Possible Glock 30S in the works

The Firearm Blog is reporting that Glock is planning to roll out a Glock 30S pistol, which is sorta new and sorta not. The Glock 30S is a combination of the Glock 30 and 36.

This combination isn’t news to Glock fans, who have been taking Glock 36 slides and installing them on Glock 30 frames for some time now. Both are subcompact .45 ACP pistols, but the 30 is a cut-down Glock 21, where the 36 is a different design altogether.

The Glock 36 has a single-stack frame and narrow slide to match. It has a reduced capacity of 6+1 and weighs 20 ounces, four ounces less than the Glock 30. By using the slim Glock 36 slide, users benefit from weight reduction and a more comfortable slide profile without losing the 10+1 capacity and full-size grip of the Glock 30.

While some people have been criticized for mixing and matching Glock parts, in truth there’s so much cross-compatibility with Glocks that it’s almost a non-starter. Yes, there are caliber-specific components, but part of what has made Glock’s designs so successful is how many of the components are universal and caliber- and in this case, frame-agnostic.

Here you can see that you can do this even with a Glock 29, their 10mm subcompact, along with a Glock 36 slide.

It’s almost as if Glock doesn’t even need the standard Glock 30 if they have a better slide out there, and that may be exactly what they’re thinking if they’re preparing to launch a Glock 30S, which is just that: a Glock 30 with a 36 slide.

It’s possible that they plan on phasing out the Glock 30 altogether, since, really, at this point the only reason to keep it in production is if there’s a secret market for adding reciprocating mass and muzzle flip to slides.

Glock is also no doubt feeling some pressure in the subcompact .45 ACP department since the announcement of the Springfield XD(s), their single-stack polymer .45. It’s slightly more compact than the 36 (if an ounce heavier with its internal steel subframe) and rapidly gaining momentum as a good carry pistol.

Going the other way, a little bigger, higher capacity and still very lightweight puts the Glock 30S in a decent position to redirect some of that pressure against the XD(m) Compact .45. All without having to reinvent or even test a thing. If they halt production of the 36 slide, that’s just one less thing they gotta make, too.

Still, whenever Glock comes out with a firearm that isn’t a single-stack 9mm or a pistol-caliber carbine that takes standard Glock magazines, we have to ask, where’s the single-stack 9mm or a pistol-caliber carbine that takes standard Glock magazines?

That being said, this is an easy product to “develop” as it fills a niche that is clearly in demand, all without any serious investment overhead. Besides, if Glock ever came out with that other stuff, what would we have to complain about?

Here are a few photos of a Glock 30 and 36 side-by-side for reference.