Glock 17 MOS: First look, it’s not great

You can’t throw a rock without hitting someone in the firearms industry who makes Glock accessories. It is easily the most popular pistol on the planet. I purchased a Glock because of the fact so many people make accessories for the gun, and being in the industry I’ve had to turn down a lot of opportunities because I don’t own a Glock or had to borrow a Glock. So I finally broke down and bought one, specifically a Glock 17 MOS.

A Rough Start with my Glock 17 MOS

I went to grab the new Gen 5 Model 19 or 17 from my local gun store but was immediately turned off by a few things.

First, every Gen 5 had sights pushed way to the right or way to the left. That’s an easy fix, but that’s what I expect from low tiered guns, not a major manufacturer.

The next thing I was turned off by was the trigger. What the hell happened? Glock’s triggers have always been more than acceptable for me, but the Gen 5s trigger feels like a S&W SD9 with a better reset. It was mushy, stiff, and this was consistent with three different guns. The guy at the store said they got a great deal on some MOS models if I didn’t mind the Gen 4.

The price was hard to beat, so I grabbed a Glock 17 MOS and was already having visions of mounting my Meopta Meosight 3. Inspecting the gun revealed its sights were also pushed way to one side… but so was every other MOS model. I took what seemed to be the least worst and headed home.

Excitement Killed

The Glock 17 MOS is pre-cut for optics and comes with a series of plates to mount a variety of different optics. You simply remove the included smooth plate and toss on the plate that works with your optic. Well, that’s easy! Except it’s not. Two screws hold the plate on. The first came out without issue. The second… well it stripped without issue. The Torx wrench included is slightly too small and slips very easily. I used only the included tool and it wouldn’t budge. Until it did and it stripped. Needless to say at this point I’m not really impressed.

The next day I took it to my LGS, and he had an appropriate sized stripped screw extractor and we removed it, and installed the No 1 plate.

Outside of these issues, it seems to be a solid, well-made gun. An optics compatible pistol for $525? I’ll take it. Hopefully, it performs a bit better on the range than it does on the table top. We’ll see, so far I’m not impressed. Glock has been losing contracts and I’m wondering if it has something to do with complacency. You know what they say, complacency kills.