Glock 17 vs Glock 19: Evaluating the OG Glocks

The Glock 17 and Glock 19 are each boxy, plain black, practically featureless pistols that modified the best way we take into consideration handguns. Simply 34 components have been introduced collectively by a man who had by no means constructed a gun earlier than to set a brand new commonplace for handgun design that might final for many years to return. I’m, in fact, speaking about when Gaston Glock contributed a very powerful new handgun design because the days of John M. Browning by introducing the Glock 17 after which the extra compact Glock 19 quickly after. 

The concept of those pistols popping out in sequence seemingly influenced the now widespread observe of gunmakers dropping a full-size pistol and a compact model proper on its heels. Polymer frames, striker-fired actions, no guide security, double stack magazines — these present requirements all return to the G17 and G19. 

However what are the vital variations between the Glock 17 vs Glock 19? Considerably surprisingly, these handguns are totally different sufficient that every has its personal diehard set of followers. Right here, we’ll get deep into the weeds on the variations, similarities, professionals, and cons between these two iconic Glocks. 

See It

• Launched: 1982
• Designer: Gaston Glock
• Motion: Glock Secure Motion, striker fired
• Caliber: 9x19mm
• Weight with Empty Magazine: 24.97 ounces
• Weight with Loaded Magazine: 33.33 ounces
• Barrel Size: 4.49 inches
• Journal Capability: Customary – 17 rounds; Non-obligatory – 19 / 24 / 31 / 33 / 10
• General Size: 7.95 inches
• Slide Size: 7.32 inches
• Width: 1.34 inches
• Slide Width: 1 inch
• Peak: 5.47 inches
• Sight Radius: 6.5 inches

See It

• Launched: 1988
• Designer: Gaston Glock
• Motion: Glock Secure Motion, striker fired
• Caliber: 9x19mm
• Weight with Empty Magazine: 23.63 ounces
• Weight with Loaded Magazine: 30.16 ounces
• Barrel Size: 4.02 inches
• Journal Capability: Customary – 15 rounds; Non-obligatory – 17 / 10 / 24
• General Size: 7.95 inches
• Slide Size: 6.85 inches
• Width: 1.34 inches
• Slide Width: 1 inch
• Peak: 5.04 inches
• Sight Radius: 6.02 inches

Glock 17 vs. Glock 19: Breaking It Down

The G17 and G19 are practically equivalent — when it comes to operation, they are equivalent. Most of the components are interchangeable. The Glock 19 is solely a reduced-sized Glock 17 launched in 1988 as a “compact” pistol meant for navy and legislation enforcement use. There was a G18 in between, which was a select-fire model of the G17 made for navy use that may fireplace in full auto. 

The G19 has since change into a favourite hid carry gun, and lots of profess that its grip and general measurement are simpler for a broader vary of shooters to deal with effectively and carry comfortably, both open or hid. 

The barrel and grip are shorter by a few half inch, which leads to a lowered journal capability (flush-fitting magazine) of 15 rounds versus the G17’s 17 rounds. An prolonged capability baseplate that provides house for 2 extra rounds is a well-liked G19 accent for these with bigger fingers. In actual fact, some shooters used to chop down a G17 grip to G19 size so the gun would print much less whereas nonetheless having a full-length G17 barrel and slide. 

What made these early Glock fashions so enticing was the very fact they may fireplace one another’s magazines in the event that they have been lengthy sufficient to slot in the grip. The flush G19 mags have been too brief to suit a G17, for instance, however the 17-round G17 mags might be utilized in a Glock 19, which may additionally use any magazine designed for the Glock 17 and the uncommon select-fire Glock 18. 

So the compact Glock cycled as reliably because the bigger G17, the mass of the Glock 19’s slide is identical regardless of its lowered dimensions.

In some ways, the Glock 19 is seen because the extra versatile and helpful handgun. Whereas the G17 has spawned a variety of variants and separate fashions (just like the Glock 34) and mods that make it a implausible competitors pistol, the Glock 19 has proved higher suited to tactical and defensive roles. 

