Out of Austria in the late 20th century, a handgun made its appearance that would change the firearms industry forever. Known as the Glock 17, it is a polymer-framed, striker-fired 9mm pistol that very quickly developed a reputation for reliability and durability and became one of the top choices of many military and law enforcement agencies around the world. The article looks at these legendary torture tests that placed the Glock 17 as one of the most resilient and dependable semi-automatic pistols ever built.
Austrian Army Brutality Trials, (1982)
Not long after the Glock 17’s launch in 1982, the Austrian Army conducted several stringent field trials on the new pistol. These included freezing the gun in a solid block of ice and heating it to more than 212°F. In both these trials, the Glock 17 passed without a hitch and won the contract for the pistol of the Austrian Army.
Miami Police Department Helicopter Drop Test (1987)
Five years later, the Miami Police Department was in search of a semi-automatic pistol to replace the revolvers carried by its officers. Sgt. Paul Palank, who happened to be the department’s armorer at that time, really took it to another level regarding torture testing. He dropped the Glock 17 from a hovering helicopter at 400 feet. Except for a broken front sight, the pistol continued functioning well enough to sell the Miami PD on the Glock 17 as their standard-issue sidearm.
Chuck Taylor’s Epic Endurance Tests (1990 – Present)
The most famous Glock 17 torture tests were those done by Chuck Taylor, a U.S. Army Special Forces Vietnam veteran and well-known firearms instructor and author. Taylor had initial reservations about the Glock, being a die-hard M1911A1 and .45 ACP guy, but he ultimately gives in, “They work.”
Taylor did his endurance tests on Glock 17 in 1990 with 10,000 jam-free rounds without cleaning the gun. As he later wrote, “No other pistol I knew of would have gone anywhere near 10,000 rounds and still work.” But that wasn’t enough.
At an astounding 325,000 rounds, Taylor’s Glock 17 trigger spring finally snapped, bringing the gun to a stop. But it kept on going after a minor repair. Even after another hundred rounds, when the firing pin tail chipped, it continued working.
Taylor’s tests furthermore indicated that the Glock had been corrosion- and rust-resistant. He left it in seawater deliberately for 30 days, and later, amazingly, for six months. Not surprisingly, when recovered, it had a slight amount of corrosion on the slide stop lever, which easily came off with cleaning. Taylor’s Glock 17 withstood being buried in mud, sand, dust, and snow without ever jamming.
The Glock’s Tenifer finish, more rust-resistant than stainless steel, was an important factor in its longevity.
Speaking of accuracy, the Glock 17 is not a very accurate pistol. Still, its practical accuracy was considered impressive. Taylor recounted that even after 325,000 rounds, my test Glock 17 was still capable, from a Ransom Rest, of clustering decent ammunition within an inch or better at 15 meters.
That legendary status must, without question, be founded upon the Glock 17.