The Glock 18 is a fully-automatic pistol. It is a fully-automatic version of the Glock 17. This pistol was developed by an Austrian Glock company, headed by Gaston Glock. Some sources report that this pistol was developed to meet requirement of the EKO Cobra, an Austrian counter-terrorist unit. Other sources claim that this pistol was deigned to increase appeal of the gun to military and police markets. It is worth noting that in the 1980s weapons produced by Glock were little known and very unusual.
Production of the Glock 18 commenced in 1982. Other sources report that production commenced in 1986. At that time the original Glock 17 was adopted by Austrian army and police. In the following years this new and unusual pistol became one of the most popular handguns due to its advantages and aggressive marketing.
The Glock 18 is one of the few automatic pistols that are currently produced. It is used by the US Army. However it is available only to specially trained military personnel. It is also used by the US law enforcement SWAT teams. It is also in service with some other countries.
The Glock 18 is very light for an automatic pistol. At the time of its introduction it was much lighter than other automatic pistols. Low weight was achieved by making 80% of parts, including the frame out of polymer. The only metal parts are barrel and trigger mechanism. Even though this pistol is made of polymer, it operates well within a temperature range from -40°C to +200°C. Also this rugged pistol do not rusts. All metal parts are covered with rustproof coating.
At the time of its introduction this automatic pistol was referred as a revolutionary design. Even though it incorporated previously known solutions. This pistol is simple in design and operation, reliable, lightweight and inexpensive.
The Glock 18 is chambered for 9×19 mm Parabellum round. This pistol has high muzzle energy and provides good penetration, even with 9×19 mm ammunition. Cyclic rate of fire is a whooping 1 200 rounds per minute.
The original version of the Glock 18 had a barrel, that stuck out of the end of the slide. However increased length was a major downside, so on later versions the barrel was shortened.
A fire mode selector is mounted on the left side of the slide. This pistol fires in semi-auto and full-auto modes.
(Featured image courtesy of military-today.com)
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