Rare GLOCK G18 Operator School Video - Extended Version

This video is from a GCA member who has experience with the G18 select fire pistol. This is the extended version of the video since a G18 can dump a 33-round magazine as fast as you can blink. The rate of fire is 1,100 to 1,200 rounds per minute.

What is a G18?

The G18 is a selective-fire variant of the G17. The G18 was first produced in 1986, and features a lever-type fire-control selector switch, installed on the serrated portion of the rear left side of the slide. While common in many areas of the world, the GLOCK 18 is rare in the U.S. Where, due to federal law, their sale is artificially restricted to law enforcement and military units. The BATF classifies the GLOCK 18 as a post-1986 foreign-made machine gun. While it resembles the standard G17 in many ways, subtle design changes have been made so that it is impossible to fit the slide from a G18 onto the receiver (frame) of a standard G17. Still, externally the G-18 looks like a G17 and it will fit into all standard G17 holsters. The main difference, of course, is the selector lever that appears on the left side at the rear of the slide.

Is the GLOCK 18 Fully Automatic?

The G18 is a true burst-fire machine pistol, as controlled by the operator depressing the trigger. When the selector is flipped into the downward or semi-auto position, the G18 operates just like any other semi-auto GLOCK pistol. When it is flipped into the full-auto (upward) position, a spur projects through a hole in the slide. The spur hits the connector as the slide closes allowing the firing pin to released thus firing the weapon. This is a simple and seemingly foolproof, safe system for allowing burst fire in the design.

Despite lacking a stock or burst-limiting device many people think useful, the G18 is an amazingly controllable weapon. In actual tests, I have found that I could place a five shot burst on a playing card at five yards using a good Weaver stance. Due to the high volume of fire coupled with good controlability, I would say that the G18 is probably the single, most effective, hand-held weapon available in the world.

I would recommend the GLOCK 18 for the lead officer on an entry team (SWAT) or for anyone else who may need to confront multiple armed assailants. While I typically can fire good, accurate, fast, semi-automatic fire, I cannot fire anywhere near as fast with any other semi-automatic GLOCK as I can with a G18 in the burst-fire mode. In actual tests, I was getting perhaps 300 rounds at a minimum on semi and close to 1100 on full auto with the G18. The consequences are that you are literally hitting the target with a shotgun-like effect, but with 9mm projectiles rather than lightweight buckshot.