never been bad. They are decidedly average, and that’s not bad praise for a stock gun.
The AA19 isn’t a stock gun — it comes with a Vickers Tactical Carry trigger. With this trigger, we get a metal trigger shoe, a flat face, and yes, we still get the safety dingus.
However, it’s a much more comfortable trigger overall. It doesn’t dig into your finger. The Vickers Tactical Carry trigger isn’t a crazy light trigger and is completely appropriate for defense or duty use.
It’s much smoother overall. Less grit and grime as it travels. We get a little take-up that’s noticeably smoother than the stock Glock trigger. The wall seems to take pounds to break, but just barely so. Overall the AA19 trigger is much smoother and superior to the Glock’s stock design.
The Entire Grip
The whole ass grip is better with the AA19. I won’t comment on finger groove because Glock wisely got rid of them on the Gen 5 guns. However, I will say the AA19’s use of the Polymer 80 grip module was wise. It’s not a pure PF940 grip and has been customized to Adam Arms standards.
We get the more American grip angle. By American, I mean 1911 like. Grip angle might not affect much besides personal comfort, but the difference bears mentioning. I prefer it personally.
The grip texture reaches extreme levels, stick, and stipple. The stock Glock grip texture is okay, but they get the stipple treatment for a reason—the AA19 rocks on with a very aggressive grip texture.
AA19 also did a double undercut with the trigger guard. It’s super aggressive and allows me to get my hand much higher on the gun. Seriously, at first grip, I thought they lengthened the grip. With a normal Glock 19, about half my pinky hangs over the edge of the grip.
With the AA19, my entire pinky sits on the grip. Outside of pinky height, the undercuts allow both my firing and support hand to get nice and high. A high grip means more control. That high grip works extremely well with the large beavertail at the rear of the grip. You can get your hand high without worrying about slide bite.
Seeing the Sights
Most of your Glock ranges from good to okay, but the sights, well, the sights just freakin’ suck. These plastic ‘target’ sights just plain suck. They always have, and I’m still surprised Glock clings to them.
Adam Arms utilizes a set of all black and all-metal sights from Ameriglo. Specifically, the Defoor EDC sights. These all-black sights are super easy to Dsee. All black sights aren’t for everyone, but I’m growing to like them.
The front sight is nice and thin, and the rear sight is wide enough to provide plenty of air between the sights.
This makes the sights both fast and accurate at longer ranges. It’s a great setup overall that feels excellent for both close quarters shooting and longer range stuff. Plus, they aren’t made of cheap plastic, so you can drop them without worry.
The Slide
AA19 uses a very Gucci-slide with deep cuts into the slide for both front and rear serrations that are angled rearward and very easy to grip and grab. Over the top, we see a slight shoutout to reduce slide weight and to certainly look cool. Not a bad place to put the cut if you plan on attaching a muzzle device to the threaded barrel. This ensures a little bit more balance in this situation.
Glock slides are Glock slides. I have no complaints, and I doubt other people do too. I like the look and feel of the AA19’s slide, but a standard Glock 19 slide won’t get me kilt in the streetz.
The AA19 comes optics-ready and can work with a variety of plates to accommodate a wide variety of optics, like an absolute ton of different optics including Trijicon, Vortex, Holosun, Burris, Docter, and so many more. The Glock 19 MOS series provides the same option, so you can mount a wide variety of optics to a stock Glock as well.
A Real Rail
Glock’s rail is, well, it’s a rail. It’s not exactly a Picatinny rail. It can also, on occasion, require the use of special keys, like in the case of the Streamlight series of pistol weapon lights. It works, but the standard 1913 Picatinny rail present on the AA19 is an actual universal rail system. No special keys are needed, and this gives you the Glock 19 that isn’t snowflake-like.
The Barrel
Finally, a barrel is often a barrel, but the AA19 does utilize a match-grade barrel for superior accuracy. The new Gen 5 Glock 19’s utilize the new Marksman’s barrel that also enhances accuracy. I’d say the barrel quality is the same, but the AA19 has a slight edge.
It comes with a threaded barrel. You can easily attach a suppressor or compensator to the gun and go full Gucci.
What about the price?
The Adam Arms AA19 has an MSRP of $999. That’s on the higher end of the pistol spectrum, admittedly. The Glock 19 MOS costs about $650 for the Gen 5 model. So it’s cheaper, but how much cheaper when you factor in the price of the extra accessories.
- Glock 19 MOS – $650
- Ameriglo Sights – $45
- Vickers Tactical Trigger – $41
- Adam Arms Threaded Barrel – $150
- Double Grip Undercut – $60
- Extended Magazine Release – $27.99
- Total Price – $973.99
This doesn’t count shipping or tax on the parts, pieces, and guns themselves. With that in mind, if you don’t want all the extras, then this doesn’t matter. You’ll have a competent pistol with the Glock 19 MOS. However, the Adam Arms 19 provides the extras at a reasonable price point if you want to take that route.
The good news is that capitalism provides options. With that said, which would you take? What accessories or features are a must-have for you? Let us know below!