The Glock 19 has lengthy been a favourite of U.S. Particular Operations Forces (SOF) operators who get to decide on their loadout past the usual concern equipment.  The Glock 19 Gen4 MOS (modular optic system) was truly designated by SOF because the Mk27 MOD 2 pistol. 

Curiously, when the U.S. navy launched its XM17 Modular Handgun System competitors in 2015 to discover a sidearm to switch the growing older Beretta M9, Glock despatched neither a Glock 17 nor a Glock 19 as its entry, however a brand new mannequin that was a hybrid of each. 

The Glock 19X was primarily a Glock 19 slide and barrel on a Glock 17-sized body (a hack that Glock house owners had been doing for years), all completed in a distinctly peanut-butter-like tan shade. 

Whereas Glock finally misplaced the MHS competitors and the profitable navy contract to the SIG Sauer P320, which grew to become the M17 pistol, the Glock 19X was launched on the business market, solely it didn’t have the guide security required by the navy. The Glock 19X truly spawned a brand new line of weapons that pair longer grips with shorter slides, just like the subcompact Glock 43X and the Glock 45, which Glock calls “crossover” fashions. 

Learn our full information of Finest Glocks, right here.

The Start of the P80 and Glock 17

When Gaston Glock got down to construct a brand new type of handgun on the daybreak of the Nineteen Eighties, he wasn’t a John Browning kind churning out design after design with extra refinements every time. He had zero expertise in gun design. What he did learn about, nonetheless, was superior artificial polymers. His background was key to the design of the Glock 17 and would change into a cornerstone of all the firm. 

In 1980, the Austrian navy started on the lookout for a brand new obligation pistol. Their personnel have been nonetheless carrying the WWII-era Walther P38. The navy finally introduced some standards, together with a 9mm chambering. 

Gaston heard concerning the seek for a brand new navy pistol, and since he didn’t know a complete lot about constructing weapons, he surrounded himself with individuals who did. He gathered main handgun specialists from throughout Europe with navy, legislation enforcement, and sport-shooting backgrounds. The aim was to articulate what options shooters of the day wished in a contemporary handgun made for fight. 

Three months later, he had a prototype in hand that made in depth use of contemporary manufacturing methods and artificial supplies — greater than any handgun had but dared. Not solely did this hold the design easy, but it surely additionally lowered price. In-house, the pistol was designated because the Glock 17, however when it was adopted by the Austrian Military later in 1982, it was designated because the Pistole 80, or P80. 

Dispelling Glock G17 Myths

You’ll come throughout some myths concerning the G17’s title and the place it got here from that sound fairly convincing. Little doubt you’ve learn on-line that the title comes from the truth that the OG pistol had a 17-round journal capability. It’s definitely true that that commonplace magazine for a Glock 17 holds 17 rounds, however that isn’t the place the title comes from. In any case, the Glock 19 doesn’t maintain 19 rounds, now does it? 

The extra uncommon however equally unfaithful clarification is that the Austrian navy had 17 necessities in its solicitation for a brand new sidearm, and the G17 checked all these containers. Once more, not true. 

The very fact is, the Glock 17 obtained its title as a result of it represented the seventeenth patent procured by Gaston Glock’s firm. That’s it. And that’s why the Glock mannequin numbers don’t have something to do with measurement, chambering, or anything that resembles logic. 

You may also hear that the Glock was the first pistol with a polymer body. Once more, not true. One may say it was the primary profitable handgun made with a polymer body and be fairly correct. 

The primary commercially obtainable handgun with a polymer body was the futuristic-looking (and lots of would say hideous and Hello-Level-esque) VP70 produced by Heckler & Koch in 1970, a full 12 years earlier than the G17 was launched. Not solely that, however the straight-blowback VP70 was extraordinarily mild (28.9 ounces) and had a double-stack journal with an 18-round capability. It even had a spring-loaded striker as a substitute of a hammer. 

Not like the Glock, the set off was double-action solely, so it was a reasonably heavy set off pull. This gun additionally had a enjoyable quirk — the navy model, the VP70M, included a removable inventory that might be used as a holster, identical to the outdated Mauser C96. It additionally had a enjoyable change that might permit the pistol to fireplace in 3-round burst mode, however solely when the inventory was hooked up.  

