Glock 17 pistol
Currently, Glock pistols, and the Model 17 in particular, are among the most reliable and unpretentious among all self-loading pistols ever produced and in production today.
Almost everything has been said about the pistols of the Austrian company Glock. Anyone who is more or less interested in firearms in general and personal short-barreled weapons in particular knows that Glock is perhaps the most popular and recognizable pistol, one of the most reliable, consistently in high demand among law enforcement agencies and the armed forces around the world. and from ordinary citizens who buy weapons for sports shooting and self-defense. Many experts in the field of personal weapons and their combat use consider Glock pistols to be the best in the world due to the excellent combination of such qualities as reliability of work in the most difficult operating conditions, more than sufficient accuracy for combat shooting and self-defense, both aimed and high-speed "instinctive" shooting offhand, high safety, convenience, comfort with constant hidden or open wearing, maximum ease of use, ease of maintenance, huge service life, interchangeability of parts, very high strength and resistance of the coating of steel parts to corrosion and wear, and finally, comparatively not high cost.
This is really an excellent weapon, which is preferred by professionals participating in real combat and special operations, fighters of the best special forces in the world. Glock is also very popular with those who just love guns and shooting, and especially those who prefer guns with no problems. People living in countries where personal short-barreled weapons are allowed for sale to civilians, choosing a Glock for shooting or for carrying in self-defense, are guided by the same principles as the military and police. It's always best to have a pistol that won't let you down on the shooting range or on the street. It is better to have a weapon that is convenient and easy to use than difficult to handle, which is especially important for people who do not have the opportunity to regularly train with their pistol to use weapons in extreme situations. It is no secret that the owners in such conditions where there is simply no time for reflection, and all actions are performed automatically, simply forget about whether the fuse on their pistol is on or not, and often about its location. Of course, this is not a problem for a trained professional, but for an ordinary person who is not used to often facing extreme situations, the simplicity of his pistol is vital.
Today, on the arms market around the world, there are a lot of easy-to-use models of large and well-known manufacturers that have earned a good reputation. Compliance with this requirement is achieved primarily by the presence of only a self-cocking firing mechanism and the absence of a manually operated safety catch, or the pistol is supplied with a double-action trigger with a safe trigger lever from the cocked and, again, without a safety catch. Of course, there are a lot of options. But the choice of police, military and civilians is dictated not only by ease of handling, but also by the presence of the other above advantages in Glock pistols, making this weapon practical and suitable for any task. Shooters competing in the IPSC practical shooting class, in the mass-produced class, also often prefer the simple, accurate, reliable and comfortable Glock over the more expensive pistols. Of course, the design features of its trigger and the need to ensure safety in handling assume a fairly large effort and the length of the trigger stroke, which, in general, are quite acceptable, but nevertheless negatively affect the accuracy of aimed shooting, say at a distance of 14 meters, in comparison with pistols equipped with a double or single action trigger. However, not to mention the advantages in a combat situation over such classic designs, it should be noted that Glock pistols consistently demonstrate quite good accuracy for a combat pistol with a variety of shooter positions and methods of holding weapons. In addition, its accuracy is quite enough even for fans of precisely aimed shooting from serial pistols and for achieving maximum results. With a new, just bought Glock pistol, you can immediately go to the shooting range and it will shoot accurately.
Glock 17 with Virdinian Laser
Third generation Glock 17 pistol
However, controversy continues over the design of these popular Austrian pistols. Let's just say that most of the self-loading pistols on the weapon market today are more pleasing visually than the monotonous Glock models with a strictly functional and, if I may say so, austere design. Although many people like strict forms more than graceful models. But this is already a matter of taste. However, the controversy continues in the gun press, shooting clubs and internet forums. Moreover, shooters and weapon lovers are mostly divided into those for whom the Glock is the best pistol in the world, and those who hold the opposite opinion, or argue in favor of other manufacturers and their models that are superior to Glock in one way or another. It also happens that those who prefer Glock choose another weapon as their main pistol, and opponents of these Austrian pistols become their ardent supporters. At the very beginning of their arrival on the market, there were many legends about the pistols of this company that these weapons could not be recognized by detectors at airports. Of course, this was sheer fiction, hyped up by incompetent journalists. The gun has more than enough metal parts to detect it. However, Gaston Glock had to personally demonstrate publicly the "visibility" of his company's pistols by the detectors, as a result of which the myth was dispelled. In any case, Glock has made tremendous strides in supplying its products to arms markets around the world. And those who have tried these pistols in shooting, even if they are not particularly positive about their design, choose Glock for use as a primary, one of the primary or secondary weapons.
