Glock 17

The GLOCK 17 was the very first self loading pistol manufactured by the Austrian company GLOCK. This pistol was designed and developed by Austrian designer Gaston Glock. The numeral 17 in GLOCK stands for being the 17th patent of Gaston Glock's gun. The GLOCK 17 prototype made its debut in 1980 at the Austrian Armed Forces pistol competition. After winning the competition, the GLOCK 17 was adopted by the Austrian Army and the Austrian Police in 1980 as P80 and adopted by the Swedish Army in 1988 as Pistol 88. The various GLOCK 17 modifications are currently being used by Special Forces, police forces, security forces for self defense and for sporting purposes in more than 30 countries world wide.

The GLOCK 17 (yes it is spelt in all caps) semiautomatic pistol weighs 280g with full magazine and its length is 186mm. The barrel length is 114mm with a magazine capacity of 17 rounds utilizing the 9mm Luger Parabellum ammunition. The GLOCK 17 pistol uses a modified version of the Peter / Browning barrel locking system and a safe action semi double action trigger system complete with a striker (instead of a hammer), firing pin and a built in automatic safety feature which makes it very secure to be carried around. This automatic safety lock only allows for one shot to be fired after which the safety lock is automatically turned off and prevents the trigger from going off until it is pushed again. This device was patented by 'Glock' Gmbh.

Unlike other pistols, the GLOCK 17's frame is made out of polymer (a superior type of plastic). The advantages of having the frame out of plastic are firstly it significantly reduces its weight and secondly it has the ability to absorb a good percentage of the counter recoiling forces when fired. There was a misconception that the gun would not be detected by a metal detector because it was made out of plastic. However this was soon put to rest because the barrel, the slide and other internal parts of the pistol are still made out of metal hence easily detectable by metal detectors. In fact both the barrel and the slide are treated with QPQ Tenifer which makes its steel more anti corrosion than stainless steel itself! The GLOCK 17 is a small weight pistol with simple features. In fact it's so simple that it only consists of 33 parts including the magazine and only takes a few minutes to be taken apart.

The popularity of this pistol is not only because of its safety feature but also because of the many advantages that it carries with it such as its light weight, reliability, effective long range fire, easy maintenance, simple usage, high magazine capacity, corrosion free, quiet but high muzzle energy, powerful penetration, provides good balance to the user and allows for quick shots without any preparation. This pistol has in fact very similar dimensions as the Russian PM Self Loading Pistol except that the GLOCK 17 is slightly lighter, is significantly more powerful and has double the magazine capacity. This pistol can also fire amazingly well with various ammunitions such as the Austrian Hirtenberg, Finnish Lapua, German Geco and Israeli Eagle and a few others.

The GLOCK 17 is a highly reliable pistol which can be used in any given environments like jungles, deserts and even in the arctic region. It's also simple to control, very sturdy and has more than average precision. The GLOCK 22 and 31 are almost the same as the original GLOCK 17 with the only differences being in the barrel and slide and the .40 S&W ammunition in GLOCK 22 and .357SIG ammunition in GLOCK 31. There are also many other variations of the GLOCK 17 pistol. The most popular ones are the GLOCK 17C, GLOCK 17L and GLOCK 18 /18C. GLOCK 17 C comes with a ported barrel and slide to decrease muzzle climb when fired. The 'C' stands for compensated. The GLOCK 17L has a longer barrel and slide and is used for competitive purpose and the GLOCK 18 /18C is a fully automatic pistol which allows for 3 consecutive shots and can be attached with a 31 round magazine and folding stock. The GLOCK 17 has a fixed sight however the newer models come with a rail accessory under the barrel of the pistol. The current GLOCK 17 is model is known as the 3 rd Generation GLOCK 17.