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The Glock Model 17 is a full-sized, high-capacity handgun designed for defense and duty use. Chambered for the 9mm Luger cartridge and featuring a 17-round magazine, the Glock 17 is a popular choice for personal defense.
There are three factors I take into consideration when evaluating a concealed carry handgun; Time to First Hit, Accuracy and Knockdown Factor. Each one of these is of vital importance if you find yourself in a defensive situation. MidwayUSA has created a scoring system that helps shooters compare concealed carry handguns based on these three factors.
Time to First Hit is a critical factor when considering a concealed carry handgun. How long does it take to fire the first accurate shot using only one hand? The faster you are, the higher the score. With the Glock 17, I got a Time to First Hit of two seconds, giving it a score of 367.
Accuracy is also important. After the first hit, how many more hits can you put on target at 20 feet in three seconds, again with only one hand. In this case, I got three hits on target which gives another 60 points to the Glock 17, bringing the total score up to 427.
We hear a lot about the term Knockdown Factor. That’s the ability of the cartridge to knock down the assailant with one well-placed shot. So how does the 9mm Lugar rate in knockdown power? We’ve ranked some of the most popular personal defense loads on a 400-point scale. During this test, I was using 124-grain JHP +P rounds, which have a Knockdown Factor score of 288.
Well, there you have it, the Glock Model 17 chambered in 9mm Luger scored 715 out of the possible 1000 points. It scored very well as a concealed carry handgun in three important areas.
--Larry Potterfield
