PISTOLE 80

[LEFT] The original GLOCK: the Bundesheer Pistole 80.

The handgun that would come to be called the Glock 17, was originally designed specifically for competition in the Austrian government's search for a replacement handgun for their armed forces. At the time, the Bundesheer was equipped with the Pistole 38 (both of Second World War and post-war Walther manufacture: Vers. Nr. 1005-0-300-0104). The name of the handgun, Glock 17, was chosen as it was the 17th item patented by the company.

The Glock 17 eventually beat out 8 different handguns, from some of the top names in European firearm manufacturing, during the Austrian handgun trials. It was officially adopted, in 1982, by the Austrian armed forces as the Pistole 80 (the 80 coming from the year the search began for a replacement handgun). After the announcement of the adoption had been made, the world sat up and took notice of the "plastic gun."

The Pistole 80 continues to serve the Austrians as well as having been adopted by the armed forces of the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, (recently) the United Kingdom, and many others. In the United States, law enforcement agencies across the country have adopted many of the Glock-produced variants as official sidearms.

[RIGHT] A Bundesheer soldat armed with the standard sidearm of the Austrian Heer, the 9mm NATO Pistole 80. The handgun is also called the P80 (and marked as such on the slide).