It even had the identical aim because the Glock, to be a reasonably easy handgun with few elements that might be straightforward to make use of and reasonably priced for common folks. The “VP” within the title stands for Volkspistole, actually “folks’s pistol” and it was made not for a navy contract however for an anticipated Soviet push into West Germany on the time. 

Whereas it wasn’t broadly profitable, and its heavy set off gave it a foul popularity, H&Ok produced the VP70 and its variants for nearly 20 years till 1989. 

Glock 17 vs Glock 19, Key Options

The Glock 17 and Glock 19 are each short-recoil operated, locked breech pistols that use a modified cam-lock system adopted from the 9mm Hello-Energy pistol that was largely designed by John Browning. So, there is a little bit of Browning’s work current in each Glock. 

The Glock locking mechanism features a linkless, vertically tilting barrel paired with an oblong breech that locks into the slide’s ejection port, very like SIG’s pistols.

Protecting Coatings

Glock has integrated modern coatings to guard the metal components of its weapons, one other product of Gaston Glock’s proficiency with fashionable supplies. There have been additionally design parts meant to extend the pistol’s means to function in hostile circumstances.

The Striker Motion

Whereas the striker-action on the VP70 had a heavy set off as a result of it was liable for each absolutely cocking the striker and releasing the sear to fireplace the gun, Glock’s system fastened this downside. 

When a Glock’s slide is racked, it brings the set off to the half-cock place. When the set off is pressed, it cocks the striker the remainder of the best way after which releases the sear, permitting the striker to maneuver ahead and fireplace a spherical. The firing pin is then captured within the half-cock place on the finish of the firing cycle for subsequent pictures.

This course of, often known as the Glock Secure Motion set off, makes the general set off pull lighter and smoother, and it’s additionally the rationale that, after the chamber is cleared, a Glock set off should be pulled to disengage the half-cocked striker earlier than the gun will be disassembled.  

The slide contains an exterior, spring-loaded claw extractor and a metallic ejector pinned to the housing of the set off mechanism. Glocks made after 2002 have a otherwise formed extractor that additionally serves as a loaded-chamber indicator that protrudes barely to point a loaded spherical. 

The Polymer Body

Now, let’s get to essentially the most controversial a part of the Glock — its polymer body. The gun obtained a bizarre popularity with unhealthy connotations within the Nineteen Eighties when Glocks have been nonetheless uncommon on this facet of the Atlantic. Individuals known as it a “plastic gun” or mentioned it was fabricated from ceramic and was designed to keep away from metallic detectors. 

This concept was strengthened by a quote from John McClane (Bruce Willis) in Die Laborious 2 (1990) that the media latched onto in the course of the push for the Brady Invoice that was finally enacted in 1993:

“That punk pulled a Glock 7 on me. You understand what that’s?” McClane says of the handguns utilized by terrorists within the film. “It’s a porcelain gun made in Germany. Doesn’t present up in your airport X-ray machines, right here, and it prices greater than you make in a month.”

Not one factor in that quote is correct, however on the time, most Individuals didn’t know a rattling factor about Glocks, and lots of believed it. However you may’t completely blame the film. In 1988, congress handed the Undetectable Firearms Act that outlawed the manufacture or import of any weapons that might go by way of a metallic detector. That was two years earlier than the film got here out, so this concept concerning the Glock was already floating round on the market. 

A “Plastic Gun”

The Glock body, journal physique, and different elements are created from a brilliant sturdy nylon-based polymer that Gaston Glock invented, known as Polymer 2. It was formulated for top sturdiness and was extra resilient than metal alloys. It’s additionally immune to shock, caustic liquids, and temperature extremes that might heat metal frames or make them brittle. 

The frames are made by way of an injection molding course of that embeds 4 hardened metal rails within the polymer that act as information rails for the slide, two on the rear of the body and a pair above and in entrance of the set off guard. The set off guard is squared off and checkered on all fashions. The body includes a grip angle of 109 levels, someplace between a 1911 and a Luger. 

