IGB Austria Glock Gen 5 Replacement Barrel
By: Dwayne Sturgill
As if having an addiction to buying firearms isn’t enough for one to have to manage… financially speaking and as far as my wife is concerned… but a love for firearms also usually brings with it an accompanying fondness to upgrade one’s fine weaponry to the fullest extent possible. Why not, right!?! It would just be a shame not to make a good thing even better! Pistols are certainly no exception to that conundrum and offer just as many options for upgrade as an AR platform weapon.
I recently had the opportunity to upgrade the barrel in my Gen 5 Glock 34 9mm with a beautiful offering from IGB Austria. Though I have purchased custom rifle barrels in the past, this was my first experience with a replacement barrel for a pistol. Not sure why since I had already turned my Glock into Frankenstein, but I had always been content to keep the factory barrel until now. I received my barrel from the awesome guys at ZFI-inc.com and was super excited to put it to the test!
IGB Austria makes a barrel for almost any Glock model and Gen available and also some offerings for other major pistol manufacturers. They cover the gambit of caliber options and can be found in smooth or fluted variety as well as different color options. IGB Austria barrels are all match grade and made from European High Grade Barrel Steel with a Plasmanitration finish (fancy name for case hardening). Their cold forged steel barrels are tuned to perfection by balancing hardness and flexibility.
IGB barrels utilize a button rifled, polygonal profile in their barrel grooves which, not only increases accuracy by providing better gas seal around the bullet, but also increases durability allowing the company to boast a 50,000 round warranty for ammo meeting CIP or SAAMI spec! IGB Austria verifies dimensions, function, and accuracy for every barrel before it leaves their facility.
IGB barrels are drop-in ready but their manufacturing tolerances are kept as tight as possible to ensure excellent fit. Not only is the installation no problem but maintaining the life of your IGB barrel is just as efficiently accomplished due to their design. The plasma hardening and polygonal design ensure less bullet deformation and reduced drag which results in decreased copper or lead build-up in the barrel. The fine-tuned blend of “hard yet flexible” results in less sensitivity to stress concentration induced barrel failure. In other words, they are made really well and it is obvious IGB is confident in that fact based on their excellent warranty!
Now for my in-field experience… The IGB Austria barrel dropped right into my Gen 5 Glock 34 with no problem at all just as they advertise. Super easy and no adjustment of any kind required. I was outside ready to sling lead in absolutely no time. My IGB barrel is the standard replacement length for the Gen 5 Glock 34 and came in the threaded option. I screwed a thread protector on and commenced to slinging some 9mm!
The IGB barrel immediately performed almost identical to my factory Glock barrel. Barrels shoot better as you get more rounds through them and typically settle into a good group once you have around 50-100 rounds through them. My factory Glock 34 barrel is fairly new but does have about 2000 rounds through it. It is well broken in and shoots excellent. Consider though… the IGB barrel held right in there with it right out of the box! I have to assume that as I get more rounds through it, the IGB will continue to improve and the group size will shrink. If that does happen, and it typically does with any barrel, it will most certainly be out-shooting the factory Glock barrel. I was confident enough that I had no problem putting my old barrel on the shelf and leaving in the IGB. It met the “greatness” trifecta… looks great, felt great, and shot great!
In addition to your standard factory replacement drop-in, and of particular interest to me, IGB offers caliber change barrels and barrels of various extended lengths. Caliber change is available in 9x19, 9x21, 9x25, .357 SIG, 7.65, and .40 S&W. If that doesn’t peak your interest, you can purchase an IGB Austria barrel in standard length, 7 inch, 10 inch, or 16 inch versions!
I have absolutely no reservation in recommending an IGB Austria replacement barrel. It checks all the boxes for my needs list in a barrel… look, fit, function, and durability. I also love the options… color, fluting, threaded, various lengths, and caliber changes. I’m not sure what else I would want or could reasonably ask for. I may end up with a few different lengths because who doesn’t want a 7, 10, or 16 inch barrel in their bag ready to drop-in in seconds whenever they so desire!?! IGB Austria will be staying in my Glock and I’m anxious to see how it improves as I get more rounds down range. I believe you might just want to have a look at an IGB Austria barrel for your favorite pistol as well!
Purchase your own at www.zfi-inc.com.