| Rogak P-18, Steyr GB | |
|---|---|
| Type | Semi-automatic pistol |
| Place of origin | Austria |
| Service history | |
| Used by | See Users |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1968 |
| Manufacturer | LES, Inc., Steyr Mannlicher |
| Produced | 1970s, 1981–1988 |
| Number built | LES, Inc.: 2,300 Steyr: 15,000–20,000 |
| Variants | Rogak (stainless steel), Steyr commercial and military (matte blue) |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 845 g (unloaded) 1285 g (loaded) |
| Length | 216 mm |
| Barrel length | 136 mm |
|
|
|
| Cartridge | 9×19mm Parabellum |
| Action | Gas-delayed blowback |
| Feed system | 18-round detachable box magazine |
The Steyr GB, is a double-action 9×19mm Parabellum caliber, large-framed semi-automatic pistol. The GB uses a gas-delayed blowback action and has a magazine capacity of 18 rounds. It was designed starting in 1968 as a replacement for older handguns in Austrian military service, and went into general civil production in 1982, though approximately 2,300 copies were made in the late 1970s in Morton Grove, Illinois by LES Incorporated, and marketed as the Rogak P-18.[1][2]
Contents |
In the early 1970s, Morris and Michael Rogak, a Steyr importer, received a set of preliminary engineering plans for the Steyr Pi-18 pistol, and set up a manufacturing facility in Illinois to produce the new pistol as the Rogak P-18. While the Rogak, with its 18 shot capacity (the highest available at the time) and stainless steel construction, was revolutionary on the market, it was plagued with reliability problems due to poor manufacturing tolerances. Steyr took legal action to halt its production, and in 1980 finalized and introduced their own GB, made in blued steel but otherwise similar, to the world market.[2]
The Steyr GB was briefly widely touted as the ultimate "Wonder Nine" high capacity 9 mm pistol, but its popularity was cut short when the then-brand new Glock 17 pistol by new-to-firearms-manufacturing firm Glock won a testing competition for the Austrian Army service pistol order. It was also a competitor for the U.S. military pistol competition ultimately won by the Beretta M92F.
Commentary from U.S. firearms testers and writers indicated that the GB had remarkably low recoil for a pistol of its caliber and it was generally well liked in testing, but the lack of government orders meant that total production was only a reputed 15,000 to 20,000 pistols between 1981 and 1988. Most were commercial models, 937 examples of the military version were imported into the U.S. before production ceased.[1]
The Steyr GB is a semi-automatic, blowback-operated firearm. It features a unique gas-delayed blowback locking system (the Barnitzke system), first used in the Volkssturmgewehr 1-5,[3] and subsequently in the Swiss Pistole 47 W+F (Waffenfabrik Bern) prototype pistol.[4] The Barnitzke system uses gas pressures from the ignited cartridge and feeds them through a small port in the barrel (in front of the chamber) to retard the rearward motion of the slide. This is accomplished by means of a fixed piston formed by the outside of the barrel, inside of a moving cylinder formed by the inside of the slide, that opposes the rearward motion of the slide until the gas pressure has declined—after the bullet has left the barrel—hence allowing the slide to continue its rearward motion, opening the breech and ejecting the empty cartridge case.[5][6]