Regardless of what John McClane says, Polymer 2 completely reveals up on x-ray machines, and a lot of the Glock 17 and Glock 19’s weight comes from metal elements.

The pistols have a low slide profile, leading to a bore axis far decrease than the SIG P226, one other fashionable 9mm pistol of the late Nineteen Eighties and Nineties. This helps scale back muzzle rise and felt recoil for quicker capturing and higher goal reacquisition between pictures.   

The slide and its distinctive, brutalistic, rectangular form is CNC machined from a block of metal. 

The barrel and slide have been hardened utilizing a proprietary course of known as Tenifer, which was utilized with a excessive temperature nitride bathtub. The Tenifer remedy was extremely immune to put on, corrosion, climate, and even salt water and sweat. As a result of the coating truly penetrates the metal, it retains these properties even when the seen end wears. The nitriding is topped with a adorning Parkerized floor end.

In 2010, Glock switched from the high-temp bathtub nitriding to a fuel nitriding course of that hasn’t been revealed to the general public.

All of those options are the identical on the Glock 19. 

Simplicity In Movement

The Glock 17 and Glock 19 each break down absolutely into solely 34 components. For normal upkeep, the weapons break down into 5 main elements: the barrel, the slide, the body, the journal, and the recoil-spring meeting. 

The barrel is hammer cast with right-handed twist polygonal rifling (.45 ACP and .45 GAP fashions use octagonal polygonal rifling). New strains of Glock pistols just like the G43 use the Glock Marksmanship Barrel, which has a deeper rifling sample. 

“Glock Doesn’t Have a Security”

The Glock 17 and Glock 19, together with the corporate’s different handgun fashions, don’t include any type of guide thumb security, neither is it an choice. Many shooters see this as an enormous optimistic. It reduces coaching time for these new to the Glock platform and reduces a step that requires tremendous motor abilities when drawing a handgun to make it prepared to fireplace. 

However Glocks do, certainly, have a security. In actual fact, they’ve three impartial security mechanisms which can be the opposite elements within the Glock “Secure Motion.” 

There’s the exterior set off security: that little tab that protrudes from the middle of the set off. When pressed, it prompts the set off bar and connector. There are additionally two automated inside safeties: a firing pin security and a drop security. The firing pin security is a metal pin that blocks the firing pin channel till it’s pushed upward and releasing the firing pin when the set off is activated. 

The drop security guides the set off bar in a ramp launched in the course of the set off pull. Every security is disengaged in sequence when the set off is depressed, after which all of them re-engage when the set off is launched.    

Glock 17 vs Glock 19, Which Is Higher? 

So which is higher? Effectively, that every one depends upon what the gun shall be used for.

The Glock 17 has a better capability when utilizing a flush magazine and a barely longer barrel and sight radius, so there may be extra ammo and higher accuracy potential with iron sights. For an obligation gun in a holster, it’s very best. For some, a G17 is snug within the hand and concealable in an IWB holster, in order that’s what they carry. 

When you’re on the lookout for a contest gun, the G17 is an efficient base. In actual fact, one of many earliest Glock variants was the long-slide G17L meant for aggressive capturing, which morphed into the G34. And, in fact, there are all of the custom-made Glock race weapons on the market. 

On the subject of legislation enforcement and navy use, with prolonged baseplates, you get the identical capability out of a G19, which is a bit lighter and a bit shorter, so it will also be hid when mandatory. That is all the motive a separate, compact configuration of the M17 was adopted by the U.S. navy because the M18.   

For these absolutely centered on CCW, the G19 is extra concealable for extra folks, whereas the G17 is only a bit too cumbersome for a lot of. 

So, in the long run, it’s not that the Glock 19 is healthier than the Glock 17, or vice versa, however that they’re every higher at totally different handgun duties. That mentioned, the Glock 19 is a little more versatile than its barely larger brother. However in the long run, each individual has to shoot what they shoot finest and carry what carries finest. The hope is that each will be present in the identical gun.