Difference in Glock rifling

[tristar viper]

Why does my G19 and 26 have polygonal rifling, and the Glock 34 competition model has hexagonal rifling? Apparently the latter is better for accuracy or something? I'd like someone to explain the difference to me and why it matters.

[jglsprings]

Let me google that for you... (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=glock+polygonal+rifling)

[KurtC]

1. A hexagon is a polygon. I believe you want to know why one barrel is hexagon and one is octagon (both are polygons). ;)

2. The octagon barrel started with the .45, I believe. This was because the larger bullet just needed more sides in order to keep the bullet from deforming.

3. Someone probably felt that 8 sides gave better accuracy, so they used it on their smaller bore competition models as well.

4. It is still the cheapest way to rifle a barrel, so it doesn't really matter. :p

[tristar viper]

Go ahead and say it....I need to take a geometry class :)

[voyager4520]

All Glocks besides .45ACP and .45GAP have hexagonal polygonal rifling. The .45s have octagonal polygonal rifling.

I'm pretty sure HKs have octagonal polygonal rifling on all barrels.

[frank 501]

Polygonal is a generic term. Basically, poly means multi (more than one) and, for this application, gonal refers to the number of sides. So, polygonal is multiple sided rifling. Hexagonal is a specific term, it means six (hex) sided rifling. Octagonal is also a specific term, it means eight (oct) sided rifling. Glock pistols have hexagonal and octagonal rifling (both, properly refered to as polygonal rifling). Glock 9mm, .380, .40cal., 10mm and .357SIGs have hexagonal rifling. The .45ACP and .45GAP models have octagonal rifling. As has been previously mentioned, the only reason the .45s have the eight sided rifling, is that their larger bores requires more sides to keep the bores round.

tristar viper...your G19 and G26 have the same exact rifling as the G34. The G34's long slide provides a longer sighting radius, which will enhance accuracy.