[15] In 1980, the Austrian Armed Forces announced that it would seek tenders for a new, modern duty pistol to replace their World War II–era Walther P38 handguns.

[16] Glock became aware of the Austrian Army's planned procurement, and in 1982, assembled a team of Europe's leading handgun experts from military, police, and civilian sport-shooting circles to define the most desirable characteristics in a combat pistol.

[20][21][22] According to Friedrich Dechant, former head of the Austrian Armaments and Defence Technology Agency, the Glock P80 was clearly superior to other handguns in terms of performance, handling, charging capacity and price.

[17] The Glock 17 outperformed eight different pistols from five other established manufacturers (Heckler & Koch of Germany offered their P7M8, P7M13, and P9S, SIG Sauer of Switzerland bid with their P220 and P226 models, Beretta of Italy submitted their model 92SB-F, FN Herstal of Belgium proposed an updated variant of the Browning Hi-Power, and the Austrian Steyr Mannlicher entered the competition with the GB).

[25] The results of the Austrian trials sparked a wave of interest in Western Europe and overseas, particularly in the United States, where a similar effort to select a service-wide replacement for the M1911 had been going on since the late 1970s (known as the Joint Service Small Arms Program).

[26] Glock was then invited to participate in the XM9 Personal Defense Pistol Trials, but declined because the DOD specifications would require extensive retooling of production equipment and providing 35 test samples in an unrealistic time frame.

[26] In 1985, after joint Norwegian and Swedish trials from 1983 to 1985, the Glock 17 was accepted into service as the P80 in Norway, and in 1988 as the Pistol 88 in Sweden, where it surpassed all prior NATO durability standards.

[29] The British preferred the Glock 17 Gen 4 over the Beretta Px4 Storm, FN FNP, Heckler & Koch P30, SIG Sauer P226, Smith & Wesson M&P, and Steyr M9A1 of which 19 pistols each, all chambered in 9×19 mm Parabellum, were entered in the R9GSP trials.

The first Glock 17s imported to the US were serialized with an alphanumeric (two-letter prefix followed by three numbers) stamped into the slide, barrel, and a small metal plate inserted into the bottom side of the polymer frame.

The pistols were displayed with a modified rough-textured frame (RTF-4), front grip strap with finger grooves, interchangeable backstraps of different sizes, and an accessory rail.

The slide and barrel shelf have been resized, and the front portion of the polymer frame has been widened and internally enlarged, to accommodate the dual recoil spring assembly.

[50] On 29 June 2016, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) awarded a contract to Glock to provide new 9×19mm Parabellum chambered duty pistols.

[53] In October of that year, the IMPD issued a 17M voluntary recall following failures encountered while dry firing the pistols during training.

This camming action terminates the barrel's movement while the slide continues back under recoil, extracting and ejecting the spent cartridge casing.

[64][better source needed] The slide features a spring-loaded claw extractor, and the stamped sheet metal ejector is pinned to the trigger mechanism housing.

When a cartridge is present in the chamber, a tactile metal edge protrudes slightly out immediately behind the ejection port on the right side of the slide.

A spring-loaded sheet-metal pressing serves as the slide catch, which is secured from unintentional manipulation by a raised guard molded into the frame.

Because of its polymer construction, there were initially fears that Glock pistols would be invisible to airport X-ray machines, making them easy to illegally import into the United States.

[68] The Tenifer finish is between 0.04 and 0.05 mm (0.0016 and 0.0020 in) in thickness, and is characterized by extreme resistance to wear and corrosion; it penetrates the metal, and treated parts have similar properties even below the surface to a certain depth.

[72] The Tenifer process produces a matte gray-colored, nonglare surface with a 64 Rockwell C hardness rating and a 99% resistance to salt water corrosion (which meets or exceeds stainless steel specifications),[71] making the Glock particularly suitable for individuals carrying the pistol concealed as the highly chloride-resistant finish allows the pistol to better endure the effects of perspiration.

The firearm is designed for the NATO-standard 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge, but can use high-power (increased pressure) +P ammunition with either full-metal-jacket or jacketed hollow-point projectiles.

A study by Stephen Christen and Hans Rudolf Jordi, published by Forensic Science International in February 2019, shows that the new GMB barrels leave more identifiably unique markings on the fired projectile.

They feature additional openings that allow liquids to flow and escape around them, offering enhanced reliability when water has penetrated into the firing pin assembly channel.

Recently, so-called "crossover" versions in 9mm Parabellum pair short (front to back) "compact" frames with longer "standard" grip lengths.

In April 2022, Ilene Steur, a survivor of the 2022 NYC subway attack, sued Glock and its Austrian parent company for compensation for her physical injuries and emotional pain.

[318] A 2014 report by the Chicago Police Department found that Glock pistols were the third most traced handgun, coming after those from Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co.[319] Experts on gun control, mass shootings, and defense training have cited factors such as reliability, ease of use, and commonness for why Glock pistols are so often involved in mass shootings and other criminal acts.

[320][321][322] This common usage, however, has been described by Paul M. Barrett to be a result of Glock's overall popularity and market presence in the US and that "this level of violence isn't necessarily tied to a particular[,] to a brand".

In the late 80s, gun control advocates had focused on Glock pistols because of their magazine capacity (compared to six-shot revolvers), but also their "futuristic, distinct appearance".

[citation needed] Glock pistols were singled out for restriction by some jurisdictions and were branded the "hijacker's special" based on the false assumption that they could bypass airport metal detectors because of their polymer frame.

This was refuted in Congressional hearings by the ATF, FAA, and other organizations responsible for airline security, which proved embarrassing for the bans' advocates and provided significant publicity for Glock.