The Glock 17L (or "My Infatuation With Long Barreled Pistols and Short Barreled Rifles")

Way back in April of 1988 three amazing things happened. We will only be discussing one of these three here today, but I felt they were all worth mentioning:

1) Marvel Comics debuted Venom: the newest and best Spider-Man villain of all time.

2) Glock debuted their newest handgun: The model 17L.

3) The Davis’ debuted their son to the world: Me.

The 17L in all it's glory!

The Glock 17L is essentially the Glock 17 but with a longer, 6.02” barrel as opposed to the standard 17’s 4.49”. I own a Gen 3 manufactured in December of 2008. I can’t speak for earlier models but mine came stock with extended slide and magazine releases, as well as a lightened 4.5lb trigger. My slide does have the lightening cut but the barrel is not ported. Personally I don’t think porting would really add much to this gun, as it shoots great as is, recoil is negligible and muzzle rise is nil with such a long slide.

Extended slide and magazine releases. Giant scratch courtesy of a crap scope mount.

Lightening cut. No ports.

The 17L has since been officially discontinued by Glock (they still do limited runs from time to time) and was essentially replaced by the model 34. The reason being for IPSC competition, the 17L was too long to fit into the “box”. Glock basically shortened the slide of the 17L to fit into the box and BAM! Glock 34!

Glock 17 magazine w/extension, 17L barrel and Glock 19 barrel for comparison

The 17L started my love for long barreled pistols. This love has also spread to other long barreled pistols from S&W, Walther, CZ and any variant of the 1911, especially those produced by AMT (The Terminator anyone?). The long slide craze has come back around in today’s market. FN, Taurus, EAA, HK, Kahr, CZ, Walther, Springfield, Smith & Wesson and a host of 1911 manufacturers are all making guns that can either be considered long slide, or at least the company claims they are.

Long barreled pistols are just so damn cool! Imagine as a young man you start thinking “Man, wouldn’t this long barreled pistol look cool with a shoulder stock!” And then you discover the world of short barreled rifles.

Hold up! You’re telling me that not only are there pistols with long barrels… but there are also rifles with short barrels?! Now I’ve seen everything!

So now I’ve got two more odd firearm vices to add to my list along with the old, obscure and forgotten. I don’t know what it is. The appeal of these polar opposites. In a world populated by people who want the most velocity out of their rifles and their pistols small enough to fit in their pockets, I’m the guy who wants an 8” .308 and a 7” .45. My collection only currently houses 2 pistols I consider long, the 17L and a Beretta model 75 Cougar with a 6” barrel.

The barrel is longer than the slide!

What is considered “long”? Long slide and long barrel are two different things, generally associated with pistols and revolvers respectively. With pistols, the slide and barrel usually go hand in hand. But look at my Beretta here. Long barrel, not long slide. The plot thickens!

The Beretta Model 75 Jaguar .22LR

Back to the short barrel rifle part of this story. Short barrel rifles are something that are still currently out of my realm. For those who do not know rifles with a barrel length less than 16” and an overall length of less than 26” are classified as legal SBR’s under the NFA law. This means they are regulated the same as machine guns and suppressors. So not now, but maybe someday.

Now there is a murky grey area here between these two that completely fascinates me: pistols with shoulder stocks. Back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s apparently everyone that made a pistol thought “LET’S PUT A STOCK ON THAT!!!” I love that mentality.

I want stocks for all of my pistols. Unfortunately for all but one of them, that runs into the aforementioned SBR category. The exception to the rule in my collection is a Chinese Broomhandle copy that has a buttstock/holster serial numbered to the gun. Don’t worry, I’ll have a post detailing that one up soon.

In summation: Cut the barrels off of your rifles, and stick them on your pistols!