The Glock 22 (along with its siblings, the compact G23 and subcompact G27) are Glock’s .40 Auto pistols and have been incredibly popular with law enforcement across the US for decades. They offer up pistols chambered in the larger LE-focused cartridge while being identical in size to the 9mm G17, Glock 19, and G26 pistol lineup.

Way back in the parachute-panted, drum-and-bass-filled Nineties, the 9mm was getting pushback from LE agencies across the country due to concerns about penetration and stopping power stemming from performance shortcomings in the 1986 Miami shootout. When agents were less than keen on the pivot to the 10mm Auto, S&W and Winchester cooked up the .40 S&W Auto, leading to the 10mm and Georg Luger’s 9mm cartridge getting dropped like a bad habit — replaced, practically overnight, by the new gee-whiz LE wonder cartridge, the .40 S&W.

Glock brought the Glock 22 to market along with the G23 in 1990, and the rest, as they say, is history.

When the fine folks at Guns.com offered up a used LE G22 Glock pistol for me to put through its paces, I was more than happy to share my take on the original .40 Auto Glock.

By the mid-nineties, with the introduction of the G26, Glock had a trifecta of 9mm pistols in the market: the full-size G17, compact G19, and subcompact G26. This simple family of Glocks gave them pistols matched to the needs of their customers: peace officers and military customers could run a full-sized pistol, plainclothes officers and concealed carry fans could run the compact, and the subcompact G26 gave deep conceal carry and backup options.

Not only did these three options suit most scenarios, but they could also all run the same magazines — no need to worry about different magazines for each pistol. Gaston Glock’s universe was indeed balanced.

Then whispers started about this new gee-whiz caliber — the .40 S&W Auto.

After a 1986 Miami shootout in which insufficient penetration from a 9mm round fired by an FBI agent enabled a shooter to kill 2 FBI agents and wound a third, the FBI wanted a pistol that could offer superior stopping power and went with the logical choice at the time; the 10mm Auto.

Despite the additional power, the 10mm cartridge proved less than popular with agents due to its rowdy nature.

In an effort to manage the 10mm Auto’s fallout with agents — it was notoriously challenging to control, and the large S&W Model 1076 was a real issue with agents without bear mitts — the Feds developed a lower power 10mm load called the FBI Lite Load that promised less recoil and more control but was ultimately found to be only marginally better than the original.

Smith & Wesson took heed and worked with Winchester to develop a more approachable LE cartridge. They duplicated the 10mm Auto FBI Lite Load but shrunk the cartridge down so it would fit in a 9mm pistol-sized frame. With that, the .40 S&W Auto was born and took off with law enforcement like wildfire.

The .40 S&W offered up similar accuracy and trajectory as the familiar 9mm but with more energy and, most importantly, none of the irritating recoil of the 10mm Auto — making it more powerful than the nines of the time and easier to keep on target than the centimeter cartridge.

Glock seized on the .40 S&W’s momentum with police departments and was the first manufacturer to bring a new family of .40 S&W pistols to market; moving away from prior models focus on the 9mm, the full-size G22 and compact G23 hit the streets in 1990, and the subcompact G27 came to market in 1995.

Glock helped law enforcement agencies transition to the .40 Auto caliber with a trade-in program, allowing them to swap their 9mm Glocks for .40 Auto guns. The fact that G22 and G23 pistols are the same dimensions as the G17 and G19 9mm pistols meant holsters and magazine pouches could all be retained, and there was no need for additional training — the pistols were the same size and operated identically.

While the recent trend is for LE agencies to convert back to 9mm from the once reigning .40 Auto, these .40 Auto caliber Glocks are still incredibly popular with LE and civvy shooters alike.

Glock 22 Specifications

Caliber:	.40 S&W
Capacity:	15 (2 Magazines Included)
Action:	Striker-Fired
Trigger Pull Weight:	6.29 lbs
Length:	7.95 in
Height:	5.47 in
Width:	1.26 in
Barrel Length:	4.49 in
Weight:	22.1 oz. (with empty magazine)
Slide:	Alloy steel, rear serrations
Sights:	Steel, fixed front white dot
Safeties:	Glock Safe Action System (Trigger, Firing Pin, Drop Safeties)
Operational Controls Finish:	Polymer