Walther PDP vs. Glock 17

Three fundamentals separate these records by rounding noise.

Walther lists the PDP Full Size at 8 inches overall and Glock lists the G17 Gen6 at 7.95 — a gap this directory records as about 1.2 mm once Walther's inches are converted. The barrels are closer still: 4.5 inches against 4.49, roughly 0.3 mm apart. Width splits them by about 1.6 mm. All three differences sit inside the precision the two makers publish at, which is the unusual thing about this pair — most cross-brand comparisons in this directory have at least one clear dimensional winner, and this one effectively does not on size.

Both makers file the pistol as full-size — Glock's label is “Standard”, Walther's is “Full Size” — and this directory's frame class agrees. So the shared footprint is not an accident of one measurement; it is two duty-size 9 mms built to nearly the same envelope.

The one real split is capacity — and it carries a caveat.

Glock lists a 17-round standard magazine. Walther lists “10 Round, 18 Round” and designates neither as the standard. This directory recorded the 18 as standard, because the product description leads with it, and the 10 as an optional capacity — the single judgment call on the PDP record, disclosed as such. So the PDP's one-round advantage is real in the data and soft in its basis: it is the directory's reading of an undesignated listing, not a figure Walther marked as standard. A reader who weights that gap heavily should know it turns on that call.

Weight cannot be ranked; height cannot either.

Glock publishes two weights for the G17 — 600 g without a magazine and 680 g with an empty one. Walther publishes a single figure, 680 g, without stating whether a magazine is included. That number matches Glock's with-empty-magazine figure exactly, which is a coincidence worth naming precisely so it is not mistaken for a match: the conditions behind the two 680 g figures are not the same, because Walther never states its condition. Height is the familiar mismatch — Glock's 139 mm includes the magazine, Walther's 137.2 mm states no magazine condition — so neither is ranked here.

Each maker publishes something the other withholds.

Glock attaches a number to its trigger — 26 N, about 5.85 lb — and a date to this generation, the January 2026 Gen6 launch. Walther publishes neither for the PDP: its “Performance Duty Trigger” is a name rather than a pull weight, the page gives only a ±1 lb tolerance with no base figure, and no launch year appears on it. In the other direction, Walther ships two magazines and a lifetime limited warranty and lists a 10-round optional capacity, where Glock lists a one-year warranty and no optional magazines for the Gen6. The matrix keeps each maker's own vocabulary rather than translating one into the other.

What the data supports—and what it cannot.

The manufacturer records support one conclusion firmly: these are nearly the same size. They support a one-round capacity difference only with a caveat about how it was recorded, and they support no weight ranking at all. They do not establish that either pistol is more reliable, more accurate, easier to shoot, or a better personal fit. Those conclusions require evidence and context beyond two specification sheets that, on the numbers, describe almost the same envelope.

Base records only: no PDP Pro, no F-Series, no Gen5 G17.

This article compares the Glock G17 Gen6 record with the Walther PDP Standard Full Size carrying a 4.5-inch barrel, item 2842475. Walther catalogues each barrel length and frame size as its own listing — the Standard Compact, the 4- and 5-inch Full Size, the F-Series, Pro, Match, Steel Frame, and Two-Tone lines — and all are separate records, as are the Gen5 and earlier G17 pages. Nothing measured here transfers to them.

Open the current PDP recordOpen the current G17 recordCompare current directory records