The Glock 17 9mm Semi-automatic Pistol

One of these days I might right about how I became a very staunch gun enthusiast. I won't do that now, but I will say that this is my first pistol. My only other shooting experience was with daddy's shotgun when I was younger and then shooting a Winchester lever action rifle when I was working on a ranch in college. The basic story is that there had been a couple shootings in my neighborhood and one came a bit too close to home. My wife and myself bought our first guns a couple days after the last one and have been practicing shooting ever since.

The Glock 17 is a 9mm pistol made in Austria. It has a polymer plastic type lower receiver and a metal top slide with fixed sights. It is a relatively light gun compared to many pistols in the same class. It comes as standard with 17 round magazines but will accept higher and lower capacity magazines. I personally have one 10 round magazine and several 33 round magazines. You can buy official Glock magazines or find generic magazines that are compatible with the Glock 17. Typically the generic magazines are about half the price and I have found they work just as good as the more expensive one.

I have been to the range several times with it since I bought it and have been very happy. If you are not used to shooting I will warn you the first time it had a kick in my opinion, but I barely notice it now. My wife still does not like to shoot it as she feels there is too much kick, but she is comfortable enough to shot it if she needed to. I have used Speer Lawman 115gr FMJ and Champion Federal ammo that is only available at Wal-Mart. I think I have shot over 500 rounds so far and have not had one single jam with the gun. I have actually been told that you would stand a much better chance of getting struck by lightning than a Glock jamming on you. I have heard other people say that they had a Glock and it jammed, so they decided to buy another gun and return the Glock. It appears to be really accurate with either ammo that I have used. There are a wide variety of other ammunition that I am sure you could use as well. Many people use FMJ or full metal jacket for target practice but will use JHP or hallow points for self-defense purposes. I personally have not shot any hollow point ammo yet, but I am sure it will work just as good. Glock pistols are very popular with police departments and the 9mm is one of the most popular calibers that are carried by law enforcement professionals. These will typically run you about $500-$575 new and often come with a hard case and 2 17 round magazines. I bought mine for $399 and it was used. The salesman mentioned that the person before me only had it a very short time and it was not used often. It is also worth noting that the Glock 17 is easy as pie to clean. There are basically four parts. I would recommend checking out a youtube.com video as there are many showing it. The main thing to know is there are only four pieces to it and three of those are in the upper. I had cleaning it down the first time I tried.

There really is not much that can be said negative about the Glock 17. One thing that I do not like is that is does not have regular button safety. There is a safety mechanism that is a little trigger on the trigger that has to be engaged in order to fire. The thing is if you squeeze the trigger it will fire. For new shooters I could see someone going to draw this from a holster and shoot themselves in the foot, but I have not had any problems as I am very careful and respectful of guns and safety procedures. Another thing that I do not like is that the barrel is not extended and it is really expensive to get an extended barrel. There are not many uses for an extended barrel, but in some states you can legally own or produce a silencer or suppressor and you need an extended barrel for that. I believe the Glock 17 and Glock pistols in general are worth the money as a main self defense or target weapon. If you are a first time buyer though there are many high quality semi-automatic pistols for lower prices. Smith & Wesson actually makes a couple that can be bought for $300-$350 new or $250 used. I would compare the quality to Glock, but I have heard there are more jams that will occur, but they still are a good choice if the Glock is out of your price range. Also with target shooting 9mm ammunition is about .21 cents per round depending no where you go. If you shoot 22lr ammo this is about .6 cents per round. The answer to this is to buy a Glock conversion kit. There are a couple manufacturers out there but the main one is Advantage Arms. They will run about $260 new. I have not seen any used but you should expect to save at least 20%. I will mention that 22lr jams much more in general than center fire ammo because of the way it's made. This doesn't damage your Glock, but be prepared for the occasional jam or failure to feed. There is also a 22lr pistol from a company called Austrian Sporting Arms or ISSC called the M22 22LR caliber. This is pretty much the side of a Glock with a conversion kit, but you get an extra gun and can save some wear and tear on your main Glock. I will be doing more research on these as I really like to shoot and 22 ammo is much cheaper than 9mm.

Overall I don't think there is much that you could say negative about the Glock 17. The ammo is affordable and readily available. It is also very accurate and easy to carry. It is a bit larger and is not really a concealed carry weapon unless it's under a jacket. I would recommend this for anyone who does not have an issue with the price range. Like many gun dealers though I would often recommend a revolver for your first pistol as there is much less to deal with or that could go wrong with a revolver. A 38 special or 357 that will also shoot 38 is always a great choice.

Most reasonable people would hope that they never have to pull one of these on another human being or shoot another human being, but there is a point when you need to think of your own safety. In the neighborhood that I live in there is no doubt in my mind that in a home invasion that many of the people in my neighborhood would kill me and rape my wife. If you heard of the hate crime committed by blacks against whites in the Knoxville Horror you would know they might rape the guy to. I would much rather take my chances defending my life and my wife's and being judged by 12 people than us both being carried by six. I am not way offering legal advice on when you use deadly force. You want to check with you local authorities on that and obey all gun laws concerning storage and how you carry it if you are able to.

Thank you for reading

God Bless you and God Bless America.

"My freedom is protected by the Constitution of the United States of America, the Armed forces, and me the American Gun owner"

Sources and for further reading.

www.budsgunshop.com

www.Glock.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fx0-hMFako I used this youtube video to learn to clean mine. There is a wealth of information there. I do a few things different but this does give you a great idea.