It’s like clockwork, every few years Glock is going to change up designs. During the period of transition from Gen 3 designs to Gen 4, there were a number of experimental grip patterns developed. The first change actually started with the introduction of the Short Frame models in 2007 (covered here). The shorter front to back dimensions were adopted with the Gen 4 base frame along with the smaller trigger housing. The texture was also experimented with and several variants were released–the pattern finally being adopted is known as RTF-4.
Along the path to RTF-4, the company released the RTF-2 pattern–initially targeted at the police market. These guns were all Gen 3 design internally but were altered with an extra “grippy” texture and also curved serrations on the rear of the slide. These variants were first released in 2009 with later versions coming with straight serrations in 2010. Neither the grip nor the curved serrations were popular with Glock fans and both were replaced with the Gen 4 design.
The pair pictured is one each of the police model (blue label) and commercial model (red label)–though they are the same aside from the labels on the boxes. If one is truly to “collect them all,” then it’s necessary to pay attention to such frivolities as label color. But the truth is, either variant is pretty darn hard to come by. As is the norm with “collectible” Glocks, the rarity was created by the unpopularity as well as a short production run.
However, in the case of the RTF2s, the tides turned almost immediately after the guns were no longer produced. Soon after they were bringing a premium on the collector market, and especially so with the model 19s.
These days sales are very infrequent, but the realized prices have continued to rise slowly. The most recent no reserve listing brought nearly $1600 at auction and you can only guess that COVID will increase these prices as well.
One more quick note: many more model 22s were made with the curved serrations and RTF2 frame than any other variant–the unknowing collector could be suckered in to paying a premium for this model but they can still be found for less than $400. On the opposite end of the spectrum, pay special attention to any combo of RTF2 frame with ported slide–both rare and highly valuable.
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