Glock 18

History

The Glock 18 (or Glock Model 18) is similar in many respects to the previous Glock 17 production model, although it was assigned new internals and a new slider and frame, making it incompatible with the former. One of the main differences between the Glock 18 and Glock 17 is the addition of selective fire to the former, via a two-position selector switch on the left rear that allows single-shot as well as semi-automatic and fully automatic fire modes to slide on one side of the assembly.

Flip the switch up for single-shot fire and down for fully automatic fire. Visually, however, these two pistols may be nearly identical to the untrained eye. The Model 18 was developed by Glock AG in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria, to play a military counter-terrorism role in the Austrian EKO Cobra Special Forces.

Of course, the fully automatic fire mode and extremely high-capacity (33-round) magazine prevented it from being sold to the public, making it very popular in Hollywood movies.

The use of the Selective Fire System allows the Type 18 to provide a wide range of fire capabilities from a compact package. The Model 18 holds the widely accepted 9x19mm Parabellum pistol cartridge, which is also used in the submachine gun range.

9mm bullets can be loaded into the Glock 18 from the standard Glock 17 magazine or the 33-round special extended capacity magazine most commonly found on the Glock 18. The Model 18 can fire a 33-round magazine in seconds while boasting a rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute. The barrel length is approximately 4.6 inches.

Aiming is via the standard Glock front and rear layout. Spent cartridges are ejected through a typical top-mounted ejector, and the slider bounces back with each successive shot.

Of course, this tight firepower comes at a price. Because the Glock 18 is essentially a large-bore pistol (transformed into a submachine gun role), the recoil is excellent, especially for untrained shooters.

So this model usually has its own adjustable skeleton stock to allow shooting from the shoulder (the second hand holding the extended magazine), with more control and therefore more inherent accuracy. However, by using the 9mm Parabellum pistol cartridge and pistol frame, it remains more or less a short to extreme medium range weapon system.

A version of the Glock 18 with a recoil compensator was introduced in the "Glock 18C" model and sculpted like other Glock pistols to show changes along the front of the slide.

Glock 18 Spec

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Changes