10 Million Glocks Sold

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agent109

Moderator
The scuttlebutt coming out of the Glock Armorers classes is that Gaston Glock has surpassed 10 million guns sold. That is what you call wide acceptance!
 
sold or given away?

What number of those were given to department's and how many are out side the states and paid by your tax money? Like the functional aspects just dont like the feel of them.
 
Glocks are probably the most prolific handgun in the world.
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I highly doubt that, considering how long Colt 1911's and BHP's have been available, and the huge number of clones for both models
 
I highly doubt that, considering how long Colt 1911's and BHP's have been available, and the huge number of clones for both models
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But those pistols came about before automated manufacturing reached the levels it is at today and require significantly more work to manufacture. Given that Glocks don't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, frankly it's just a matter of time if it hasn't happened already.
 
That is what you call wide acceptance!
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...and to think the first time I handled one, I pronounced sagely to all parties present that it was a fad and would be be nothing more than a curious historical footnote in five years' time.

I accept that I might have been a bit inaccurate in that assessment.
 
Well, the US built about 1.7 million 1911s during a 4-5 year period (WWII), Colt made a quantity before then, and various companies have been making them in modest quantities in the U.S., in Europe (Tanfoglio), Argentina, in the Philippines, and China EVER SINCE!!. I doubt anybody knows how many have been made. Add them all together and it might be a greater total more than Glock -- but Glock did their thing as a single company in a much shorter period -- and didn't rely on a bunch of BIG GOVERNMENT MILITARY CONTRACTS to pump the numbers up! Not that many militaries really use Glocks in large number or as their primary sidearms. (Beretta has them BEAT in that contest.)

It's all pretty impressive -- and some of that success was due to a good bit of very savvy marketing and effective sales practices. While we can all probably agree that Gaston Glock is no John Moses Browning, he's clearly not a fool, either.

I've had a number of Glocks, but have only have one at present -- a Model 38, my favorite! The Glock is based on an elegantly simple design that works far better than it seems it ought to work. The trigger seems to be the biggest complaint, but if you're willing to spend another $250 +/- you can buy one of the better after- market fire control assemblies that will give you a trigger that's about as good as many 1911s.

I also have a Ruger SR9, which I like. I started to install the Ghost trigger kit in that gun (as I did in several of my Glocks), only to find that the Ruger trigger and striker assembly probably had more parts than a Glock pistol. I let my gunsmith do it. The Ghost-improved Ruger trigger is now better than the Ghost-improved Glock trigger, but I'm still awed by the Glock design.

They're not for everyone -- but neither are 1911s.
 
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Tom Servo said:
...and to think the first time I handled one, I pronounced sagely to all parties present that it was a fad and would be be nothing more than a curious historical footnote in five years' time.

I accept that I might have been a bit inaccurate in that assessment.
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That sounds like something my father SHOULD say about me.
I love my Gen2 35. She's my PD weapon and lays beside me on the nightstand.
"Why a "she"", well, if I have to explain that, you're either ______ or unmarried.
 
Didn't rely on a bunch of BIG GOVERNMENT MILITARY CONTRACTS
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They've actually had many Govt contracts, and were first designed for the Austrian military

Glock pistols have become the company's most profitable line of products, commanding 65% of the market share of handguns for United States law enforcement agencies as well as supplying numerous national armed forces and security agencies worldwide.[6]
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10 million? That's nice but Mr. Kalashnakov has him beat by a long shot... Try 150 million :eek:

In all seriousness, Glocks just (generally) work and lots of folks don't want to deal with 'break ins' or fiddling with extractor tension.
 
Walt Sherrill said:
{Glock}Didn't rely on a bunch of BIG GOVERNMENT MILITARY CONTRACTS
SNYPER said:
They've actually had many Govt contracts, and were first designed for the Austrian military

Glock pistols have become the company's most profitable line of products, commanding 65% of the market share of handguns for United States law enforcement agencies as well as supplying numerous national armed forces and security agencies worldwide.​
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Lots of GOVERNMENT contracts, but not a lot of BIG GOVERNMENT MILITARY CONTRACTS...

As best I can tell, only Austria, Sweden, Britain, Romania, Venezuela, Uruguay, Yemen, and Finland have arrmed forces using Glocks, although small units in other military (including the US) also use some Glocks. (I may have missed one or two, but the numbers of handguns issued would be small.)

Of those listed, only Britain has what might be considered a LARGE military -- with an Army that totals maybe 300,000 counting reserves; Britain only recently started moving to Glocks, having begun phasing out their aging BHPs. The armed forces of those other countries are quite modest in size. Keep in mind, too, that only a relatively small percentage of any of these troops would routinely be issued handguns.

The bulk of Glock's institutional business has been to Police organizations at the national, state, local levels around the world. Glock has sold A LOT to those organizations. Handguns, generally, are the standard issue weapon.

My point was that none of the military purchases came CLOSE to what the U.S. purchased when they ordered M9s from Beretta (almost 500,000 after Vietnam, and more in subsequent purchases), or (1.7 milllion) 1911s from a number of different suppliers in WWII.
 
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