Where Are The Glock 17 Generation 4's?

My understanding is that the Gen 3s still exist as a courtesy to those living in California (it's the most current generation on the approved list). Meanwhile Glock moved on to the Gen 4, and then to the Gen 5s, and they began the 5s with the 9mm chambering (17/19/26 etc). So the Gen 4s are now discontinued (except maybe for LE sales) and all sold off from the commercial market.

Scrod314 said:

Am I lucky I found an almost new one? I don't need to keep it as a safe queen or anything because it might go way up in value?

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I think there's plenty of them out there. I don't know if lucky is the right word, unless you really wanted a Gen 4 in particular. It's unlikely to appreciate in value so you should just shoot it and enjoy it.

Why would you prefer a 4 over a 5? Nothing against the Gen 4, that is the gun I keep in my bedside table for home defense and I trust it with my life.

vito said:

Why would you prefer a 4 over a 5?

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Hey, 30+ years of marketing telling you about the superiority of polygonal rifling is hard to shake.

I have one. Use it for taking training classes and such. Holds a lot of rounds so I don't spend all day restuffing mags.. Lightened the trigger a bit, it shoots great.

vito said:

Why would you prefer a 4 over a 5? Nothing against the Gen 4, that is the gun I keep in my bedside table for home defense and I trust it with my life.

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While I despise the finger grooves on the compact Glocks, I rather like them on the full size and found myself missing them on my 19X.

If I were to get another 17 I would prefer Gen 4, myself.

I have a gen 3, gen 4 and gen 5, I much prefer the gen 4 over the others. Been looking my self, so if you find a place selling me them. Please post it on there or message me with the link.

They have been somewhat scarce...

JR24 said:

If I were to get another 17 I would prefer Gen 4, myself.

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I've read about short chambers in the Gen 5 guns, at least in early models. Some have commented on forums Glock corrected that, but I still see an occasional comment here and there from folks buying new ones.

JTQ, I have not witnessed it yet in my gen 5 17, but I read the same thing. I was going to get a list of ammo that had that problem and test them in mine, but i never got around to it. As all the ammo I tried worked perfectly.

Scrod314 said:

I found an article about Generation 4's being discontinued except for LEO's. I wonder how many Glock 17 Generation 4's were produced?

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I'm betting on tons. During the panic my LGS was getting them by the pallet, and selling them as curbside carry out. Order online, they tell you when to park at the store, paperwork in the parking lot.

Glock 17/19 was by far and away, the most popular panic brand.

The funny thing is that Glock must have seen this panic coming. Even during the worst of it there were always Glocks to be had around here. I was in a shop the other day that probably had 40 of them in the case. Almost nothing else but the had Glocks.

The pistol is designed specifically to be mass produced very quickly.

Hated the finger groves on the G19 but the ones on my 4th Gen Gen 17 fit me just fine. Fine gun.

Zerodefect said:

The pistol is designed specifically to be mass produced very quickly.

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And cheaply too. I can't remember when this figure came out, but at one point it was reported that the manufacturing cost of a Glock pistol was less than $90. And they must be pretty good at it by now.

Currently only Gen3 and Gen5 are available to the public, Gen4's are currently LEO only for some reason. This may change, I kinda hope it does, but we'll see.

SDGlock23 said:

Currently only Gen3 and Gen5 are available to the public, Gen4's are currently LEO only for some reason. This may change, I kinda hope it does, but we'll see.

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Bureaucracy. I'm sure there's some departments that issued Gen4's and still require officers carry the "issued weapon" so if they buy additional guns they want Gen4's - until their next big order when they'd probably go to Gen5's.

There's a good chance Glock isn't even making Gen4's anymore they just have enough left in inventory to cover the occasional LEO order.

I've got one Gen 3 Glock (G22) and one Gen 4 (G17) - used to have a Gen 2 that I wish I hadn't sold, but if I had my choice on a brand new one I'd prefer a Gen 5.

What PD hasn't listed a gen5 Glock as OK though? It's pretty much a no brainer.

They likely meant to say that the gen4 machine line is at full capacity filling current PD orders, and when those are complete, it'll be scrapped. Worn out tooling, molds, or something. Maybe.

Don't underestimate how many pistols they're spitting out. Heck, all of my Glocks are still imported models.

Every Glock I've bought was on the Blue Label program through a LE distributor and I was recently informed that there would be no more Gen 4 9's.
If I was in the market for another G17, I'd buy a Gen 3 over a Gen 5 without thinking twice.