Glock, was created in 1980 by a group of designers with the participation of Friedrich Dechant under the leadership of Gaston Glock in an Austrian enterprise founded in 1963 that had never before been involved in the design and manufacture of weapons. At first, the company specialized in the manufacture of tools, then began the production of military goods - machine-gun belts, grenades and knives. By the way, the company still produces high quality knives. And to the production of pistols Gaston Glock pushed the Austrian army's search for new personal weapons in 1980. The designers managed to implement revolutionary solutions at that time, which, as practice has shown, work perfectly in combat pistols. The result was one of the leading positions of the company in the world arms market and the widest popularity of its products. The Glock 17 is the first plastic-framed pistol to be a hit in the global arms market. Frame, trigger and magazine are made of high-strength polymer.
The pistol was the first to combine light weight, large magazine capacity, compactness and safety in use, when carried with a cartridge in the chamber. The Austrians borrowed the locking of the barrel from the Sig Sauer P220 pistol. The designers abandoned the manual, manual fuse in favor of automatic ones. The trigger mechanism was the simplest, based on the Austrian Roth-Steyr M1907 pistol. It should be clarified that the index 17 does not mean the number of cartridges in the store. This is the copyright number of Gaston Glock. In 1982, under the designation P-90, the pistol was adopted by the Austrian army and police. The Glock 17 was equipped with the EKO Cobra (Einsatzkommando Cobra) anti-terrorist unit of the Austrian Federal Police. A little later, this pistol began to be used by the armed forces, law enforcement agencies and special forces of Sweden and Finland, and since 1986 it was adopted by the Norwegian army. Since the beginning of production of the first Glock model, three generations of these pistols have already changed, and now the fourth generation is in production - Gen 4. The first generation did not have a notch on the front and rear surfaces of the grip, which appeared in the second, which began production in 1990. The third generation, in addition to notching and chaotic corrugation on the sides of the handle, also received notches for fingers on the front surface of the handle and notches with a lower protrusion for the thumb, both in the left and right surfaces of the handle, as well as guides in the front of the frame for fastening accessories.
Glock pistols in the hands of SEK fighters (Saxony-Anhalt Spezialeinsatzkommando - special forces of the German police)
Glock 17 in the hands of a Dutch soldier in Afghanistan
In the late 1990s, the Glock 17 replaced the Jericho 941 in the YAMAM, a special unit of the Israeli police. After that, some special forces of the Israel Defense Forces adopted it to replace the Sig Sauer P226 and Sig Sauer P228. Currently, Glock pistols are used in the armies and various law enforcement agencies in about 60 countries around the world. In 1986, Austrian pistols began to be imported into the United States. The first law enforcement agency to adopt Glock pistols was the Colby Police Department in Kansas, and the first major shipment was delivered to the St. Paul, Minnesota Department. Notable tests of Austrian pistols, conducted by 25 police officers from Miami. The weapon was tested for safety when dropped on steel and concrete from a height of 18 meters with a cartridge in the chamber. There was no shot. The weapon was kept in salt water and a fully loaded magazine was fired at a high rate. There was not a single delay. Within 45 minutes, 1000 cartridges with expansive bullets were continuously fired from it without any problems. After these tests, the Miami Police Department accepted the Glock pistols into service. Currently, various versions of Glock personal short-barreled weapons are in service with the US FBI (Models 22, 23 and 27), New York Police (with a New-York Trigger trigger with a greater trigger pull), Florida, Miami police departments, Boston, Kansas and South Carolina State Police (South Carolina Police first adopted the Glock 22 pistol) and Mississippi, the Customs and Drug Enforcement Administration, and various special forces such as the US Navy Seals and Delta. About 5,000 US federal and local police departments have adopted it.
Glock pistols account for just over half of all short-barreled weapons purchased by US law enforcement agencies. They are used by police officers around the world, for example, Glock is in service in Canada, Holland, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, India and the Philippines. Glock 17 is used by the Hong Kong police. Iraqi police also use Glock pistols along with other short-barreled weapons such as Beretta and Sig Sauer. In Germany, Glock 17 is in service with the famous Special Forces Unit of the German Federal Police GSG9 (Grenzschutzgruppe 9 - Border Guard Group 9) and SEK - the special forces of the German police (Saxony-Anhalt Spezialeinsatzkommando). In France, Glock 17, along with models 19 and 26, are in service with the Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie GIGN (Grouped'InterventiondelaGendarmerieNationale), the anti-terrorist special unit "Search, assistance, intervention, dissuasion" RAID and the Investigation Group of the French National Police GIPN (Groupe d'Intervention de la Police Nationale).
