Glock is a unique brand of firearm. It's as modern as they come and highly customizable. The frame, magazine body, and several other components are made from a high-strength nylon-based polymer invented by Gaston Glock, called Polymer 2. Not only are these materials extremely tough, they are impervious to corrosion and they are so light that it almost makes steel seem antiquated. There is one question about Glocks that is often asked. The question is, will the polymer degrade over long periods of time? Can you give it to your son or daughter and expect it to serve them as well as it served you? The short answer is, all Glocks currently in existence- with the exception of rare manufacturing errors and misuse- are all in good working condition. The chamber and the barrel are made of properly hardened steels, which are held in place by a highly durable polymer frame and actuated by hardened metallic, mechanical parts. Another question many people want to know is how old their Glock firearms are.

How To Determine the Age of a Glock

To figure this out is fairly straightforward. If you bought your gun new, there will be an envelope with a used test fire casing inside it. That envelope should have a date on it. This will be close enough to the date of manufacture to consider it your Glocks birth-date. If you bought the gun used, you can take the number on the barrel and type it into the entry field on the Glock Sport Shooting Foundation. Do not enter the serial number. Enter the number on the barrel. It will decode it for you and lead you to the manufacture date.

More About Poly-Vinyls and Other Weapons-Grade Non-Metal Materials

Many Glock parts are indeed made from highly impact-resistant materials. We don' know exactly what the ingredients of Polymer 2 are because it's a proprietary secret. However, we do know they are practically indestructible, and that extremely tough and light materials are far from rare. For example, glass infused plastics have been used in many highly durable, high-impact tools- guns included. Infusing glass and fiberglass into certain high impact plastics is an effective way to add smoothness to the surface, sharpen the edges, and improve the weight and the feel of the item.

The Byrna corporation, for example, has made a high-power CO2 tear gas ball launcher using glass infused material that feels a lot like those used in a Glock. Another well known example is the Cold Steel company which makes clubs and canes from polypropylene which are so tough you can smash cinder blocks and puncture car doors with them. Likewise, Zytel Nylon is commonly used by the Smith & Wesson Company in many of their Glock-like handguns. Interestingly, Smith & Wesson was so impressed with Glock that they designed a gun so similar to their products that a court ordered them to give part of every sale to the Glock company. That's a pretty strong endorsement in our opinion.

Why Lighter is Better

Finally, we want to point out something somewhat rather counter-intuitive. Heavy guns are harder to control. That's because they have more inertia in the recoil- which makes it harder to bring them back online. Because steel and other heavier materials are denser, it takes longer for the energy from a detonated round to pass through it. A lighter gun moves through the recoil faster, rather than trying to overcome it with weight- which doesn't work unless it';s very heavy indeed. And that, in a nutshell, is why military and law enforcement have made them standard issue. So whether or not Glock's nylon-based polymer lasts as long as steel is still up in the air. However, the company makes the question moot by offering free refurbishing services for any gun they have made. As far as we're concerned, that means your Glock handgun is as durable as the company itself.

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