Well kids, the internet has supposedly been leaking details about the next generation of Glock “soon to be released”, the Gen 6…and of course I also saw on the internet where Abe Lincoln famously said you can’t trust everything you see on the internet. Rumors have circulated for years about a Gen 6 release.
Will a Gen 6 be introduced at the SHOT Show in January 2026? Seems like a good time to do it, but the Glock gnomes in Georgia are traditionally hush hush about any changes. They have also been standing behind their “Glock Perfection” BS for some time now.
While they have been making very few design changes over the decades, the rest of the market has blossomed with polymer framed pistols with updated ergonomics, sights, fire control units etc and Glock has pretty much been standing still when it comes to making modern improvements.
Glock clones abound in the market and most have significant improvements over the original Glock designs. Even Ruger, 39 years late to the Glock clone impersonators, has introduced their RXM pistol this year with excellent upgrades yet $200-$300 cheaper.
Don’t get me wrong, Glocks have always been good guns and are about as durable and practical as your favorite toolbox hammer. (In fact, with the original Tenifer finish they could be used as hammers!) They have been proven to be reliable almost beyond testing measures, and ultra durable.
They were so innovative in many ways when introduced to America in 1986 they stood the manufacturing world on it’s collective head. They marketed the new “Tupperware” gun aggressively and at one point had captured about 80% of the U.S. law enforcement market at one time.
Traditionally, Glock has made small, updated Gen changes about every 7 or 8 years and would release a new updated Gen model to great fanfare. The latest model, the Gen 5 was released in 2017, so coupled with internet rumors, the timing seems right for a new Gen 6 release.
From the Gen 1 Glock 17 to the Gen 5 lineup, each generation has “refined” the platform, but they have stayed with the same primary parts: polymer frame, striker-fired mechanism, and the Glock Safe Action system. Other manufacturers have shifted beyond just including backstrap inserts and shifted toward modularity, standard optics integration from the factory, and enhanced safety features, Glock needs to evolve.
Recent leaks, patents, and industry whispers suggest the Austrian manufacturer may finally be preparing to break tradition and introduce some major updates. Fans are hoping for a significant overhaul.
No-Trigger-Pull Takedown
This is long overdue. With every single Glock pistol ever made, you have to pull the trigger to start the disassembly to remove the frame/barrel from the slide. Negligent discharges have resulted. Yes, it is the operator’s duty to clear the weapon before beginning to take the pistol apart, but mistakes have happened.
New rumors suggest Glock would change this and make disassembly much better/safer if the user did not have to pull that trigger before taking it apart. Some of what the internet belief is based upon, is a German law enforcement issued Glock 46, which has a spring-biased locking lever which disconnects the striker before takedown and an upgraded drop safety. It is not available for import/sale in the U.S.
This change could dramatically reduce negligent discharges during cleaning process and make the pistol more compliant with police agency safety standards like mandatory use of a clearing barrel when the trigger is to be pressed before disassembly. Safety first fellas- treat every gun as if it is loaded.
This no-trigger-pull takedown could also take huge advantage of the current SIG Sauer P-320 pistol media nightmare about safety concerns and negligent discharges in that platform.
Modular Frame System
Glock may finally embrace modularity in the Gen 6 with a patented new frame design: a fixed upper chassis housing the fire control group could be changed with swappable grip shells. This would allow users to switch between full-size and compact configurations without re-zeroing optics or transferring serialized components. SIG Sauer may have been first to adopt modularity and went big with a modular chassis and fire control unit with their SIG P250 DAO way back in 2007-18 years ago! The P250 wasn’t real popular at the time, but SIG kept swinging and got modular grips/frames and owner moveable FCUs into their wildly popular P320 in 2014 which rapidly became their #1 seller, and in 2017 refined it into their even more popular EDC handgun the P365.
Glock has been literally standing still, making very minor changes to the basic concepts and striker fired system. Not every hand is the same size, and by swapping $40 frames in less than a minute, owners could have larger or more compact frames for different carry styles. With current Glocks, if you want a smaller grip profile you have to buy a whole different pistol.
Direct Optic Mounting
Glock’s most recent major design change was the MOS (Modular Optic System) series of pistols. Red dot optics are the wave of the future for pistols, and every major pistol manufacturer is cutting the slides and putting in a removeable mounting plate area for optics install in all of their newest pistols- except Glock. Glock finally came late to the party with cutting some slides, but you had to purchase a new gun with their optics mount MOS version. The only alternative was to have the Glock slide from a non-MOS version sent to a gunsmith to cut/inlet and tap for mounting screws.