In Belgium, Glock is used by the assault unit of the National Gendarmerie - ESI (Esquadrond'InterventionSpecial) and the special unit BBT of the Antwerp Police Department. Glock pistols are used by the Polish GROM Mobile Rapid Response Group (Grupa Reagowania Operacyjno-Manewrowego). Glock 17 is used in law enforcement agencies and departments of the Russian Federation, along with other Western models, such as the CZ 75 B, and Russian ones - SPS, PYa, GSh-18, firing 9 × 19 cartridges. For example, these pistols were adopted by the FSB, GRU, FSO, Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation and special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The success of the pistol also contributes to a wide advertising campaign of the manufacturer. But not only. In comparative tests, Glock has always passed the tests for reliability, ease of use and safety in handling, and firing accuracy. Glock is renowned for its good service. All defective parts are easily replaced with new ones, and instead of the old coating with a worn outer black layer, a new one is applied for a symbolic fee. At the moment, the manufacturer has sold more than 2,000,000 pistols of various modifications.
Glocks are very popular in shooting sports. The photo shows one of the stages of the I. P. S. C.
Glock 17 pistol with OD Green frame
Automation works according to the scheme of using recoil with a short barrel stroke. Locking is carried out with the help of a descending breech of the barrel, which enters with its rectangular protrusion located above the chamber into the window for ejection of spent casings of the shutter-casing. The reduction occurs when the bevel of the lower tide of the breech of the barrel interacts with the protrusion of the frame. The firing mechanism of the striker type, with preliminary, partial cocking of the striker when the shutter-casing moves back and cocking when the trigger is pressed. Glock calls the trigger of this design only self-cocking (DAO). However, this system is in fact a classic single-action trigger with an additional pre-cocking of the striker. In Glock pistols, the striker is cocked by moving the shutter-casing backward, and the relatively long trigger stroke and the force required for the pre-cocking of the striker, which is slightly greater than that of a conventional single-action trigger, replace the manually operated safety catch. The length and force of the stroke in this case prevent an accidental shot in the absence of a safety catch.
In addition to this, the trigger of Glock pistols does not allow the shooter to re-squeeze the trigger after a misfire, by trying to initiate the primer again. It is necessary to extract the defective cartridge, thereby putting the drummer on the preliminary platoon, and send a new cartridge from the magazine to the chamber for firing a shot. This is also a sign of the classic single-action trigger, just in this case, the stroke and trigger force are greater. The gun is equipped with three independently operating automatic fuses. Glock has named this system Safe Action. The safety lever, which is equipped with the trigger, blocks its movement back and releases it only when the arrow is consciously pressed. The automatic safety of the striker makes it impossible for the striker to hit the cartridge capsule in case of accidental disruption from the sear of the combat platoon. The trigger rod, with its special protrusion, raises the safety catch, which is a cylinder with a groove, and opens the way forward for the drummer. The shockproof fuse is a protrusion of the trigger rod, which has a cruciform shape, which fits into the groove of the shutter-casing. It prevents a combat platoon from falling off the whisper during an external strike.
In practice, this design has proven to be very simple and effective. It ensures the firing of a shot in the shortest possible time and safe handling. Pistols of the latest releases are equipped with an ejector, which also serves as an indicator of the presence of a cartridge in the chamber. The trigger pull is 2.5 kg and can be adjusted from 2 to 4 kg. The polymer frame is equipped with four steel guides along which the shutter-casing moves. The ergonomically shaped handle has a 112-degree tilt. On the left side of the frame is a small slide stop lever. Its small surface area is often a cause for criticism, but the original lever can be easily replaced with an enlarged one if necessary. The barrel lock is double-sided, located above the trigger guard. The magazine latch is located at the base of the trigger guard.
Glock 17 pistol with steel frame from Robar
Glock 17 with attached PBS Evolution 9
Right-hand rifling has a hexagonal profile with rounded side edges, which reduces friction and distributes the load on the barrel more evenly when a bullet passes through it. A barrel with such a profile lasts longer, and the barrel bore is less covered with a layer of brass or copper from the shells of the bullets and less deforms the shells themselves. That is, such a barrel is easier and faster to clean, and the integrity of the bullet shell increases accuracy. The shell of the bullet adheres more tightly to the edges of the barrel bore, creating a better obturation of the powder gases, due to which they give it a slightly higher energy and initial velocity, but in general, this is not noticeable. Sights, made of plastic, consist of a rear sight with the possibility of adjusting horizontally by displacing it, and a front sight, which can be replaced with another one with a different height for vertical correction. The double-row magazine holds 17 rounds, but larger ones can be used. The gun consists of only 34 parts and can be completely disassembled with a pin or nail in one minute. Glock pistols are currently chambered for.380 ACP, 9mm Parabellum,.357 SIG,.40 S&W, 10mm Auto and.45 ACP.
