Meet The Glock 17: The Best Semiauto Gun On The Planet?
My Editor asked: Some say the Glock 17 is the best overall semiauto in the world today. Do you agree or disagree?
As a gun writer and longtime firearms enthusiast, I’m oftentimes asked “What is the best handgun for self-defense?” Though I certainly have my personal favorites, I don’t consider any one gun best for everybody, but there are certain makes and models of revolvers I suggest that new shooters and first-time gun buyers might consider. One of the guns on that list of suggestions is invariably the 9mm Glock 17.
Knowing what a Glock fanboy I am, our Editor asked me to address the following question: “Some say the Glock 17 is the best overall semiauto in the world today. Do you agree or disagree? And why?” At the risk of sounding like a politician talking out both sides of my mouth, my answer is “Yes and No!”
Okay, lemme ‘splain: I don’t consider the G17 to be the best semi-auto pistol in the world in every category, but I *do* consider the gun to be the best in the two most vital categories of all: reliability and durability. I shall provide stories of torture tests from three different entities to prove my point.
Glock 17 Reliability & Durability Stories Part I: The Austrian Army
The Austrian Army was the first significant entity to test the mettle of the G17, commencing these tests shortly after the gun first went into production in 1982. These brutal field tests included freezing the gat in a solid block of ice as well as the opposite extreme of subjecting it to temperatures over 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius). The gun took all this punishment in stride and the manufacturer was awarded the Austrian Army’s pistol contract.
Glock 17 Reliability & Durability Stories Part Deux: Miami (Florida) Police Department
Fast-forward to 1987, and Miami PD’s rank-and-file officers were begging for a switch from revolvers to semiautomatic pistols. One-upping the Austrian Army, Miami PD’s then-Armorer, Sgt. Paul Palank, did his own torture tests on the G17, which included dropping the pistol from a helicopter at an altitude of 400 feet. Other than a broken front sight, the gun still worked just fine, and it soon became Miami PD’s standard issue.
Glock 17 Reliability & Durability Stories Part Three: The Chuck Taylor Torture Tests
Arguably the most famous story of Glock 17 reliability and survivability comes to us from Chuck Taylor, U.S. Army Special Forces Vietnam veteran, highly respected firearms instructor, and author of multiple books on guns for combat. Chuck was also a diehard fan of the M1911A1 pistol and the .45 ACP cartridge and was initially very much inclined to hate the Glock. But he eventually conceded, “They work.”
Chuck’s endurance tests of the Glock 17 started in 1990, starting off with 10,000 jam-free rounds without a cleaning. As Chuck wrote in 2018, “No other pistol I knew of would have gone anywhere near 10,000 rounds and still work.” Neither do I, and I challenge our readers to come up with any credible stories of any other gun that can top this, whether from Beretta, Heckler & Koch (HK), FN, SIG Sauer, Walther, or whomever.
It was at a whopping 325,000 rounds – yes, THREE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND ROUNDS(!!!) – that Chuck’s G17 finally experienced a trigger spring breakage, which in turn caused a stoppage. “It was quickly replaced and shooting resumed. Then, after another hundred rounds, the firing pin tail chipped, but the gun continued to function.”
Chuck also provided a testament to the gun’s hardiness in terms of resistance to rust, wear, and corrosion:
“On one occasion, knowing I would return for another class in 30 days, I tossed it into the harbor where the unit’s headquarters was located to see if it would rust. When I returned, one of the team members obligingly donned scuba gear and retrieved it for me … Examination disclosed no rust … So I then left it on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean for a whopping six months. When it was subsequently recovered, the only corrosion evident was on the slide stop lever, and it wiped right off. No pitting or other rust was evident. Even submerging it in mud, sand, dust and snow on multiple occasions failed to cause the gun to malfunction.”
