32 Facts About Glock 17

1.

Glock 17 pistols have become the company's most profitable line of products, and have been supplied to national armed forces, security agencies, and police forces in at least 48 countries.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,427
2.

Glock 17 had extensive experience in advanced synthetic polymers, which was instrumental in the company's design of the first commercially successful line of pistols with a polymer frame.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,428
3.

Glock 17 introduced ferritic nitrocarburizing into the firearms industry as an anticorrosion surface treatment for metal gun parts.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,429
4.

Glock 17 became aware of the Austrian Army's planned procurement, and in 1982, assembled a team of Europe's leading handgun experts from military, police, and civilian sport-shooting circles to define the most desirable characteristics in a combat pistol.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,430
5.

Several samples of the Glock 17 were submitted for assessment trials in early 1982, and after passing all of the exhaustive endurance and abuse tests, the Glock emerged as the winner.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,431
6.

The Glock 17 outperformed eight different pistols from five other established manufacturers.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,432
7.

Glock 17 was then invited to participate in the XM9 Personal Defense Pistol Trials, but declined because the DOD specifications would require extensive retooling of production equipment and providing 35 test samples in an unrealistic time frame.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,433
8.

In 1985, after joint Norwegian and Swedish trials from 1983 to 1985, the Glock 17 was accepted into service as the P80 in Norway, and in 1988 as the Pistol 88 in Sweden, where it surpassed all prior NATO durability standards.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,434
9.

Glock 17 has updated its basic design several times throughout its production history.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,435
10.

The earliest Glock 17 boxes had ammunition storage compartments that allowed for 17 rounds of 9mm to be stored with the pistol.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,436
11.

Mid-life upgrade to the Glock 17 pistols involved the addition of checkering on the front strap and trigger guard and checkering and serrations to the back strap.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,437
12.

At the 2010 SHOT Show, Glock 17 presented the "fourth generation", now dubbed "Gen4" by Glock 17 itself.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,438
13.

Basic grip size of the fourth-generation Glock 17 pistols is slightly smaller compared to the previous design.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,439
14.

Mechanically, fourth-generation Glock 17 pistols are fitted with a dual recoil spring assembly to help reduce perceived recoil and increase service life expectancy.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,440
15.

In September 2011, Glock 17 announced a recoil spring exchange program in which the manufacturer voluntarily offers to exchange the recoil spring assemblies of its fourth-generation pistols sold before 22 July 2011 at no cost "to ensure our products perform up to GLOCK's stringent standards", according to the company.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,441
16.

On 29 June 2016, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation awarded a contract to Glock 17 to provide new 9×19mm Parabellum chambered duty pistols.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,442
17.

Glock 17 is a short recoil–operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistol that uses a modified Browning cam-lock system adapted from the Hi-Power pistol.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,443
18.

Glock 17 pistols incorporate a number of features intended to enhance reliability in adverse conditions, such as utilizing advanced metal coatings, "stub" slide guides instead of true frame rails, and an unusual cocking mechanism wherein the trigger is partially responsible for cocking the striker.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,444
19.

Glock 17 pistol has a relatively low slide profile, which holds the barrel axis close to the shooter's hand and makes the pistol more comfortable to fire by reducing muzzle rise and allows for faster aim recovery in rapid firing sequences.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,445
20.

In 2003, Glock 17 announced the Internal Locking System safety feature named Glock 17 Safety Lock.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,446
21.

Glock 17 feeds from staggered-column or double stack magazines that have a 17-round capacity or optional 24 or 33-round high-capacity magazines.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,447
22.

Glock 17 magazines are interchangeable between models of the same caliber, meaning that a compact or subcompact pistol will accept magazines designed for the larger pistols chambered for the same round.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,448
23.

Glock 17 Switch is an aftermarket accessory which depresses the firearm's sear allowing fully automatic fire.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,449
24.

Glock 17 later produced a series of anniversary models to celebrate business milestones and in honor of 20,25, and 30 years of US sales.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,450
25.

Glock 17 produces five models of single-stack "Slimline" subcompact pistols, the Glock 17 36 in.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,451
26.

Glock 17's entry featured an optional ambidextrous magazine release and MIL-STD-1913 rail along with a reduction in the size of the backstrap.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,452
27.

The Glock 17 21SF is currently available in three versions: one with a Picatinny rail and ambidextrous magazine release and two with a Universal Glock 17 rail available with or without the ambidextrous magazine release.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,453
28.

The reduced size and mass of the Glock 17 42 required return to the Glock 17-standard locked-breech design.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,454
29.

Glock 17 pistols are being assembled locally at army workshops of Uruguay to fulfill the needs of the national military services and law enforcement organizations.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,455
30.

Tatmadaw of Myanmar have adopted a clone of the Glock 17 known as the MA5 MK II, which was first reported in 2018.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,456
31.

Unlicensed Glock 17 clones are made in Pakistan's Khyber region, which were first reported in 2018.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,457
32.

Glock 17 pistols have been used in mass shootings including the 1991 Luby's shooting, the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, the 2011 Tucson shooting, the 2012 Aurora shooting, the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the 2015 Charleston church shooting, the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, and the 2022 NYC subway shooting.

FactSnippet No. 2,232,458