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.

CAGE CODE

Listing of CAGE Codes for GLOCK:

GLOCK INC	0N2S7
GLOCK GMBH	0143N
GLOCK GMBH	S5591
GLOCK AMERICA SA	STT49
GLOCK DO BRASIL SA	00D1K
GLOCK PROFESSIONAL INC	7QHU1

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.

PISTOOL, 9 MILLIMETER

[ABOVE: © Dutch Defence Press] Members of the Korps Commandotroepen (KCT), of the Koninklijke Landmacht (Royal Netherlands Army), during a training exercise. The operator on the left is armed with a Glock 17.

The handgun is officially designated PISTOOL, 9 MILLIMETER, GLOCK 17 and assigned the NSN 1005-17-106-4055.

NCB CODE

[LEFT] The Bundesheer issued Pistole 80 holster.

Whereas the Austrian government has been assigned a National Codification Bureau Code (originally 0 and later changed to 41), they are one of the few countries that have not extensively utilized the NATO Stock Number system for property inventory (mainly due to not being a member of NATO). One exception is the GLOCK GMBH (CAGE 0143N)-manufactured holster utilized by the Bundesheer, which is assigned the Vers. Nr. 1005-0-301-0450 (pictured BELOW).

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).