The 12 round .22 caliber Glock 17

[heavyshooter]

Yesterday, for the first time, I watch an episode of "Breakout Kings." It's a show on A&E about U.S. Marshals that enlist the services of incarcerated convicts to help catch escaped convicts (I know, I know…but it was like a train wreck; I could not look away). In the episode that I saw the escapee killed a prison guard who was escorting him to a medical facility. He then took the guard's sidearm. This is where I was confused. The convict fired 2 rounds during his escape. They used this information to nail down how much ammo he had left. Here's their logic: "The guard was carrying a Glock 17 that holds 12 rounds; so the escapee has 10 rounds left." But wait, why would he only load 12 rounds in a Glock 17? I thought maybe there is a bureaucratic policy that I am unaware of so I overlooked it. But then there was a moment when the convict pointed his Glock 17 at the forehead of one of his pursuers. When she later recalled the experience she said, "I almost took a .22 to the head today." A Glock 17 that holds 12 rounds and is a .22 caliber?

Normally I would laugh and overlook such things. But recently I have had several conversations that highlight just how much the general population knows nothing about firearms. All of their understanding is based on television. This one was especially disappointing because they don’t even need a “consultant” on the set to avoid these particular mistakes. It’s a Glock; a 17 no less! It’s like the most common gun in the world. They could just Google stupid thing!!! GOODNIGHT!!!

Rant over,
Heavy

 

[RidgwayCO]

I believe that Ciener makes a Glock conversion kit that uses a 12-round .22LR magazine. But would a prison guard use one on duty? Doubtful...

For the record, I really like my Advantage Arms .22LR conversion kit for my Glock 17.

 

[Mastifflover]

I watched that episode and was thinking the exact same thing about the round count. Then the .22 to the head thing????? I just blame it on gun ignorant writers. I do like the show though.

 

[Prince Yamato]

I'm going to bet it was a combination of things: It was probably easier to shoot and cheaper to convert to blank-fire using .22 and (maybe) they used a slide conversion and were just reading the caliber off the slide?

 

[Quiet]

There's about four different 8mm blank firing only Glock 17s and one of them uses 12 round magazines.

Most tv/movie writers do not know gun stuff.
The "12 round Glock 17" could have been how it was written.