Hopefully, the Gen 6 may abandon the MOS (Modular Optic System) in favor of a direct-mount system from the factory. The presence of an optics cut covered by a plate and rear sight provides a traditional “iron sight” picture with no detriments. The owner at their pleasure can unscrew such a plate and install an optic at home in seconds. It just makes so much sense to include this in a design change from the factory. Now not all optics use the same screws and screw patterns but look at Canik, who includes not only the factory cut slide, but also several different mounting plates and screw lengths on their guns-at no extra charge! Gaston would roll in his grave!
Glock caused a furor in mid-2025 when they announced they were stopping sales of their new Aimpoint ACRO mounted system direct from the factory gun to civilian sales so they could fulfill government contracts. They could use this mounting system in the Gen 6 and eliminate adapter plates. The optics-ready market is here to stay. LE and civilians demand it, why not embrace it instead of hiding behind “Glock Perfection”?
Glock Sights
Ugh. Glock has very good night sight models available-for an extra fee. Why not include them, or even cheaper fiber optics? How about steel sights for goodness’s sake? Nope. Since it’s inception Glock has put those clunky plastic sights on their U.S. market guns. They are easily the most replaced aftermarket piece on Glocks. The plastic sights are easily gouged and damaged and putting almost any aftermarket sight on a Glock slide is a huge improvement in sight picture. All other modern manufacturers include better sights on their guns from the factory. Internet rumors have not leaked sight upgrades, but isn’t it time? Is it just the Austrian frugalness or is it done in homage to the Faux-Greek Philosopher Mediocrities who may have said “Ah. Good enough I guess”.
(There is a great story in one of the excellent Glock biography books “Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun”, how in the beginning, Glock could not ship pistols to the U.S. from Austria with plastic sights. It ran afoul of U.S. import laws. So, Glock would factory install steel sights in Austria, ship the guns to their U.S. facility-where the steel sights would be removed and plastic sights installed. A bag of steel sights would then be sent back to Austria for the next round trip!) Cheap or just stubborn?
Drop-In Trigger Modules
Our oh-so reliable internet rumors also cite a new REG U.S. PATOFF patent filed by Glock for a self-contained trigger cassette, similar to AR-style modules. If true, this drop-in or easily moveable fire control system would perhaps surpass even the SIG drop in FCU with springs kept protected and clean inside a cassette. Glock triggers have long been the topic of derision and user anger. They are not hard to replace, but why do you have to buy and install a $200 replacement trigger in your factory Glock to have a good to decent trigger in a modern handgun?
Even Glock tacitly admitted the trigger problem when they introduced their user installed Performance Trigger package for about $100 couple of years back. It is a terrific upgrade but it did not come installed from the factory. You had to buy one separately, and of course it is only available for Gen 5 pistols. Who cares about the Gens 3 and 4 which were still in production? Just buy a Gen 5 to put a better $100 trigger in! If they have a drop in trigger cassette ready for the market it could be a terrific upgrade and link itself to swappable grip/frame modularity.
Glocks being converted to machine pistols.
Modern problem- gang bangers are getting plastic sears which install on the back of the slide and turn the pistol into a fully automatic machine pistol with an outrageous rate of fire coupled with Glock 33 rd magazines. They fire something between 1100 rds per minute and 1200 rpm. About 1.5 to 2 seconds to dump a 33 rd magazine. Bangers have been spraying rounds across ig cities in drive byes and “gunfights” across America for the last couple of years with these machine guns. Glock is taking heat for this and is being blamed for being “uniquely susceptible to conversion into automatic weapons.” Seattle has a lawsuit pending against Glock and others like Chicago and large California cities are in the wings threatening suits. Glock released a memo a week or so ago saying they decried the illegal conversions of their product. Timing wise, it might be wise to fix that slide plate in a Gen 6 and make it harder to slip in a new 3D printed or Chinese manufactured sear.
Glock’s strategy of secrecy and surprise announcements about design changes are nearly legendary in the industry. By avoiding leaks and controlling the narrative and release, the company ensures maximum impact when new products drop. Maximum publicity.
It would be nice if they introduced all of these modern updates to their platform in a Gen 6 series in the next year and would most likely catapult their LE and CIV sales by not only hammering on the new upgrades but also the safety factor- something SIG is in the middle of a media nightmare over. Can really Glock evolve? Would legacy holsters, mags, and accessories remain compatible? Will Glock maintain its famously simple manual of arms, or would modularity introduce complexity?
Fingers crossed. What changes would you like to see in a new Glock pistol? Or do you still hold out hope for that Holy Grail of internet rumors, the Glock AR-15?