GLOCK 17 Gen 2 Review: Blast From the Past
Glock 17 Gen 2 PROS And CONS
PROS:
- Part of GLOCK history
CONS:
- Slippery grip
- Newer generation GLOCK 17 are better
Full disclosure I write for Gun-Tests.com. They take no advertising and don't sugar coat gun evaluations. Here is an excerpt on a GLOCK 17 Gen2 first published in 1998. This was before we even categorized GLOCKs by generations. Talk about an old school GLOCK, this G17 certainly fits the bill. You may have seen surplus GLOCK 17 Gen 2 recently. A supplu=y of former US corrections pistols was dumped on the market.
Every year, for at least the last five, the 9mm cartridge and the pistols chambered for it, have led the pack in numbers of units sold in the US. Today, almost a hundred years after its introduction in Europe, we can say the 9mm cartridge is so well entrenched in our own society that it is here to stay....
...The Glock 17 is a $616 Austrian-made pistol that utilizes a Safe Action trigger and a striker firing mechanism. Since this isn’t a true double action operating system, there is no second-strike capability. It has a 4 1/2-inch barrel and three automatic safeties. Two 10-round polymer magazines with steel inserts and removable floorplates are provided with this model...
...We felt the Glock 17 was the plainest looking pistol of this test. Due to a number of minor internal molding marks and a readily apparent seam on the exterior, our testers considered the construction of the polymer frame to be only adequate. However, its squared, undercut trigger guard and slip-resistant gripping surface were free of flaws. Steel parts were finished with a surface treatment called Tennifer that made them very hard, corrosion resistant and matte black. The slide had a lot of play. The barrel had a noticeable amount of movement when locked into battery...
...Right-handed shooters could readily manipulate the Glock 17’s controls with the thumb of their firing hand, but only the trigger safety could be considered ambidextrous. This safety was a small lever in the middle of the trigger that blocked the trigger’s rearward movement unless the lever was depressed by the shooter’s trigger finger. The slide catch was a relatively small lever on the left side of the frame. The magazine release was a polymer button at the left rear of the trigger guard...
...The back of the Glock 17’s frame was shaped to allow the shooting hand to be positioned up close to the barrel. This improved the shooter’s ability to control the pistol. The grip felt somewhat boxy, but its flat sides kept it from being overly wide. Pointing was more than satisfactory, though the front sight tended to align a little high...
...The Glock 17’s Safe Action trigger had only one kind of pull, which we considered to be satisfactory. Some said its movement felt like a short, light double action pull, while other thought it felt like a heavy single action pull with a lot of takeup. After about 1/4 inch of takeup, the pull released smoothly at 6 pounds with no noticeable overtravel...
...The Glock 17’s fixed sights were the most visible and easiest to acquire of the test. The front was a triangular blade with a white dot on its slightly angled face. The rear, which could be drifted for windage corrections, was a dovetailed blade with a white-outlined square notch. Both sights were made of black plastic. Unfortunately, this system’s point of aim was 3 inches to the right and 2 1/2 inches lower than the point of impact at 25 yards...
...Initially, the Glock 17 failed to feed about a dozen times. Since this was highly unusual for a Glock, the pistol was unloaded, field stripped and inspected. We were surprised to find there was no lubrication on the slide. After lubricating the pistol, there were no more problems. The only complaint we had was that inserting the 10th round into either magazine was very hard, even when using the loading device that was furnished. Accuracy at 25 yards was consistent, but only adequate. Five-shot groups averaged from 2.80 to 2.98 inches...
