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The G17
Love It or Hate It
The Jane's Guns Recognition Guide states:
"This pistol first appeared in 1983, winning a contract to supply the Austrian Army.
Since then it has become enormously popular with police officers, particularly in
the USA and has also seen military adoption in several countries. It is a
self-cocking automatic using a locked breech relying on the Browning tilting barrel.
About 40% of the weapon is made of plastic materials. "
In the United States, the G17 received a mixed welcome. Antigun proponents
quickly jumped on the plastic pistol, claiming it was invisible to airport X-ray
machines and was sure to be the weapon of choice among terrorists.
The fact is, the G17, like all Glock pistols, is not invisible to X-ray due to
it's construction. The Glock 17 contains over 500 grams of steel,
and can easily be detected by the same devices that are used to show the
presence of conventional guns(see pic below).
X-ray of a G30
Traditionalists on the pro-gun side just thought it was plain ugly. But as they say,
"Beauty is in the eye of the be holder!" There were also concerns about how
long the polymer frame would last. This would become a non issue after the company
fired a single G17 over 200,000 times. Glock pistols have proven
durability through many "Torture Test".
If I were only allowed to own one handgun, it would be a G17.
Safeties
At first glance, Glock pistols appear to have no safety. The fact is, Glock pistols have
two internal safeties and one external safety.
Let's begin with the trigger safety.
This consist of a small lever imbedded in the trigger
which has to be depressed by the trigger finger to disengage.
The second safety is a firing pin block. This safety prevents the foward
movement of the firing pin. This safety can only be
disengaged through the trigger pull.
The third safety is a drop safety.
This safety prevents the forward movement of the firing pin in
the event the pistol is dropped.