By Paddy Egan
There’s a new Glock in town, a new Glock17 Gen5. Now there are a fair few Co2 Powered Glock’s from Umarex, their
first iteration the G19 stick magazine BB pistol, then G17 Gen4 and Gen5 BB full size magazine BB pistol, the Dual
ammo Glock17 and Tan coloured Glock19x. So, what is different with this new model? Well, it’s all in the magazine, being that it holds twenty-one 0.177 Pellets! That is some firepower right there.
Let’s start from the box, it is just like the majority of other Glocks being that of Cardboard with same design with the
text on the side of the box to denote what model it is. Opening the box, the Pistol fits snuggly with the manual tucked inside a slot as well as a small Hex Key for the Co2 Capsule insertion. Hard cases are available including ones with the Glock Logo, which looks rather fetching plus are padded inside.
Anyway, back to the pistol or shall I say Manual first, again with all other Glocks the same standard and design are present with showing how to load, aim the sights and blowback diagram.
Taking the pistol out of the box, it feels solidly constructed and got a nice weight in the hand of 830g which is only 45g lighter than a fully loaded Glock17 Real Steel pistol. Keeping with authenticity Umarex has got the License for all correct Trades and logos to go onto their branded Pistols, such as model details, logo on the Slide
Whereas the Airgun details and serial number are discreetly on the underside of the Frame. A nice touch for me anyway is that Umarex have put 4.5mm on the Barrel, which is only visible when the slide is in its rearward position.
I would like to add that within the airgun details on the underside of the frame is the mandatory airgun safety. Now this is rather hard to function and in an awkward place. However, this is only area to put it whilst keeping with the authenticity, plus if you decide to fit a torch or laser onto the underside Picatinny rail you won’t be able to use it. So as always maintain your safety precautions and trigger discipline.
The real Glock’s have the Trigger Safety Bars, which as you’d expect this Umarex Glock has. I own a few of the
Umarex Glock’s and I am used to the Bar Safety’s and with this version it works perfectly fine without snagging like some people have mentioned regarding previous models. Above the trigger is the Slide release catches, these look like they are moulded in the Frame, though there two small screws underneath the Rear Slide that may be used to take off the Slide, but I am not chancing it. Onto the pistol grip, it again has the Logo and correct form of Stippling as on the Real Steel version, then on the baseplate of the magazine it is adorned with the Glock Logo.
Releasing the magazine from the grip reveals a belted magazine system, similar to the Walther PPQ M2 magazine.
The inserting of the Co2 Capsule is just as on any other Co2 Pistol using a Hex Key, just do not over tighten. Now we come onto the loading of the Pellets, I chose H&N FTT Dome and Bisley Practice Flatheads which I inserted into the circular rubber belt, of which both fitted fine. The belt was really stiff when I was manually turning it to insert the 21 Pellets, this definitely felt harder to do than with the PPQ M2 when I had that to test?
Once I had the Pistol loaded, I went out and set up our Speed Challenge Target out at 6yd. I chose this target as it has a large circle, as my main objective was to see / feel how the Trigger and Belt Magazine preformed, as I was not looking for any grouping measurements or scores. I found that the trigger safety run smoothly with the trigger, but the trigger is quite heavy due to the belt system, though I was expecting it to be that way. I took 5 shots at first with the pellets striking near enough the centre, then shot the remaining magazine into the same target. The group spread-out widely, this was a combination of the heavy trigger with me not taking my time and composing myself, as the recoil from the blowback is quite sharp. Though all in all I was quite happy with how it handled. I made a video which is up on our YouTube channel, there is also a QR Code for ‘The First Shots Fired’. I then decided to give the 6yd
Pistol Competition a go, this is simply 5 shots double Handed & 5 shots single handed. Really what I should have done is shot a few more magazines and got used to single handed shooting, as the pistol was really hard to keep still and lined up on to target for each shot.
Whilst working out why the belt was stiff to load and rotate, I had an email from James at John Rothery Wholesale, to show me a Tip on how to free up the belt with a few short demo videos, which was to spray Silicone Oil onto the belt while rotating the belt round. I done the process myself and could feel the belt become smoother.
Instead of going back to paper targets I went onto our Metal Terminator targets made by Gr8fun Targets. And a bit of can shooting. Now this is more like it, the trigger felt lighter, and cycling was much smoother with me hitting the plates and making the cans dance around down my range.
After a few magazines and Co2 (which as per usual I had all intention of actually counting how many shots you get out of the capsule, however I was having too much fun and forgot) I put the pistol away with a smile on my face. The following day I was back out in my Range and set up another Fun Shoot using my portable Porthole Screen, where
you shoot either a Square Hole, a small Circle Hole, under the screen or to the side of the screen, to acquire your targets. This time a different set of Terminator Targets, again blasting away at my heart’s content giving myself certain sequences of which target to shoot and from what position within the screen. The Glock preformed great with me once again tinging on the metal plates with no Ricochets as the lead pellets would deform on impact and fall straight onto the floor, this time I did get a count of shots, where you just get 3 magazines worth with one Co2 Capsule.
All I need to do is get more practice shooting single handed, so I can tighten up my groups, and then enter the 6yd
Competition with more confidence and composure, this is what makes shooting fun and challenging at the same time.
Specifications:
Energy Level: <3.0J
Velocity: 120m/s (394 fps)
Calibre: 0.177 Pellet
Power Source: 1x 12g Co2
Shot Capacity: 60 Rounds
Magazine Capacity: 21 Rounds
Trigger: Single / Double Action
Safety: Automatic Trigger Safety & Sliding Safety
Length: 202mm
Weight: 830g
© Drapers Airgun Centre 2018