PISTOL, 9 MILLIMETER, AUTOMATIC

[LEFT] Member of the Norwegian Forsvaret armed with a HECKLER & KOCH GMBH (CAGE D2330) MP5A3N (the "N" stands for Norway and assigned the NSN 1005-25-133-7485) and P80 in a Safariland 6004/6005-series SLS Tactical Holster.

The 9x19mm Glock 17 was adopted by the Norwegian Forsvaret as the P80 (officially designated PISTOL, 9 MILLIMETER, AUTOMATIC) and assigned the NSN 1005-25-133-6775. The actual firearms are marked P80, along with the Norwegian military "crest" (property mark), on the left side of the slide (similar to the way the Austrian military P80 pistols are marked).

The NSN, for the P80, shows to have been assigned on 1 January 1984. The Norwegian P80 were obtained from GLOCK GMBH (CAGE S5591).

[RIGHT] The Norwegian Forsvaret MAGAZINE, CARTRIDGE, for the P80, are marked with the Norwegian military "crest" (property mark) at the bottom of the rear of the cartridge magazine. The cartridge magazine is assigned the NSN 1005-25-133-6785.

NCB AND THE GLOCK

As stated in a previous post, the National Codification Bureau Code, or NCB, are the two digits after the Federal Supply Class (FSC) within a National (NATO) Stock Number. These fifth and six digits, in a NSN, correspond to an assigned set of two numbers that identify what county the NSN is generated from.

In the Wikipedia entry for "Glock" one finds this erroneous statement (allegedly attributed to author Peter Alan Kasler):

"Shortly thereafter, the Glock 17 was accepted into service with the Norwegian and Swedish armed forces, surpassing all prior NATO durability standards. As a result, the Glock 17 became a standard NATO-classified sidearm and was granted a NATO stock number (1005-25-133-6775)."

Normally Wikipedia entries are taken for what they are, baseless paragraphs of opinions. The issue with this specific quote is that it has been repeated and repeated over the world wide web to the point people seem to think it is the truth. It could not be further from it.

The NSN listed, 1005-25-133-6775, is the NORWEGIAN NSN for the P80 (their armed forces' designation for the Glock 17). The "25" in the listed NSN is, of course, assigned to Norway. By Norway assigning a NSN to the weapon means THEY have accepted it into their armed forces' inventory...not NATO. NATO is assigned the NCB of 11. NATO rarely assigns NSNs as it is not a military organization itself, but instead a conglomeration of militaries. Historically, for NATO to assign a NSN, utilizing their NCB, means that the item has truly been accepted as "standard NATO-classified." Very few items exist that can carry this honor, Glock handguns are NOT one of them.