Today on the weapon market there is a huge amount of customization parts, various accessories and accessories from enlarged safety levers or slide delay to adjustable sights and even steel frames, produced by both large and well-known and small private firms. The most popular parts for Glock pistols are oversized magazine latches, recoil springs of varying spring rates, steel front sight and adjustable rear sight with tritium inserts. Practice has shown that replacing the standard magazine latch with an enlarged one for faster replacement can lead to its spontaneous loss in the holster and when removing the weapon. It is advisable to replace the recoil spring only if the shooting will be carried out with the same, usually reinforced, cartridges, since when using less powerful ammunition there will be delays in firing due to insufficient opening of the shutter-casing.
The best solution to improve and increase the effectiveness of the pistol would be to replace the standard front sight and rear sight with sights such as TFO (Tritium Fiber Optic) from Truglo, equipped with green light-collecting fiber-optic inserts containing tritium. Green can be distinguished better than red and white in good lighting conditions. Plastic with fiber-optic properties directs most of the light flow along the axis of the cylinder of the inserts, as a result of which the shooter's attention is instantly concentrated on them and the aiming is carried out much faster. In this case, at dusk or in a dark room, aiming is carried out using brightly glowing tritium. These sighting devices, for obvious reasons, are of course more expensive than usual, but they work perfectly day and night, significantly increasing the aiming speed.
TFO sights with tritium fiber optic rods
Glock 17 pistol with Hogue rubber grip. Currently, Glock pistols, and the Model 17 in particular, are among the most reliable and unpretentious among all self-loading pistols ever produced and in production today.
The Glock range includes a series of pistols with integrated expansion joints. These pistols are designated C (Compensated) in addition to the original Glock 17C. Such models are intended mainly for practical shooting competitions, as well as for novice shooters. The main function of the compensator is to reduce the toss of the weapon when fired. A jet stream of powder gases directed upwards counteracts the toss of the pistol. As a result, the rate of fire and accuracy of high-speed fire increases. The disadvantage is the strong flash. In low light, the image of this flash is briefly stored in memory, making it difficult to quickly fire the next sighting shot. Such a pistol gets dirty faster, and when firing from the hip, the flow of powder gases unpleasantly hits the shooter in the face. Delays also occur if weak cartridges are used.
The frame made of polymer makes the weapon lightweight and at the same time has high strength. Early pistols had grips with flat side and grooved front and rear surfaces. The handle with a large angle of inclination is very comfortable to hold and has finger projections on the front surface, thumb rests on both sides, and also has a front and rear notch. Such a grip makes the weapon well controlled and provides accuracy, both with careful aiming and when shooting at high speed. When shooting with a doublet, all full-size and compact models are characterized by high accuracy and a strictly vertical arrangement of hits. Glock pistol grips do not "cool" the hand at low temperatures. On the front of the frame there are slots for mounting tactical flashlights and laser designators. The casing shutter is produced by high-precision casting. A special treatment of steel parts called Tenifer, which is carbonitriding, increases their surface strength to 64 Rockwell units, and also greatly increases their resistance to corrosion.
The striker trigger was chosen by the designers not only because of its simplicity in production. It allows to minimize the distance from the butt plate of the frame to the axis of the barrel. In turn, the recoil shoulder decreases and, accordingly, the toss of the weapon when firing. This design also does not require reinforcement of the frame with steel inserts that increase the weight. In Glock 17, for the first time in pistols, a helical return spring with rectangular coils was used. In modern models, this spring is fixed on its own guide, which simplifies and facilitates the disassembly and assembly of the weapon. The store has a plastic body - the result of the lack of equipment for the manufacture of stores from sheet steel at the time of the beginning of the release of the pistol. The steel magazine was not released in the future due to deunification.
