This was not a post I ever expected to be making–especially since I was not aware this particular gun existed until about a week or two ago. Pictured above are my new pair of Glock 19Ms and you might notice these particular beauties feature FDE frames.

The 19M, if you have not previously read, was a special creation concocted by Glock for an FBI RFP in the mid 2010s. Many have speculated that the RFP was specifically written with the Sig Sauer P320 in mind thus making Glock’s eventual contract procurement all that more impressive. The M series pistols were the pre-cursor to the Gen 5 line-up but have maintained a few subtle differences as well as a large amount of mystique due to their rarity on the civilian market.

Given that Glock will not ever release production records of any gun and that the FBI has no interest in discussing their service pistols, it can be very difficult to ascertain just how many M series guns are “in the wild.” After the first few years of issue, there were only a handful of guns that made it on to the civilian market and sold for obscene sums of money at auction. But a couple of years ago, Lipseys (a major firearms distributor) convinced Glock to make a re-run version of the gun. It turns out that these “red label” guns weren’t much different from a standard Gen 5 other than the “M” stamped after the model number on the slide. The law enforcement or “blue label” guns had different barrels, sights, and internal parts finishes that contributed to their uniqueness, but the red label release was a detriment to the collector value of the “originals.”

In the ensuing time, there have been many different guns come on the market and further muddy the waters: varying reports of whether the internals are coated like the FBI contract and whether the barrel rifling is the same as well as boxes with blue labels being sent to civilian retailers for non-law enforcement sale (normally a blue labeled gun would only be sold to police and at a discounted price). It can be hard even for the astute collector to decipher what is what when it comes to the M guns.

In that context, I stumbled across these two gems and the FDE frames are just a further conundrum to be solved. Both of these were purchased (separately) from local dealers who procured them from Lipseys as part of regular shipments that included red label 19Ms. However, both of these have blue labels, “M” marked barrels, but do NOT have coated internals. A forum thread posted a while back claims that only 107 FDE 19Ms were made, and the Lipseys representatives claim they only received 2 (highly unlikely that both went to separate dealers in Tulsa, OK). Regardless of the exact number, I’m confident these are rare gems and will be a part of my collection for years to come.

Happy hunting everyone!