The Glock in Hollywood
With its polymer frame, space age looks, and modern design, the Glock has become one of the most recognizable firearms in films for the past twenty years. When the Glock first appeared on the scene in the mid-1980s in the United States, it was strange and seemed foreign. This is probably because, when compared to the traditional single action Colt 1911 with its long slide and wood grips and the S&W wondernines with their stainless steel frames and double-action/single action hammers, the Glock had almost none of these traits.
It was striker fired with no exposed hammer and thus no external safety lever or decocks, giving it a streamlined look. Its ‘safe-action’ trigger lever was totally new and different to those who used any other handgun. Its magazine capacity, with 18 shots in the Glock 17 model, was the largest at the time with the closest contemporaries being the 13-shot Browning Hi Power and the 15-round CZ75. Even the name, “Glock,” after its Austrian inventor, had never been heard of before.
It was new. It was from Europe. It was plastic. Lucky for the Glock, all of these helped carve its role out in Hollywood.
Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk
Actress Adrianne Palicki of Red Dawn, GI Joe, and Legion fame, seen here with a Glock 17…and rare for Hollywood: proper trigger discipline!