In the hands of a girl Glock 17 with a silencer and a tactical flashlight
Customized Glock pistol equipped with Advantage Tactical Sights
Like any weapon, Glock pistols have their drawbacks. Often the cause of misfires is the contamination of the striker channel, usually due to the sand that has got there. With a weak grip, sometimes there are cases of missing the cartridge. The plastic front sight turned out to be not strong and knock off the shutter-casing when struck from behind, but this drawback can be easily eliminated by replacing the sighting devices with steel ones. Another disadvantage is the small dimensions of the slide stop and the magazine latch, but this is again eliminated by replacing them with larger ones. Pistols 17C and other versions with integrated compensators, when using insufficiently powerful cartridges or loaded with light bullets, often do not extract spent cartridges and do not send cartridges due to the fact that part of the energy required for the stable operation of the automation is consumed by the compensator. There were problems with the guides breaking from side impacts, which arose due to a manufacturing error, but were quickly eliminated. Glock pistols are easy to shoot, but in order to shoot very accurately, a fairly long training is required. The reason for the breakdown of parts and the destruction of frames are too powerful, as a rule, hand-loaded, cartridges, but this is no longer a direct design flaw. The disadvantages can also be indirectly attributed to the bumpiness of parts relative to each other, for example, the shutter on the frame and the magazine in the neck of the handle.
An interesting feature of Glock pistols is the ability to fire underwater. In this case, not only rupture, but also the swelling of the trunk does not occur. However, for stable actuation of the primer, a special striker with transverse grooves or a Spring cups amfibia kit - a striker mainspring with a plastic tray with holes, is required. Available only for pistols chambered for 9mm Parabellum. But for firing underwater without the risk of bulging the barrel, it is recommended to use cartridges with all-shell bullets such as FMJ. Glock pistols can be fired underwater at a depth of three meters. The bullet retains great energy at a distance of up to two meters when firing at a depth of one meter. Shooting at close range from under the water is also effective, while the sound of the shot is absent. This method of shooting is taught in many special forces.
It is necessary to mention a series of tests that the serial Glock 17 has successfully passed. Ice - a pistol with a loaded magazine was frozen in an ice cube for 60 days. After that, he was removed from the ice and fired 100 shots, 10 rounds each. Mud - the gun was oiled, covered and immersed in mud of various consistencies: dry sand, clay, wet river sand. After each such procedure, repeated 5 times, 100 shots were fired. In the silt - the pistol was completely moistened with water and immersed in the river silt. After a single shaking from the pistol with the remnants of sludge, 10 series of 10 shots were fired. Water - a fully equipped pistol was submerged for 1 hour in water to a depth of 1 meter, then the pistol was removed from the water and immediately fired 10 series of 10 shots. Durability: The loaded pistol was placed on coarse gravel and then a heavy truck drove over it. The truck was then left parked with a wheel on a pistol for an hour. After that, 100 shots were fired. All tests were carried out in the specified sequence with the same pistol and one magazine. There were no delays in any of them.
Glock 17 Gen 4 pistol - fourth generation Glock
Glock 17 Gen 4 pistol
Every Glock pistol is tested by firing high power test cartridges that create a lot of pressure in the bore. Practice has confirmed that Glock can withstand almost twice the pressure. The weapon has a long durability resource. Some pistols remained functional after hundreds of thousands of shots. The practice of regular shooting by the owners of these pistols for a long time, as well as shooting under water and shooting for a long time without cleaning and lubricating the weapon, confirms the highest corrosion resistance of all parts - Glock does not rust. With regard to survivability and resource, here the products of the Austrian company set simply amazing records. The life of the pistol under warranty is 40,000 shots, but factory tests have shown that the Glock 17 can withstand more than 360,000 shots without mechanical damage to the main parts of the weapon. Chuck Taylor, a weapons specialist and renowned journalist, has already shot over one million rounds of ammunition from his Glock! In general, Glock pistols are a very practical weapon, excellent in all respects, and are the best choice for police, military and special forces soldiers, as well as for ordinary citizens who use a pistol for self-defense or are fond of sports shooting. At the end of 2009, the company launched the fourth generation Glock pistols, designated Gen 4, which were presented at the 2010 SHOT Show in Las Vegas. The first Gen 4 models were the fourth generation Glock 22 and Glock 17 pistols, designated Glock 22 Gen 4 and 17 Gen 4, respectively. The main innovations of Gen 4 are: replaceable panels on the back of the handle; new texture of the handle surfaces; two return springs; narrower handle; enlarged magazine latch with a larger contact area, which can be rearranged to the right side of the pistol frame; On the left side of the bolt-casing, behind the stylized company logo and model number, there is the Gen 4 designation.
Main characteristics
Caliber: 9mm Parabellum
Weapon length: 186 mm
Barrel length: 114 mm
Weapon height: 138 mm
Weapon width: 30 mm
Weight without cartridges: 625 g.
Magazine capacity: 17 (optional 19 or 33) rounds
