Glock 17 Gen4

by Matt (Guest Author)
(Riverview, FL)

I have been a fan of Glock for many years, and own many different calibers of them. I also want to mention that I am a Certified Glock Armorer.

I purchased the Glock 17, Gen 4 in January when they first came out, as I was intrigued by the removable back straps and new dual spring recoil assembly, much like the smaller subcompact Glock 26/27. While it looks much like the same spring, it is still a little different.

One of the main reasons why I purchased this is because of the removable back straps. I have large hands, and my wife has tiny hands. The gun's new grip comes in three sizes. The grip with no back strap attached is considered an SF model, if you add the medium back strap, it equals the standard frame, and the large back strap adds 4mm to the grip, which is nice for large hands.

The recoil spring makes a huge difference in recoil. My first range trip wasn't so impressive, I was shooting .380acp, .45GAP, .22lr, and 9mm. I also brought my Glock 17 RTF2 to compare it too. I should have just stayed with the new Glock Gen 4, as I was not too impressed with the difference, and thought it was a typical Glock. But, at that point my hands were hurting from the .380 ACP out of my LCP.

My second trip to the range, I only took the new Glock 17, and put 200 more rounds through it. The accuracy, of course, was spot on as usual but I did notice a difference in the recoil, it was softer and a produced less muzzle flip. I also noticed that the new recoil spring is much heavier duty and produces a lot more force when returning the slide to battery. It slams the rounds in and makes it a little harder to rack the slide.

My third trip to the range, I was in love with this thing, and had my wife shooting it accurately. And it was only her second trip to the range.

After that range trip, I sold the Gen3 RTF2. I normally don't sell my guns, but when I specifically buy another of the same model or updated model to try out and with the intention of replacing, I will.

Overall, I am very impressed with the new Glock 17 Gen 4. They have another winner.

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