Glock's Secret Path to Profits

[RamboLiberal]

Gaston Glock, an Austrian manufacturer of shovels and knives, had an improbable dream: He would make a fortune selling handguns in America. In the early 1980s, Glock, a self-taught firearm designer, produced an innovative pistol for the Austrian military. He then devised a plan for promoting his invention in the U.S., the world's richest gun market. First, he'd persuade American police they needed a lightweight weapon with more ammunition than traditional revolvers. Then he'd use his law enforcement bona fides to win over private gun buyers.

The strategy succeeded spectacularly. By the late 1980s, major police departments across the U.S. wanted more firepower to combat crack-cocaine violence. Glock had the answer. No less impressed, street gangsters adopted the squared-off Austrian handgun as an emblem of thuggish prestige. Hip-hoppers rapped about Glocks; Hollywood put the pistol in the hands of action heroes.

Gaston Glock shouldered past the storied American brand Smith & Wesson (SWHC) to make his creation the best-known police handgun in the U.S., and probably the world. When American soldiers hauled Saddam Hussein from his underground hideout in 2003, the deposed Iraqi ruler surfaced with a Glock.

Today the company claims 65% of the American law-enforcement market, an amazing accomplishment for a privately held manufacturer based in tiny Ferlach in southern Austria. U.S. fans celebrate "Glockmas," the 80-year-old founder's July 19 birthday. U.S. sales soared 71% in the first quarter of its 2010 fiscal year, largely due to what gun executives call the "Obama stimulus": fear among gun owners that the liberal President plans to curb the marketing of handguns. Gaston Glock played on that anxiety in an open letter to customers in January. "As shooters and gun owners, we must band together with even greater zeal than in the past," he wrote. "We are not going to roll over and have our guns taken away because of some of our misguided neighbors, no matter who they are."

Behind the Glock phenomenon, however, is another story, one rife with intrigue and allegations of wrongdoing. The company's hidden history raises questions about its taxpayer-financed law-and-order franchise. Is this a company that deserves the patronage of America's police? Does Glock merit the lucrative loyalty of private American gun buyers? The Glock tale also underscores the difficulty U.S. regulators have overseeing complex international businesses.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_38/b4147036107809.htm?chan=magazine+channel_top+stories

[Pavulon]

1. Make a better mouse trap.

I have a glock 17 I bought in 1990 used and it has digested at least 30,000 rounds of all types of 9mm. I can count the failures on one hand. Most due to operator error. Tack driving handgun that was very inexpensive.

Since purchase it has had all springs replaced for about $15 and a connector added to reduce trigger pull, $30. Thats it.

30,000 rounds is probably $2000 in ammo.

[AtheistCrusader]

2. I think they suck.

Ergonomically, the Springfield XD (and CZ- series it is based upon) is far superior.

Plus, a grip safety, which would save a few Glock owners some serious rump scarring.

[doc03]

3. I chose the Springfield myself

it just fit better and every firearms dealer I talked to recommended them over the Glock. I bought the Springfield XDM it comes with three sizes of grips two magazines a loader and holster.

[Pavulon]

4. The important part is not pulling the trigger

when the gun is pointed in a non safe direction. You ass would qualify as "unsafe". Unless you pull a plaxico the glock is safe. As for ergonomics it is all about what fits. I can shoot a 17 as well as a wilson combat costing 3 times more.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Tends to be a re-holstering issue.

If anything gets in the trigger guard, like a retention strap, the glock, in condition 0 will go bang. The DAO nature of the springfield will not, while holstering. If you are not solidly gripping the XD, it will not fire (grip safety).

[Pavulon]

15. Operator error, many people use the g17

without shooting themselves. Many LEOs operate that system without shooting themselves with a retention strap.

[aikoaiko]

6. I wouldn't say "suck", but I prefer the XDM9 myself.

Glocks really were an awesome development for handguns in the 1980s. They weren't the first to offer a polymer frame or high cap mags or simple functioning or reliable functioning, but Glock put all those characteristics together really well (albeit not perfectly).

I say give credit where credit is due even as I chose something a little better. Still I see my XDM as an offspring of the Glock.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. Mechanically they are great.

From a reliability standpoint. I do not consider them comfortable though. Not at all, and the XD safety system seems far superior to me.

[Pavulon]

16. Once there is a XDM torture test

with 50,000 plus rounds and the punishment the g17 took, lets talk. Until then it is new hardware.

[aikoaiko]

17. Nothing may surpass the glock in the torture tests....

...but in average usage for me (1k of ammo before cleaning), I'm confident that the XDM is Glock's equal in reliability.

If Glock felt better in my hand, I would have bought it sooner. I'm sure I will own Glocks in the future.

[krispos42]

11. A man with an XD was nice enough to let me shoot a couple of rounds

At the range, of course. I had just come off of shooting a Beretta 92 and a GI-spec 1911. The XD felt absolutely wonderful in my hand and pointed naturally.


I want one!

[RamboLiberal]

18. I know a guy that got shot in the leg with his XD reholstering

Your hand is still on the grip panel when holstering. XD sent him a new gun. Don't know if something in the holster or clothing got caught as he was holstering.

[OttavaKarhu]

19. SIGs all around, here. n/t

[Euromutt]

8. Where's the secret?

The article fairly accurately describes the "secret" of Glock's success in the first two paragraphs, though it squarely misses what made the Glock so innovative at the time. Large-capacity (by the standards of the time) magazines had become fairly commonplace during the "Wondernine Wars," with pistols like the S&W model 59, the Beretta 92, the CZ 75 etc. What made the Glock special was partly the weight-cutting polymer frame, but mostly the partially cocked striker-fired trigger system which made it technically a double-action-only but with a really short reset. And the trigger safeties made the G17 the first pistol that wouldn't go off unless you pulled the trigger, and would go off if you did. And for fifteen years or so, Glock had that locked down, even managing to successfully sue S&W for patent infringement over the Sigma.

[Endangered Specie]

9. Im sure its a great gun, but I could never get used to the whole plastic bit...

plus the trigger, imo its condition 0, which is always unsafe to carry.

[S_B_Jackson]

10. There's no real secret to Glock's success.

It's a simple, sturdy, functional design arrived at by listening to the input of those intended as their end-users.

Personally, I find the ergonomics suck...and I gladly traded my Glock in at a gunshow for a SigPro (SigSauer's initial entry into polymer pistols). I've never regretted it for an instant and don't anticipate every considering a Glock in he future. A shame that Sig never marketed the Pro series...it's a superior design with an unbelievably smooth trigger either in double-action, or single-action.

[benEzra]

12. Not to mention legendary reliability...

that made a lot of older-generation semiautos look downright unreliable, and durability. I still have copies of a few 100,000-round-plus torture tests done on Glocks.

My wife likes hers (she shoots a Glock 26 subcompact 9mm).

[rd_kent]

13. Didnt this get posted last month? Yep it did.....

Yup. here it is....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=118&topic_id=254113&mesg_id=254113

[Tejas]

14. What, no Glock kaboom-jokes? nt