I have a glock 22c, and love the way it shoots. I seem to come across mixed reviews and want to hear from from someone that has some insight on this topic.
Using proper technique, you should be able to mitigate recoil sufficiently without it. For competition purposes, there may.be an advantage, but for a defensive pistol, it is not recommended as it redirects gases towards your face when shooting from close retention.
as a trianer I feel they are more of a novelty. Compensators do have merit on a dedicated race gun but for a defense weapon I would advice agianst it. The reason(s) are
#1 if you ever have a situation were you are locked up with a bad gu and have to make a shot happen you stand a big chance of injuring yourself with the gases etc.
#2 although the gases escaping can cause a lot of injury to you or others as far as most defensive calibers go there isn't much recoil that a proper grip won't handle so a comp is sort of a moot point.
#3 during dim light you will probably loose your ability to see the sight from the flash (and if it is a shoot out situation more chance for the BG to pinpoint you)
To each there own but I would save the comp guns for either IPSC games or the hunting field!
Love My Glock 32C. It has a .40 barrel that came with it that is comped to, both rounds shoot like butter. I stays in my night stand with the .40 barrel, LW 9mm barrel and 3 extra mags for each round in my bug out bag.
The main criticism I have found is shooting in the dark, this has not been an issue for me.
I have a Glock 19c with night sights and have never had a problem in low light shooting, although I've never shot it in total darkness or in a compressed position
In that level of darkness you should be illuminating your target anyway and using quality defensive ammo with flash mitigating powders. The sighting issues we see with compensated guns has more to do with quickly fouling the front sight. That's really only an issue that pops up in training.
After retention shooting is when our students sell their compensated guns. They don't want to risk it in real life without eye pro. It's like having a bomb go off in your face.
I had a Glock 20C. The "compensator" did nothing except impress people at the indoor ranges with poor lighting and completely cover my XS Big Dot front site with black residue after a couple of shots.
As a novice and owner of an M&P .40 and a G22C, I like the feel of the M&P better when I hold it. The Glock has less recoil and feels better when firing. Both offer similar groupings.
I carried an 23c for years on duty at my previous department and went through firearms instructor school with it. Loved it. Recoil was much lighter. I shot in low light and from very close retention, never a problem. Modern .40 isn't all that flashy anyway. I only got rid of it when I changed jobs and had to carry a G22.