The fifth generation of the popular Glock handguns are no longer the stuff of myth and legend. No, they’re reported to be hitting stores in the next few days. Granted, Glock fanboys aren’t exactly the kind to camp out outside their favorite gun stores—these aren’t iPhones weren’t talking about here, after all—but there’s a fair bit of chatter about these.

OK, much of it may just be in my house since I’m looking to pick up something that will work better for concealed carry that my CZ-75B, but there’s still chatter, dagnabbit!

Anyway, there are a few features in the new generation of Glock perfection worth noting. In particularly, the profound lack of perfection that were the finger grooves on the front of the grip. While many people liked that on a pistol, it’s hardly universal.

Further, the Glock is now even more of an ambidextrous pistol. The Gen 4’s reversible magazine release will now be paired with ambidextrous slide release. Good news for the lefties out there.

However, there’s a lot more going on with these pistols. From Guns.com:

The major feature changes include the addition of a Glock Marksmanship barrel with a new rifling and crown design; a flared magwell for easier magazine insertion; a throwback to earlier generations with the removal of finger grooves; an ambidextrous slide stop; and a new nDLC finish that “comes in all your favorite colors” as long as its black.

Other than the obvious aesthetic differences, almost all of the changes are internal. Glock’s National Sales Manager Bob Radecki explained for the Gen 5, engineers removed a locking block pin, so there’s two instead of three; dehorned the nose of the gun; altered the magazine floorplate and dehorned the magazine follower; added a firing pin safety similar to the G42 and 43 models; added a new extractor; and the front rails have been reinforced.

But there were also substantial changes to the trigger. Radecki said the company added a trigger spring assembly that compresses instead of stretches; redesigned the trigger mechanism housing; re-contoured the bottom of the trigger; modified the trigger pin so the slots are “not quite as deep and actually engages on the ambidextrous slide stop lever in both spots versus the one spot on the old style”; and the trigger bar has been modified to work with the new trigger spring.

In other words, there’s a lot of new stuff under the hood, so to speak. The Gen 5 Glocks do appear to have a fair bit going on, despite looking like…well…every other Glock that’s come before it.

How will it work? It’s impossible to say for certain without firing it, obviously. Luckily, the guys over at The Firearms Blog got to handle these for a while and filmed it. Here’s their video on not just the specifics of the details mentioned above, but also their impressions on the weapon itself.

I’m pretty stoked for this one, and may well pick one up for myself in the semi-near future. What about you? What are your thoughts on the Gen 5?