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For those who love pistols and haven't been living under a rock for the past 30 years, the name Glock has become a household name in the world of shooting. People who have never owned a gun (let alone a Glock) will recognize the name. It is estimated that 65% of US law enforcement agencies use Glock in some form. It's time to dig deeper into everything you need to know about the Glock 9mm and its various models. We see:
Best 9 Mm Glock
The Glock story is quite surprising considering that the person who designed the gun knew very little about handgun design. Gaston Glock sells curtain rods and knives to the Austrian army and knows injection molded parts. His team designed the Model 17 pistol to help the Austrian army in need of a new sidearm, and a firearms legend was born. An interesting piece of information is that "17" refers to the 17th patent granted to Glock Corporation, and this numbering system continues to this day.
Glock 17 Review: Best Full Size 9mm?
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Shooters tend to be either Glock fans or critics. There aren't many middle grounds there. I'm one of those rare birds that defies my opinion of Gaston's prodigy. I've owned a Model 30 .45 ACP for quite some time and had an upgraded barrel to fire my cast bullet handload. It worked well without being overly flashy. It wasn't total eye candy. I called Glocks in another article I wrote about the Chevy Impala of the gun industry. The Impala is a good mid-size car popular with car buyers. It's stable and well designed without being overly flashy.
Like the Impala, the Glock does its job in an intentional way. Get the job done without costing an arm and a leg. And they are generally very reliable. Any law enforcement that buys a Glock system is pretty good evidence of this.
To narrow things down, let's take a look at Glock's best sellers. In terms of caliber, the 9mm rules the Glock's roost. And of the more than 50 pistol models Glock sells, the absolute best seller is the 9mm Model 19. This compact pistol holds 15+1 rounds in a smaller package. I know a lot of people who wear this model because it seems to strike the best balance between concealable size and capacity. If that's not for you, there are 19 other 9mm Glock base models to choose from.
Best Compact 9mm Handguns For Self Defense
We've put together a table comparing the specs of the most popular models, plus an extended version comparing all 20 of them for every detail-oriented shooter. Of course, some of these models are very rare in gun stores because they tend to have very specific purposes (long range competition where the Model 34 excels, for example). So, before summarizing all the numbers in the table, let's take a closer look at the most popular Glock 9mm.
This is a condensed list. Are you a numbers person? Here are the extended versions of all available 9mm Glocks, which can be sorted by clicking on the headers (the table is best viewed on a PC or tablet).
Now let's look at each model. Before that, a bit of explanation is needed. If you look at the table above, you will see "MOS" and "FS" after some models. MOS stands for Modular Optic System. Glock modified the frame of this gun by milling a slot in front of the rear sight to accommodate the mounting plate for the red dot or other rear sight. This is covered with filler when not in use.
FS means the weapon has a front (sliding) point. Pistols marked FS have teeth on the front of the slide in addition to the standard rear teeth to make the slide easier to operate. Many shooters have asked Glock to add front cogs to all of their newer guns. So far they've only applied it to weapons marked FS.
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To keep this article as useful as possible for those considering a Glock purchase, the Glock generation needs an explanation. A "generation" in Glock's terminology corresponds to another company releasing a "Mod 2", "2.0", etc. It basically means a major overhaul to how weapons work. Feature changes (commonly referred to as upgrades) can be a few minor changes, some "major" major changes, or a combination of the two that makes sense for the next generation. Hence the move from the original Glock (now called Gen1) to Gen5, the latest generation at the time of this writing.
This is the original naked Glock Model 17. You can identify this gun by the relative lack of stippling or texturing on the frame and finger grooves. This is the Glock originally equipped when the Austrian Army ordered 25,000 pistols in 1983. Here's an interesting fact. In addition to the Model 17 pistol marketed for military use, there was also the Model 18. Glock also offered a compensating version of this gun (the Model 18C). It was technically a submachine gun, and the regulations and fees levied on owning a machine gun made it known to those who wanted to buy it.
They gave the 2009 Model 22 RTF2 (.40 S&W) a rough, textured finish, fish gill-like slide serrations, and new checkering around the grip. Other models available with RTF2 processing are the 31, 32, 23, 21, and 19, but not all models have airga-shaped tines.
Starting with the 17 models, we see full-size frames and longer barrels than the smaller models. This gun was the first Glock to go mainstream. This is mainly because it has been occupied by the Austrian army and some police units since 1982. I remember when guns came out that were the first "plastic guns" distributed worldwide (the H&K VP70 was technically the first polymer gun released for the German market in 1970).
Archon Mfg Glock Compensator 1/2 28 9mm
Anti-shooters were all excited that these "plastic cannons" would not be visible to airport metal detectors, and parts of the shooting community thought the gun would fail due to concerns about gun frame durability. There were absolutely no concerns. It just didn't happen. Instead, the pistol's reliability and innovative design made it popular with civilians as well as the military and police. Weapons average only 35... Talk about simplicity! My brother has a 4th gen Model 17 which he likes a lot. He was taken and impressed. Because of its size, the 17 is not suitable for concealed carry. It's more suited to a police level 3 holding holster or a military SOE agent's leg-mounted tactical gear.
Model 17 is available in Gen 3, 4 and 5 versions. So if you like (or don't) like finger grooves, you're in luck. You can buy a household that has what you want. Need a competitive weapon? Equip the red dot scope on your Gen4 or Gen5 MOS. Want a no-frills all-around shooter? Buy Gen3 and save money (if you can find it). As mentioned above, it all started with the Model 17.
Alright...now let's look at the compact 9mm. The #1 selling Glock brand, the Model 19 has an enthusiastic audience. Let's not forget the aftermarket parts industry as well. There are probably more third-party parts available for the Model 19 than any other Glock. Still, with a 4-inch barrel, slim 1.5-inch width, and 15 rounds in the magazine, the Model 19 is almost perfect for concealed carry in an IWB or OWB. As I wrote before, this pistol is the benchmark against which other compact 9mm pistols are evaluated.
I know several people who wear the Model 19 and love it. It's no coincidence that Glock decided to launch the Model 17 and Model 19 first in Gen5 configuration. The 17 and Model 19 with law enforcement are our best-selling Glocks.
Range Report: Glock 45 9mm Pistol
The Gen5 Model 19 received generally favorable reviews. The only complaint we've heard about the Gen5 Model 19 is the cutout on the lower front of the frame. Some shooters report that their hands hurt because the heel of the thumb and palm is where they touch the frame. Sharp edges are the culprit, they say. This doesn't seem to be an issue on the Model 17 due to the longer grip frame. Luckily they fixed this issue on the new Model 45 (below) as well.
Like the Model 17, there are several variants of the model as well.
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