What is the difference between a beretta and a Glock?

Answer 1

Beretta (the Italian mother company Pietro Beretta and its US subsidiary Beretta USA) and Glock (an Austrian gun manufacturer) are first and foremost two different companies producing a variety of firearms. But I suppose you want a comparison between the two most famous handguns of each company: the Beretta 92FS and the Glock 17. Both are handguns currently owned by civilians and in use by police forces around the world, and are chambered for the 9mm Parabellum cartridge. They have iron sights as their standard targeting system. But that's about where all comparisons come to an end. The Beretta 92FS (evolved from the older 92 and 92F) is a double-action/single-action all-metal handgun with an aluminum alloy frame and a steel slide. It has a standard 15-round staggered magazine. The US Military adopted it in its blued (black) version as its standard issue firearm (in succession of the venerable 8-round Colt 1911 chambered for .45 ACP), designated M9, because of its superior accuracy, reliability and no-tools serviceabilty. Many police forces also use the 92FS. Civilians usually prefer the aesthetically appealing sandblasted stainless steel version, designated 92FSI, where the I stands for Inox or Inoxidable (rust-free, stainless). Some versions are nickel-plated, with gold accents, or come with walnut grips. The 92FS is easily recognized by its signature protruding barrel, which may be adapted to mount sound or flash suppressors, or compensators to reduce muzzle flip. There is a family of Beretta handguns and variations like the 96 (chambered for .40), match models with elongated barrels, adjustable barrel weights, etcetera. The 92 can be operated or easily adapted for left-handed shooting. Since a few years, the 92FS is no longer produced and succeeded by the modernized "Ninety Two", which incorporates a RIS mounting rail underneath the barrel. The originals are still very much sought after, and Brazilian manufacturer Taurus has been producing an almost identical clone of the 92FS for several decades (the Taurus PT99) under license from Beretta. The Glock 17 is an entirely different beast. Being the first model of the Glock company to gain popularity outside of Austria, it was wrongly considered concealable for a long time because of its extended use of polymer plastics. Of course, many of the essential components such as the barrel still need to be made form metal, causing a Glock to show up on metal detectors just like any other handgun. The design goals for the Glock 17 were centered around the needs of the modern police officer: reliable (few parts), high capacity (16 rounds in a staggered magazine), easily useable (few levers, and an internal hammer), accurate (relatively long barrel), and low maintenance and weight (polymer plastics don't rust and are lighter than metal). To put it unrespectfully, it's a handgun for the lazy user. Apart form the black plastic look, the Glock 17 had two revolutionary and sometimes controversial new design features. Most notably was the safety, which was incorporated as a "triger upon a trigger" mechanism, eliminating the need for an external safety lever on the side of the firearm. Glock is the only manufacturer who swears by this system. Second was the barrel rifling. Barrels for handguns and rifles (not shotguns) may not be smooth on the inside. They have inverted grooves, known as rifling, that spiral along the length of the barrel. When a lead-core, possibly copper-jacketed (full metal jacket) bullet is propelled through the barrel, the rifling grips on the bullet and makes it spin around its axis when it leaves the barrel. This compensates for minute imbalances in the bullet and greatly increases accuracy. Unfortunately, classic rifling slows down the bullet significantly. Glock solved this by using a hexagonal barrel section instead of a cylindrical one, where the hexagon twisted along the inside of the barrel's length. This reduced rifling friction, and left less corners to clean in comparison to regular rifled barrels. The increased mzzle velocity resulted in more kinetic energy being transfered onto the target, and more one-shot stops of attackers. Later models would incorporate a small under-barrel rail for mounting flashlights and laser targeting systems. Compact and subcompact models would be made, in the most used calibers. Neither of the described handguns has an integrated Weaver or other top-mounted rail for mounting scopes, red dot sights or other targeting systems. They usually require heavy mounts that need to be drilled and tapped onto the frame. Because of the ease of use, lower price than a carefully machined all-metal Beretta, and the fact that police officers in many countries train with and maintain their firearms far less than civilians or the military, a slow worldwide changeover from Beretta to Glock has been taking place in the law enforcement community. Nevertheless, the Beretta 92FS remains a beautiful, reliable handgun that has inspired several generations of sport shooters, policemen, soldiers an cinematographers alike. Don't expect it to disappear anytime soon: the millions of 92's are going to be around for quite some time.