Chrome
Firefox
Edge
Pictured below is a Glock 19. Well, a heavily customized Glock 19, a very specifically customized Glock 19. This is a configuration that has become known as the Roland Special or the Gunslinger Pistol. As the story goes, in the late 2000s, early 20-teens, Chuck Pressburg, a now-retired sergeant major with an extensive career in special operations, was running a Glock 19 and experimenting with a KKM match barrel to help improve the actual mechanical accuracy of the platform. In that era, the Surefire X300 was considered the absolute go-to weapon-mounted light for pistols, but due to its large footprint, it protruded extensively past the end of the Glock 19 muzzle. This presented a unique opportunity where Pressburg had the “room” to add a compensator to his KKM barrel without materially increasing the footprint of the gun. Though most of us immediately think of the impact on the recoil performance with a comp, half of the rationale for its original inclusion was simply to try and mitigate the amount of carbon buildup on the X300's lens.
During the same period, slide-mounted red dots began spiking in popularity. A shop known as ATEI was one of the premier smiths offering a slide milling surface in this era, a necessity as pistols didn't start to come from the factory with optic cuts until years later. Although his first pistol with a red dot was a Glock 17, Pressburg notes that when he compared the overall size and recoil performance between the 17 and the comp'd 19, he preferred the 19 configuration, and thus, the complete Roland Special package was born.
However, the need to use this service in today's environment is significantly lessened due in large part to the massive boom of aftermarket parts, along with the actual factory standard updates that pistol manufacturers have made in the last 10 to 15 years. Today, most slides can be purchased direct from the manufacturer with an optic cut, and there are a plethora of compensator configurations available on the market, along with a wide spectrum of threaded barrels.
Now, one of our personal favorite offerings here in the mid-2020s is the Radian Ramjet Barrel with Afterburner Intra-Lok Compensator for Glock 19. This shrinks the comp back down, which is valuable when you consider that smaller footprint lights exist now as well (meaning that the real estate the comp takes up isn't necessarily “free” anymore). We also feel the attachment method of using a tapered screw is superior to the set screw designs prevalent on most other comps, which tend to come loose frequently and must be removed to fully field strip the slide, making Loctite less than favorable of a solution.
Pictured here is an example of our modernized Roland using the Radian Ramjet, so this isn't truly a Roland per se. It just shares the functional elements of one. Shot side by side, these setups feel very similar. Comp’d and dotted polymer-framed guns with the weight of a weapon light at the front of the gun have a very specific recoil characteristic and performance. And whether you're shooting the OG Roland or a "fauxland" copy, the guns feel and function very similarly. Now, as we look forward to the future, we suspect that more manufacturers will follow the lead of companies like Sig Sauer and their P365X Macro Comp, which includes an integrated comp at the end of the slide. Coupled with the constant drive of light manufacturers to improve light output in smaller and smaller packages, the likely result is a similar capability to the original Roland, but with a smaller and smaller form factor, maximizing the concealed carry components and elements for the US domestic market.
Until next time, we'll see you on the range.
--9-Hole Reviews
