A Gen5 G27, or better a Gen5 G33, would be attractive because, contrary to what has been stated in an earlier posting, Gen5 offers very significant improvements to the Glock firing mechanism. External changes to the grip are extraordinarily superficial, yet that seems to be ALL that many poorly-informed people notice about Gen5.
Gen5 internal improvements include:
1. Alteration of trigger mechanism housing and trigger spring to a compressed trigger spring DESIGN. That makes trigger spring failure incredibly unlikely. In pre-Gen5 models, the TS is the part that breaks most often, at its hooks. It is also impossible for the new TS design to cant sideways and prevent proper pistol reset.
2. Alteration of the slide lock spring from leaf spring to coil spring. The SLS in pre-Gen5 Compact and larger models has a foot embedded in the frame polymer. If it breaks flush with the polymer, it is very likely that frame replacement will be required to correct. Gen5 models will never have such a problem.
3. The Gen5 firing pin safety is vastly superior to that of pre-Gen5 models. It has a wide bearing surface for trigger bar contact that makes it impossible for the trigger bar to misalign under it for any circumstances. That means there is no need for an alignment bump on the trigger bar.
4. The Gen5 firing pin has a sturdy conventional round tip rather than Glock's traditional chisel point tip. That is better for durability and primer ignition reliability.
5. The Gen5 RSA boss on the slide is significantly more substantial than that found on pre-Gen5 models.
There are two bad things about the Gen5 design:
1. The elimination of the locking block pin weakens the pistol structure for chamberings in calibers better than 9x19mm. There have been no magical revisions to the Glock frame and locking block to ensure that problems detected 25 years ago will not show up again for when calibers more substantial than 9x19mm are used in Gen5 two-pin frames without the vital locking block pin. The lack of LBP by itself is a **deal breaker** for Gen5 if it is to be used for something other than 9x19mm. If Glock ever issues such pistols, I will not be a buyer.
2. The ambidextrous slide stop lever is entirely superfluous.