GLOCK needs to be recognized for creating the polymer, striker-fired pistol. I still remember the news programs freaking out when GLOCKs first hit the store shelves that these “plastic” pistols were going to be undetected by metal detectors and that every nut job was going to be carrying them into courthouses and on planes.
Or on Die Hard when the John McClain character stated the GLOCK “7” is “a porcelain gun made in Germany.” and that “It doesn’t show up on your airport X-ray machines here and it costs more than what you make in a month!”
Clearly the news and Hollywood have been the same idiots who refuse to do any actual work before they speak. GLOCKS were quite a bit cheaper than their counterparts, the majority of them are, in fact, metal, I can’t even make a joke at the porcelain part. That’s simply too ridiculous in its own right.
I didn’t grow up around firearms, my dad had a 12 gauge shotgun that he used for deer hunting and that was all we had. I moved out at 21 and about a year after that I decided that I wanted to buy myself a handgun. Knowing nothing about firearms I went online and asked on the forums what a good general use pistol would be for a first-time gun owner. The one that kept coming up more than anything else was the GLOCK 17.
I stopped by my local gun store and told them I wanted to buy a GLOCK 17 and placed my order. About two weeks later it came in and I picked it up, bought two 100-round boxes of 9mm ammo, and took it home. I still remember the first time I loaded it, my hands were physically shaking as I knew that I held a loaded firearm that could hurt and kill someone if used improperly. I went to the range and shot through the first box, I hit the paper on every shot but I still had a lot to learn. When I got home I searched online for gun cleaners and came across Hoppes #9 cleaner and oil, I bought both and waiting for them to come in.
Since this was the days before YouTube I couldn’t find a good tutorial to walk me through field stripping and cleaning it so I read the manual and did my first cleaning. I had zero faith in my abilities and knowledge so when I went to the range the next time again my hand was shaking when I went to shoot as I was partially afraid that the gun would explode in my hand. Luckily I put it back together correctly and was instantly hooked but I knew I needed to learn more about firearms. I signed up for a GLOCK armorer’s course and since my state didn’t have CCW at the time took an out-of-state Utah CCW course to learn more about using a firearm for self-defense and get more practice shooting. I finally moved to competitive shooting and am now a certified law enforcement firearms instructor in two states as well as a certified CCW instructor in two states. I have kept my GLOCK Advanced Armorer certs current and have added 1911, AR15/M16, Beretta, and Sig Sauer Armorer certs to those. Talk about a big step forward from having shaking hands from simply holding a loaded gun.
That first GLOCK was a generation three 17 and it’s what got me hooked on firearms. Since then I have continued to love the 17 and buy a new one every time a new generation comes out. It has been my main duty weapon as a police officer through all these years and trust it absolutely with my life.
GLOCKS are cheap, relatively speaking, extremely reliable, and more accurate than the vast majority of shooters. The one change I always made on mine was replacing the factory sights with proper night sights. My favorite being the TruGlo TFOs, they have both fiber optics and tritium to make sure they glow bright no matter the lighting levels. I can come on target faster with them than any other sight. Of course, they won’t be as popular as red dots continue to take over, as they very well should. Speaking of red dots after owning this pistol for several years I decided to send it off to be milled for a red dot, they also made the rear cocking serrates more aggressive and added front serrations to the slide. Take a look at both pictures to see the before and after of their work. I replaced the TFO sights with Trijicon suppressor height night sights and then installed the Trijicon RMR sight.
The biggest downside to a full-sized GLOCK is the massive grip but I’ve found most people can make it work properly. With the Gen4 came the ability to change different backstraps so it can accommodate even more hands. They then added the ambidextrous magazine release and slide stop to continue to fit more hands. If it is simply too large for you still, you can move down to the 19 which helps some, otherwise, something like an M&P might be best for you.
When we have new officers I almost always recommend they carry a GLOCK 17, you can’t beat the price and reliability, and no other firearm has as many accessories, holsters, and such made for it and in stock at most places. Other weapons may work better for the individual officer but they normally don’t have the same luck finding the exact holster, magazine carrier, and so forth for it, or if they do there’s a decent size wait for it to be in stock.
One of the biggest selling factors on GLOCK when they first came out was the 17-round magazine, there was nothing else like it at the time. Not to mention creating the striker-fired pistol which helped with reliability without the need of a manual safety or a DA/SA design and having a constant trigger pull.
Stay safe, be kind, and help those in need.