There are popular firearms, there are iconic firearms, there are famous firearms — and then there are guns that become a new benchmark, that set a new bar for its class of firearms, like the Glock 17.
Glock entered the firearm market in the 1980s in an effort to replace World War II–era pistols in the Austrian military. It was a company that had never produced a firearm before, and yet it ended up creating the yardstick against which all subsequent pistols would be measured at one point or another.
The Glock 17 had an uphill climb in its early days and faced some misconceptions about how it worked and what it was made of, but the polymer pistol ended up becoming a household name for gun owners and non-shooters alike. It also spawned a huge catalog of pistols through five generations of models and a bustling aftermarket for parts like no gun before it.
If you don’t quite understand why a pistol that looks (and kind of feels) like a Lego is such a big deal, it’s time to brush up on your Glock knowledge.
How the Glock 17 Works
The Glock 17 is a full-size semi-automatic pistol with a polymer frame. Rather than a single-action trigger like the 1911 or a single-action/double-action (SA/DA) trigger like the Beretta M9, the Glock 17 (like all other Glocks) is a short recoil-operated, striker fired pistol.
This original Glock was chambered for 9mm and likely contributed to the cartridge’s success as a modern pistol round. And no, the magazine capacity of 17 rounds wasn’t where the name came from, though it did originally ship with 17-round magazines.
In very Austrian fashion, each Glock handgun is named after the order in which the company files for patents. This has actually created a ton of confusion for new gun buyers, who assume the model name has something to do with the pistol’s chambering.
One of the biggest departures from “traditional” handgun design, aside from the polymer frame and striker action, was the lack of a manual thumb safety. Instead, Glock used its Safe Action trigger system, which relies on three internal safeties to prevent accidental discharges.
This was a significant point of contention early on when even experienced shooters considered such a design unsafe, but it’s since become commonplace across handgun manufacturers. Most gunmakers don’t even offer a thumb safety as an option on striker-fired guns, while some, like Smith & Wesson, will include one if desired on some models.
All Glocks also have a low bore axis for a semiauto pistol, especially when compared to a gun like the SIG Sauer P226. That means the barrel sits very close to the shooter’s hand, and the lower a pistol’s bore axis, the better a shooter can manage recoil — it’s a matter of leverage. Some shooters also believe a low bore axis helps with a handgun’s pointability.
All this, combined with the Glock 17’s full-size frame, came together to create a handgun that’s very easy to keep on target for fast, accurate follow-up shots and extremely easy to operate. The only controls are the slide stop/release, magazine release, and trigger.
It’s also dead simple to maintain. You can take the Glock 17 apart for cleaning in seconds (after unloading and clearing) with just the trigger and take-down tabs. The barrel, guide rod, and recoil spring pop out with no tools required. That goes for all Glock handguns that haven’t been modified.
Origin and History
We can trace the Glock 17’s roots to Austria in the 1980s when Gaston Glock saw an opportunity for his company to switch from making knives and grenades to building pistols for the Austrian army.
At the time, the Austrian military was issuing the Walther P38, which had been around since WWII when it replaced the Luger P08.
In addition to being an antiquated platform, the P38 pistol had a service record that experts in the corporate image consulting industry call “super fucking bad.” The vastly superior Glock 17, then known as the P80, took over in 1983 and passed NATO testing in 1984.
Glock ditched convention in favor of a polymer frame that was lighter than steel without sacrificing durability. The pistol was always stone-simple to operate, and it had fewer components than the competition. Fewer parts meant fewer potential points of failure.
Many attributed this simplicity to the legendary reputation for reliability that quickly grew around the Glock 17 Gen1. Not only did it outperform pistols of the day, but the polymer frame also made it cheaper.
Glock opened a facility in Smyrna, Georgia, to serve U.S. customers in 1986 without having to deal with strict firearm importation laws. The pistol saw instant success in the American market, thanks partly to nonstop attention from Hollywood. Glock also sold the Glock 17 to law enforcement at heavy discounts — an extremely smart move.
