Going a few rounds with the funky disco-era Steyr GB pistol (VIDEO)

By Chris Eger

Using the rarely encountered Barnitzke gas system, the Steyr GB went down in history as the gun best remembered as the first that Glock beat out for a military contract.
Designed by Herrs Kepplinger and Schweighofer in the 1960s, the big gas-delayed blowback GB (an abbreviation earned from its curious “gas break” system) boasted an 18-round 9mm capacity, which is still impressive today.
As Austrian-based Steyr had long had a virtual lock on producing handguns for the country’s military, going back to the Roth–Steyr M1907 and Steyr-Hahn M1912s of the old Hapsburg Empire, it seems like the GB would be a shoe-in for Austria’s new army pistol competition.
However, this dream was not to be as the Bundesheer instead picked a new polymer-framed  17+1 capacity gun made by a fellow named Glock, which they adopted as the Pistole 80.
With the writing on the wall, Steyr continued to market the GB commercially until the company dropped the poorly-selling pistol from the line in 1988.
And Tim with the Military Arms Channel has the lowdown on the gun, inside and out, in the above video.
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Source: Guns.com