The handgun was adopted into service with the Austrian military and police forces in 1982 as the P80 ( Pistole 80), with an initial order for 25,000 guns. Several samples of the Glock 17 (so named because it was the 17th patent procured by the company) were submitted for assessment trials in early 1982, and after passing all of the exhaustive endurance and abuse tests, the Glock emerged as the winner. In addition, the plan was to make extensive use of synthetic materials and modern manufacturing technologies, which led to the Glock 17 becoming a cost-effective candidate. Within three months, Glock developed a working prototype that combined proven mechanisms and traits from previous pistol designs. Glock became aware of the Austrian Army's planned procurement, and in 1982, assembled a team of Europe's leading handgun experts from military, police, and civilian sport-shooting circles to define the most desirable characteristics in a combat pistol. The normal maximum operating pressure (P max) for the 9mm NATO is 2,520 bar (252 MPa 36,500 psi). The pistol was to then be used to fire an overpressure test cartridge generating 5,000 bar (500 MPa 73,000 psi).

After firing 15,000 rounds of standard ammunition, the pistol was to be inspected for wear. The Federal Ministry of Defence of Austria formulated a list of 17 criteria for the new generation service pistol, including requirements that it would be self loading fire the NATO-standard 9×19 mm Parabellum round the magazines were not to require any means of assistance for loading be secure against accidental discharge from shock, strike, and drop from a height of 2 m (6 ft 7 in) onto a steel plate. In 1980, the Austrian Armed Forces announced that it would seek tenders for a new, modern duty pistol to replace their World War II–era Walther P38 handguns.

Glock introduced ferritic nitrocarburizing into the firearms industry as an anticorrosion surface treatment for metal gun parts. Glock had extensive experience in advanced synthetic polymers, which was instrumental in the company's design of the first commercially successful line of pistols with a polymer frame. The company's founder, head engineer Gaston Glock, had no experience with firearms design or manufacture at the time their first pistol, the Glock 17, was being prototyped.

Glock serial number database