Welcome to c2d's first installment of Shook Guns. In this series we will profile and explore different aspects of firearms; from the basic to the exotic, modern to futuristic, practical to ridiculous. New products, practical application, and fact vs fiction will all be part of the series. So wipe the Hollywood out of your eyes and prepare to get shook...
SHOOK GUNS pt.1 : Primer on Glock Sizes
FACT: All handguns are NOT Glocks!
While urban slang contains terms such as Gat, Strap, Heater, Biscuit (etc) that refer to guns generically, Glock is a brand name. You wouldn't refer to every type of car as a Porsche, so don't make yourself sound ignorant by referring to a lesser quality gun (HiPoint, Jennings, Bryco, Jimenez, Raven, etc) as a "Glock".
Designed by Gaston Glock for the Austrian military in the mid 80's, the Glock handgun revolutionized pistol design, spawning scores of imitators (nearly every handgun manufacturer currently makes some type of Glock-like pistol).
The attributes that made the GLock a success include: lightweight polymer frame, high capacity magazine, inexpensive to manufacture, retardedly reliable under adverse conditions, internal safeties making manual safeties obsolete. I will not go into extensive detail about the Glocks in general because it is common knowledge that can be researched thru mainstream sources, like Wikipedia.
The .40cal GLock is the most common police weapon in the United States, with more than 75% off all cops carrying one.
Pictured above are 4 of the 5 different sizes of Glock 9mm handguns. from left to right: Subcompact Model 26 (known as the "baby" glock), Compact 19, Fullsize 17 (the Original Glock model), Practical/Tactical 34. Not pictured is the Longslide 17L, which has a slightly longer barrel than the 34. Generally, each model increases barrel length and grip length by 1/2" increments, although the 17, 34, and 17L have identical grips with varying barrel lengths.
Also note that the model 17 pictured is the 2nd generation frame, before the addition of finger grooves and accessory rail seen on the newer models.
Magazine capacity from left to right is 10, 15, 17 and 17. the beauty of Glock pistols is that mags are interchangeable between different models in the same caliber; therefore the 17rd mag of the model 17 can be used in the subcompact model 26 (with an inch of extra mag hanging out obviously).
The 26 is an ideal gun for concealment, but its abbreviated grip (not long enough to catch the pinky on normal sized hands) can make it trickier to handle for inexperienced shooters. The 19 bridges the gap, allowing a compact size for concealment but enough grip to hold onto like a full-size gun. The 17 is the standard duty-size pistol for Law Enforcement and Military applications. the 34 is slightly longer than the 17, popular with competition shooters ("practical") but also finding favor with SWAT and other Police users ("tactical").
Glocks in the 40s&w caliber are the exact same size as the 9mm models, and are designated as the Models 27, 23, 22, 35, 24 (from the subcompact up to the longslide). the 45acp and 10mm models also mirror each other in size, but are different from the 9mm/40sw versions (stay tuned for this info in future posts).
In the next installment of Shook Guns, we will see a customized Glock that blurs the lines and "cheats" its way inbetween the models 26 and 19 in size.
Please feel free to make requests for future posts in the comments section.
*the super-nice B&W pic was taken by Y.Arava*