The company sacrificed profit on the front end but made it up several times over when consumers rushed out to buy the same pistols they saw police carrying. While some had issues with negligent discharges early on, once the training caught up to the design, the Glock’s reliability has encouraged law enforcement to stick with it for decades. The FBI adopted Glock pistols — twice.
Early on, there was a lot of hand-wringing about this new polymer pistol being invisible to metal detectors. Thanks to an early appearance in Die Hard 2 and some erroneous dialog, some people believe the guns were made of ceramic, and that they were specifically designed to beat security protocols.
Of course, that wasn’t even close to true. While the frame itself won’t set off a metal detector on its own if totally stripped down, the steel slide and barrel certainly will.
The Glock 17 in the 1990s
The innovative brand appeared to be unstoppable until the 1994 Assault Weapons Bill banned a huge number of popular standard-capacity firearms. In a clever twist, Glock realized that the law would only ban magazines produced after it took effect and worked around the clock to build a stockpile of standard-capacity magazines that would be grandfathered in.
Glock continued to sell these magazines to U.S. police departments, who then sold them to the public as surplus units. When legal challenges came, municipalities that prosecuted Glock ended up implicating themselves.
Paul Barrett, author of Glock: the Rise of America’s Gun told NPR that, “Glock’s executives would pop up on television and say, ‘Who are you accusing of putting guns on the street? We’ve done business with the very business in the city that’s suing us. It is their guns on the street.'”
Glock 17 Generations
The Glock 17 Gen1 from 1982 is basic by modern standards. It created the Glock shape we know and (some of us) love, but that’s about it. Look for a lack of an accessory rail, a wraparound grip texture like a skateboard deck, and a single trigger pin.
The Glock 17 Gen2 came along in 1988.It had a more aggressive grip texture on the front and back of the frame. Exciting times.
In 1998 Glock ushered in the Glock 17 Gen3, which offered several substantial changes. For the first time, the frame came with an accessory rail for a light or laser. The frame got a thumb rest and finger grooves to help anchor each digit in the correct position — this decision ended up being more controversial than the people at Glock probably thought possible. You can also spot a locking block pin above the trigger pin.
The Glock 17 Gen 4 that debuted in 2010 looked a lot like its predecessors, but there were some big updates hiding inside. A dual recoil spring softened felt recoil dramatically. The magazine release was a touch bigger. Removable back straps were new for the fourth generation, allowing owners to tweak the grip size to fit their hands better. The Glock 17 Gen4 was also the first generation to offer an optic-ready MOS version.
If the Glock 17 Gen5 that first broke cover in 2016 looked familiar, that’s because it was kind of a greatest hits album for Glock. Those damned finger grooves? Outta here. Locking block pin? No more. Glock went back to just the trigger pin. New features included an improved barrel, ambidextrous slide-stop levers, a rounded nose on the slide, and a beveled magazine well. Of course, the MOS option remained available.
What’s New With the Glock 17 Gen5
The 2017 Glock 17 Gen5 had subtle changes compared to the outgoing Glock 17 Gen4, but they made a difference. Despite what the haters said, think of Glock generations as a slow, methodical evolution rather than sweeping redesigns.
Most of what makes Gen5 pistols tick lies beneath the surface. If you’re not a gunsmith, all you need to know is that the current pistols are marginally more robust, reliable, and accurate than their predecessors, with subtle exterior differences.
The Glock 17 Gen5 gets an ambidextrous slide stop lever, which wasn’t standard on previous generations. You’ll still get your choice of polymer, steel, or Glock Night Sights when it comes to the front sight and rear sight, a reversible magazine release, and an accessory rail.
One of the most celebrated updates that came with the Glock 17 Gen5 was the deletion of the finger grooves on the grip. These ridges were a big point of contention among Glock freaks when they were introduced on the Gen4 pistols.
Glocks have never felt fantastic in the hand — because they’re shaped like bricks — but the finger grooves made matters worse for enough shooters to warrant a return to the old grip profile. Why? Because not everyone’s fingers end up in the same place on the grip.
Changes to the trigger mechanism make for a nicer trigger pull on the Glock 17 Gen5 with a factory trigger — but then again, who keeps the factory trigger unless they have to?
