The extractor also now stood up when the chamber was loaded and acted as a loaded chamber indicator. Internal changes included a cross pin above the trigger pin to ease stress on the locking block. The grip has finger grooves added, and scallops cut into the left and right side of the frame that acted as thumb rests. Gen 3 - The third generation is where rails became a standard option on guns large than subcompacts. Some Gen 2 guns have Picatinny rails, and these are typically called Gen 2.5 guns. A metal plate with the serial number was inserted, the guide rod system became a single-piece design, checkering was added to the front and rear of the grip, and the magazine baseplate was changed.
Gen 2 - Glock added various sizes and calibers with Gen 2 models. The Gen 1 is made up entirely of one gun, the Glock 17. Plain and simple: they're guns that work. Gen 1 - The first Glocks ever on the market. Here’s a rundown of the Glock Generations: Glock aficionados often refer to them as Gen 2.5 guns. Some guns are also split generations, which is most common between the Gen 2 and Gen 3 guns. Some weapons are all over the place and may lack the generational signifiers used to determine which generation a weapon is. There are also guns that exist outside of Glock's defined generations. Often new and older Glock generations are produced side by side. The release of a new generation doesn’t always mean earlier generations are disappearing. There's no timeline on when Glock generations end or begin, they're improved upon as need be. New generations arrive as Glock makes changes, both external and internal. Glock is currently in its fifth generation. As you pull the trigger the trigger bar lowers down the safety ramp and allows the firing pin to release. If you drop the gun it ensures it cannot fire. The drop safety is a device that does exactly what you think. If you release the trigger before firing, the firing pin safety automatically falls back into place. As the trigger is pulled, the trigger bar pushes the firing pin safety up and out of the way. The firing pin safety blocks the firing pin from moving forward when the striker is cocked. Your finger presses the trigger safety as you pull the trigger so without activating the trigger safety, the trigger cannot be pulled. The trigger safety is that famous little doohickey that sits in the middle of the trigger. Glock refers to their pistols as the Glock Safe Action Pistol referencing the three built-in independent safety devices.
Glock’s Plastic Fantastics had no manual safeties, but that didn’t mean they were unsafe. The G17 hit the streets at a time where manual safety devices on handguns were the norm. So while the G20 and 21 began development before the 22 and 23, the 22 and 23 were released first. The numbers are assigned to designs as they are started, not in the order in which they are released. The numbers have nothing to do with the firearm itself and may seem arbitrary to most - for example, the G45 is not a 45 caliber handgun, it’s actually a 9mm. Every model is assigned a number after the letter G, which predictably stands for Glock. Glock has a simple way to name their pistols. The Austrian Army needed a safe, lightweight, high-capacity, and reliable semi-auto pistol and Glock filled that need. The Austrian Army’s specific needs drove the weapon’s development and defined Glock pistols to this very day. The G17 was the first model produced and was designed to fill a need within the Austrian Army. These weren’t the first polymer frame pistol, but they were the first wildly successful polymer pistol. Glock pistols come in tons of different calibers and in a variety of different sizes. Well, most of them are - the rimfire G44 is a blowback-operated pistol and is the only gun to break the mold. Glock pistols are polymer-framed, semi-automatic, short-recoil operated, locked-breech, striker-fired handguns. He gathered together top European handgun experts, prototyped the Glock 17 in 1982 and the rest is glorious Austrian history. Gaston Glock had no experience making guns but he did have experience in polymer manufacturing. Glock is the most issued service pistol of the modern-day, which is massively impressive for a company founded to make curtain rods. Confused by all the models of Glock? You are not the only one but we're here to walk you through them!