Glock 17 Pistol This year the British Army announced it is replacing its standard issue sidearm, the Browning used for the last 70 years, for the Glock 17. 25,000 of the pistols have been purchased at a cost of £9 million (£360 each). This is a big change and thought it deserved an article on the superb pistols history. The deal also includes 25,000 holsters.
The famous Glock 17 Pistol was unusually designed by an engineer with no experience or background in weapon or gun design. The engineer was called Gatson Glock, he had extensive knowledge of polymers and using this material. The Glock series of pistols are constructed from synthetic polymers and at first many could not accept a ‘plastic’ gun. Despite that the weapon is now hugely popular, enjoying a 65% market share of pistols among Law Enforcement agencies in the USA.
The Glock got its name not only from the designer (Glock of course) but also the pistol was the companies 17th design patent and in 1982 in Austria the Glock 17 pistol was born. 2,500,000 of these great guns have been made to date and they are still in production today and for the foreseeable future.
The pistol takes 9mm rounds, has a 50m effective range and a muzzle velocity of 375m/s.
Although in the UK automatic pistols are illegal you can buy your own airsoft replica of the iconic Glock 17, no license required VCR act compliant, you just need to be over 18.