When paired with a new Glock Marksman Barrel (this time with traditional rifling instead of polygonal rifling), you might see a bump in accuracy out of the box.
Reloads should also be a little easier with Gen5 pistols, thanks to a slightly flared magazine well. It’s nothing like the exaggerated features you’ll find on competition guns, but a small bevel can shave fractions of a second off your reload time when time is of the essence.
As was the case with the Glock 17 Gen4, you have the option to buy a Glock 17 Gen5 equipped with Glock’s Modular Optic System (the Glock 17 Gen5 MOS — it’s a mouthful). This versatile approach uses adapter plates to accommodate red dot optics with different mounting patterns. As of this writing, a Glock 17 Gen5 costs between $500 and $600.
Glock 17 Gen5 Specs
Caliber: 9mm
Frame size: Standard
Grip: Polymer
Capacity: 17+1
Action: Striker-fired
Barrel length: 4.5 inches
Optic ready: Yes (MOS models only)
Safety: Safe Action trigger system
Weight: 32 ounces (with a loaded magazine)
The Glock 17 Is a Celebrity
Throughout Glock’s history, the brand has done an incredible job maintaining visibility in popular culture thanks to a masterful PR effort. It’s hard to find an action movie that doesn’t at least show Glock pistols, and some even include blatant sales pitches. No Glock gets more attention in the public eye than the manufacturer’s first sales success, the Glock 17.
According to the Internet Movie Firearms Database, The Glock 17 has appeared in more than 400 films since its big-screen debut in 1988. Included in that prolific list are several installments of the Die Hard, Saw, and John Wick franchises. The Glock 17 has been portrayed as a law enforcement sidearm and zombie-slayer, as a hero and a villain.
The pistol had a big role as Tommy Lee Jones’ preferred sidearm of choice as a Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive (1994) and the sequel U.S. Marshals (1998) — okay, it was a Glock 22 because that’s what every LE agency was using at the time, but you couldn’t tell that on a VHS.
Some television appearances of the Glock 17 make sense: See The Walking Dead, Waco, and The Last of Us. The Glock 17 has even been featured in surprising places, like on the sitcom Modern Family because of its ubiquitous presence as a police sidearm.
Naturally, the Glock 17 is also a mainstay in video games. Players got to wield one with a laser way back in Duke Nukem 3D (1996) and a slew of games released since then. Sometimes, presumably for copyright reasons, it appears under another name (like the X12 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II), but we know a Glock when we see one.
Use by Law Enforcement
If there’s any group of people who are as passionate about the Glock 17 as Hollywood, it’s law enforcement. The love affair began in the 1980s when everyone from beat cops to federal agents realized that they were woefully outgunned by common street criminals. The time had finally come to almost universally move away from revolvers in favor of semiautos.
Leveling the playing field took more than upgrading their sidearms, but switching from a revolver or old-school pistol to a nearly indestructible Glock packed with 17 rounds of 9mm Luger was a good start. The Glock 17 quickly established itself as the gun to have, although some NYPD officers had to purchase their own and were restricted to 15 rounds (make sense of that if you can). According to Glock, more than 65 percent of U.S. police departments use Glock pistols.
The Glock 17 is so widely used in the law enforcement community that police surplus sales are among the best places to get a deal. Sometimes you can score a fantastic pistol for hundreds less than MSRP. Replace the barrel if you need to, and you’ve got a hell of a bargain on your hands. Be careful, though, because you can also get a pistol that’s been abused and needs too much work to be cost-effective.
Since the Glock 17 seems to offer the perfect blend of weight, capacity, accuracy, and an undying refusal to malfunction, it only makes sense that it would be a perfect choice for a military sidearm. After all, that’s what Gaston Glock designed it for in the first place.
Those of you with military experience know that common sense doesn’t always prevail, though. Army Special Forces had to pull a fast one on the Pentagon to field the Glock 19 as a compact substitute for the gun they really wanted: the Glock 17. The Glock 17 never managed to unseat the Beretta M9 and it’s since been relegated to an also-ran by the SIG Sauer M17.
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