https://www.all4shooters.com/en/shootin ... fferences/
In expedient to protect the Glock patents, which were expiring, finally leaving the competitors new room for action? Or the fourth Glock generation really brings innovations?
The introduction of the Glock 17 semiautomatic pistol about thirty years ago represented a real revolution in the duty and service handgun world: a Polymer frame, striker firing mechanism, a semi-continuous double action trigger, and only automatic safeties were features that had never been seen previously all together.
Moreover, the handgun was built by a company that had absolutely no previous specific manufacturing experience and despite this, worked flawlessly.
After many years, we can say that the Glock has since defined a reference standard to which basically every other gun manufacturer in the world has been forced to be compared with. Today, the Austrian gun’s features are extensively copied; to the point that world leading manufacturers have modified their top models to look like it as much as possible: recent examples include the Walther CCP, the SIG P320 and the Heckler & Kock VP9!
Since its introduction, the Glock pistol also featured a series of improvements, and while most may seem like smaller adjustments, many other are quite substantial, both to the frame and to the pistol’s internal mechanism, which makes it possible to talk about "generations".
First gen Glock
The Armory.com
A 9x19mm 'first generation' Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol
The first Glock had a polymer frame sporting a plain, rounded dust cover (the part in front of the trigger guard that covers the recoil spring), with a grip that had its side panels only slightly roughened with the texture wrapping around the front and back strap, which were straight in shape.
The main recoil spring and guiding rod were separate, magazines were built completely out of plastic and the barrel had a thinner profile (also known as “pencil barrel”) compared to later models. This “First Generation” was available for a short number of years, but is still today featured in many American movies and television series..
Glock Gen 3 VS Gen 4: a generational comparison
Franco Palamaro
Three Glock 17 generations compared: from left, Gen 2, Gen 3 and Gen 4. Note the thumb shelf, and additional pin on the locking piece introduced in the Gen 3 pistol, and the different texture on the pistol grip plus improved and enlaregd mag release button on the Gen 4
In 1988, the “Second Generation” Glock was introduced: the grip had slightly raised side panels with the same texture as the previous generation, but the, still straight; front and back straps sported a deeply engraved squared checkering.
The magazines now featured a metallic “skeleton” over which the polymer was molded, significantly improving feeding; the barrel wall thickness was increased, the main recoil spring and guiding rod were assembled together in a “captive” configuration and the rear slide guide length was increased. The serial number on the frame was etched on a metal plate molded in the polymer frame (a few of the first Second Generation pistols do not have the metal serial number plate).
After a while, a third cross pin appeared in the handgun, to better support and distribute the energy transmitted to the polymer frame by the locking block, originating the “three pin system”, since then unmodified and still in use today.
In the Nineties, small updates had been made to the trigger mechanism and the “square” extractor was replaced by the 15 degree slanted version. In 1996, the Third Generation Glock appeared, still in production, commonly christened “Gen 3”.
The front strap of the Gen 3 pistol gains an ergonomic, ridged profile, with finger grooves; just above the grip’s side panels on the frame, ambidextrous thumb rests appear to guide the hand in a correct shooting position and the rear slide guides return to their original shorter length.
Shortly afterwards, the Glock pistol is updated with a new extractor with a loaded chamber indicator and an accessory rail molded in the dust cover to hold flashlights or laser aimers: this slightly updated configuration is the “true” Gen 3 Glock, while the preceding model is sometimes called the “Gen 2,5”.
The Gen 3 is the longest running Glock, but time inexorably goes by and the pressure from the competition increases constantly, so the Austrian manufacturer tries to adapt to the new trends, with a couple updated models that enjoy little success.
The first update introduces an ambidextrous magazine release, which is prone to malfunction and additionally is incompatible with the previous magazines. The second update, in 2009, is the introduction of the model known as RTF2 (Rough Textured Frame 2), featuring a grip covered with a new checkering texture made of tiny and very sharp, needle-like cones and a new scalloped slide serration design: personally we called it the “bed-of-nails Fakir version”, everybody else calls it the "Gen 3,5”.
Glock Gen 3 VS Gen 4: a generational comparison
Franco Palamaro
The new Gen 4 Glock 17 in the foreground the Glock 17 Gen 4, compared with the previous Gen 3 in the back
In 2010, the real Glock Gen 4 model was presented, with the Austrian manufacturer acknowledging the, up to then, unofficial Generation naming custom to the point of actually engraving it on the side of the handgun’s slide next to the model number. The Gen 4 pistol introduces many new groundbreaking features.
The outward appearance and esthetics of the handgun does not change much; the RTF2 checkering texture on the pistol grip changes to a less aggressive pattern, called RTF3. This new checkering improves grip and at the same time is comfortable in long shooting sessions at the range without gloves. Serrations on the slide return to the straight design.
On the Gen 4, the outstanding innovations are essentially two: a new recoil spring structure, and the possibility to add on the pistol’s back strap two different removable inserts to customize the grip size to the shooter’s hand. These two changes alone have caused the non-interchangeability of the main components with the previous models.
Glock Gen 3 VS Gen 4: a generational comparison
Thanks to the new interchangeable Backstrap options, and a slimmer pistol grip profile, the Glock Gen 4 can be easily configured to better fit the shooter's hand
The new recoil spring, for example, is telescopic: two coaxial spring elements are assembled together with a smaller, central guiding rod and a larger tube (similar to the recoil spring assembly previously used in the super-compact models of the Glock) and its diameter is significantly larger than the spring used in the previous Generations.
This required the modification of the front part of the slide, to accommodate the bulkier dual spring guide rod, and a different configuration of the frame front portion, wider and internally larger.
To adapt the pistol grip size to different hands, Glock devised an interesting concept: the Gen 4 frame grip is smaller than the previous generations, and the back strap new shape allows mounting one of two additional interchangeable inserts, increasing the trigger distance. The fact that the frame is basically shorter longitudinally also causes the trigger housing to be accordingly sized, therefore incompatible with previous generation pistols.